Katherine Lubin Benson
Partner, San Francisco Office
email
415 956-1000
vcard

Katherine L. Benson

Katherine Lubin Benson is a partner in our San Francisco office specializing in securities and derivative suits and antitrust class actions.

Katherine’s successful cases include a shareholder derivative action against The Boeing Company’s officers and directors. Katherine represented Co-Lead Plaintiffs the New York State Comptroller Thomas P. DiNapoli, as trustee of the New York State Common Retirement Fund, and the Fire and Police Pension Association of Colorado in the action alleging breach of fiduciary duty in connection with the board of directors’ oversight of the 737 MAX’s design and development. In February 2022, the Delaware Chancery Court approved a settlement comprised of a $237.5 million cash payment and extensive corporate governance reforms including a new board director, mandated director expertise, and an ombudsperson program.

Katherine was also a key member of the Lieff Cabraser team representing Co-Lead Plaintiff Fire and Police Pension Association of Colorado in a shareholder derivative action against Wells Fargo’s current and former officers and directors arising from the illicit sales practices scandal. The case settled for a $240 million cash payment and corporate governance reforms in April 2020. The settlement represents the largest insurer-funded derivative settlement in history.

Katherine is also an experienced antitrust litigator. Her recent antitrust successes include representing a class of hospitals, third-party payors, and uninsured persons in an antitrust class action against defendants Momenta Pharmaceuticals, Inc. and Sandoz Inc. for their alleged monopolization of enoxaparin, the generic version of the anti-coagulant blood clotting drug Lovenox. The settlement, totaling $120 million, is the second-largest indirect purchaser antitrust pharmaceutical settlement fund in history. Lieff Cabraser’s work on the case was recognized by the American Antitrust Institute, which honored the firm with the 2020 Outstanding Private Practice Antitrust Achievement award. Katherine was awarded AAI’s Outstanding Antitrust Litigation Achievement by a Young Lawyer award for her contributions to the case.

Katherine serves as a Lawyer Representative to the Ninth Circuit Judicial Council, and on the Board of Directors of the Bar Association of San Francisco and the Northern District Practice Program. She previously served on the Board of East Bay Community Law Center. Between 2012 and 2017, she coached a Berkeley Law mock trial team.

Katherine received her J.D. from the University of California, Berkeley School of Law (Berkeley Law) in 2008. During law school, she worked as a judicial extern for the Honorable Dean D. Pregerson of the U.S. District Court, Central District of California.

Long form bio (click to open pdf).

  • University of California, Berkeley, School of Law (Berkeley Law), Berkeley, California
    J.D. – 2008
  • University of California, Los Angeles, California
    B.A. (Cum Laude) – 2005
    Major: Political Science
  • California, 2008
  • U.S. Court Of Appeals, 6th Circuit, 2019
  • U.S. Court of Appeals, 9th Circuit, 2009
  • U.S. District Court, Central District of California, 2013
  • U.S. District Court, Northern District of California, 2009
  • U.S. District Court, Southern District of California, 2015
  • U.S. District Court, Southern District of New York, 2013
  • U.S. District Court, Middle District of Tennessee, 2015
  • Lawyer Representative to the Ninth Circuit Judicial Council, 2020-2024; Co-Chair, 2022-23
  • National Association of Public Pension Attorneys, Securities Litigation Committee Member, 2024-present
  • Northern District Court Practice Program, Board of Directors, 2016-present
  • ABA Class Actions National Institute, Planning Committee, 2024-present
  • Bar Association of San Francisco, Board of Directors, 2021-2023
  • East Bay Community Law Center, Board of Directors, 2015-2022
  • State Bar of California
  • American Bar Association
  • Panelist, “What Makes a Good Securities Case: Essentials for Public Funds,” NCPERS Annual Conference & Exhibition (ACE), May 2024
  • Speaker, “What Makes a Good Securities Case: Essentials for Public Funds,” National Conference on Public Employee Retirement Systems (NCPERS) Annual Conference, May 2024
  • Moderator, “Effective Advocacy in Federal Court,” Northern District Practice Program, July 2023
  • Speaker, “The Power of Collective Action to Address Workplace Sex Discrimination,” National Women’s Law Center, February 2023
  • Moderator, “Big Tech’s Reckoning With Antitrust Has Arrived,” Bar Association of San Francisco Webinar, February 2021
  • Speaker, National Consumer Law Center Consumer Rights Litigation Conference & Class Action Symposium, November 2020
  • Speaker, “Building the Best Firewall. Ethical Issues In Settlement Negotiations and Approval of Class Action Settlements,” ABA Class Actions National (Virtual) Institute, October 2020
  • Speaker, “Shareholder Derivative Actions as a Tool To Improve Corporate Governance,” Institutional Investors Fall Conference, September 2020
  • Moderator, “Case Management: Best Practices in the COVID-19 World,” Northern District Court Practice Program, July 2020
  • Speaker, “Predatory Bail Bonds Litigation,” New Statutes Seminar, California Public Defenders Association, March 2019
  • Selected for inclusion by peers in The Best Lawyers in America in the field of  “Litigation – Securities,” 2023-2025
  • “Lawdragon 500 Leading Litigators in America,” Lawdragon, 2025
  • “Lawdragon 500 Leading Plaintiff Financial Lawyers in America,” Lawdragon, 2020-2024
  • “Rising Star for Northern California,” Super Lawyers, 2016 – 2023
  • “Rising Star for Securities Law,” Law360, 2021, 2022
  • “40 and Under Hot List,” Benchmark Litigation, 2018 – 2021
  • “Outstanding Antitrust Achievement by a Young Lawyer,” American Antitrust Institute, 2020
  • “Outstanding Private Practice Antitrust Achievement,” American Antitrust Institute, 2020
  • “Top 40 Under 40 Lawyer,” Daily Journal, 2020