Paul Zurek

Paul Zurek is a financial economist specializing in securities, valuation, financial markets, risk management, and statistical analysis.

Dr. Zurek has been retained as an expert in large, complex litigation, providing expert testimony on Rule 10b-5, Section 11/12, and Section 14 claims at the class certification and merits stages. He has also opined on security and business valuation issues. With extensive deposition experience, Dr. Zurek has provided testimony in arbitrations, trials, mediations, and regulatory proceedings. He has submitted expert reports and declarations that address trading and trade execution, market efficiency, price impact, loss causation, valuation, capital structure, and damages.

Dr. Zurek has served as an expert in over thirty matters since 2015. His work includes:

• Testifying at trial in the Delaware Court of Chancery in a dispute involving corporate finance and valuation issues
• Providing expert testimony in Indiana Public Retirement System v. AAC Holdings, in which class certification was denied for one claim in the securities class action
• Filing a class certification report in In re FibroGen Inc. Securities Litigation, a 10b-5 securities matter, in which the judge denied class certification for the period Dr. Zurek analyzed
• Analyzing various datasets containing foster care records for over 60,000 children in Arizona’s foster care system in Tinsley et al. v. McKay et al., a multiyear pro bono effort.
• Submitting an expert report and testifying in deposition in Booth et al. v. Galveston County et al., a pro bono matter involving bail amounts allegedly set without due consideration of ability to pay

Dr. Zurek teaches a course on corporate finance and valuation at Stanford Law School. He has also taught finance and economics to undergraduates, M.B.A. students, and executives at The Wharton School.

As a consultant, Dr. Zurek coheads Cornerstone Research’s M&A, valuation, and bankruptcy practice and has led the firm’s fixed income and derivatives initiatives. He leads teams and supports clients and experts in civil litigation, government and regulatory investigations, and international arbitration. He has significant trial experience, in the US (including in state and federal courts and the Delaware Court of Chancery) and internationally (including the Grand Court of the Cayman Islands and the UK High Court of Justice).

Dr. Zurek also has substantial expertise with shareholder litigation matters involving billions of dollars of claimed damages, including in shareholder matters outside the US.

Valuation, M&A, and bankruptcy

• Valuing companies and financial institutions, including hedge funds and private equity (PE) managers, FinTech, medical and pharmaceutical, and other businesses
• Conducting valuation analyses in commercial disputes, appraisal and bankruptcy proceedings, and arbitrations in federal and state courts, including the Delaware Court of Chancery and appraisal matters in the Cayman Islands
• Valuing securities, such as a large portfolio of over-the-counter (OTC) derivatives in an International Swaps and Derivatives Association (ISDA) close-out

Securities

• Addressing issues involving both S. and international securities, including control person and insider trading (Section 20A) claims, and federal Rule 10b-5, Section 11/12, and Section 14 matters
• Analyzing market efficiency, price impact, loss causation, and damages to class members
• Supporting multiple experts in In re BP p.l.c. Securities Litigation, in which the court twice denied class certification on Comcast grounds

Financial markets

• Analyzing equity, fixed income, and foreign exchange (FX) markets, both exchanges and OTC markets
• Evaluating alleged fraudulent trading, including developing algorithms to identify unauthorized trading and computing damages
• Assessing high-frequency trading models and examining trading patterns related to alleged market manipulation and short squeezes
• Analyzing transaction execution and issues related to best execution in various instruments
• Analyzing transactions in antitrust matters alleging collusive and manipulative behavior

Risk management and derivatives

• Evaluating market, operational, and compliance risk management procedures at financial institutions
• Quantitatively analyzing risks embedded in financial portfolios using Value-at-Risk (VAR) and simulation methods
• Evaluating risks and returns of hedge fund, private equity, and mutual fund investment strategies
• Assessing rating agency models of default in collateralized debt obligation (CDO) portfolios

Thought leadership

Dr. Zurek researches, publishes, and presents on securities, investments, and valuation topics. He coauthored “Market Approach or Comparables,” which appears in multiple editions of the Guide to Damages in International Arbitration (Global Arbitration Review), as well as a chapter on mutual fund returns and strategies in Commodities: Markets, Performance, and Strategies (Oxford University Press). Dr. Zurek also coauthored an article on “Determining ‘Fair Value’ in Cayman Islands Appraisal Cases” and has served as a lead author on Cornerstone Research’s annual report on M&A settlements in Delaware Court of Chancery.

Dr. Zurek heads Cornerstone Research’s San Francisco office and serves on the firm’s risk management and capital funding committees. Previously, he worked in M&A at a global investment bank and a consulting company offering business and banking simulations. Dr. Zurek has also served as a director and on the asset and liability committee of a credit union.