Laura Sherling Dunning is a Shareholder in the Securities and Business Litigation practice group of Levin Papantonio.

Ms. Dunning has nearly 20 years of experience successfully litigating complex, high-profile cases in areas including pharmaceutical litigation, financial fraud, corporate misconduct, business torts, and securities fraud. She has served as counsel in class and derivative actions as well as MDLs and has represented hundreds of governmental entities, including states, cities, counties, and tribal sovereign nations, as well as pension plans, public utilities, and hospitals, in addition to thousands of individual fraud victims. Her work on complex cases has helped lead to the recovery of nearly $60 billion for plaintiffs.

Most recently, in the National Prescription Opiate and Pharmacy Litigation MDL, which the Washington Post has called “the largest and most complex case in the history of jurisprudence,” Ms. Dunning was selected to serve as a national co-lead of the Law and Briefing Committee and the ESI Logistics Committee, in addition to taking a leading role in the prosecution of the case against one of the Big Three pharmacy defendants.

Since 2010, Ms. Dunning has been repeatedly recognized as an Alabama and Midsouth Super Lawyer Rising Star in Securities Litigation. She is a frequent speaker on issues confronting the securities industry, has served as a guest lecturer at the University of Alabama School of Law, and is a member of Public Investors Arbitration Bar Association (PIABA), an international organization of attorneys dedicated to the advancement of investors’ rights in the securities industry.

Ms. Dunning graduated cum laude from Rhodes College with a Bachelor of Arts in English Literature. She received her juris doctor from the University of Alabama School of Law in 2005, where she served as a senior editor on the Alabama Law Review and as a nationally competing member of the Campbell Moot Court Board. Ms. Dunning was a member of the Bench and Bar Legal Honor Society and served as an extern to the Honorable Sharon Lovelace Blackburn of the United States District Court for the Northern District of Alabama.

Year Joined Law Firm
2013

Present Position with Law Firm
Shareholder

Areas of Practice
Securities
Mass Torts
Business Torts
Pharmaceutical Litigation
Class Action
Qui Tam

Bar Admissions
Alabama
United States District Courts for the Northern, Middle, and Southern Districts of Alabama

Education
University of Alabama School of Law, Juris Doctor, 2005
Honors: Senior Editor on the Alabama Law Review Honors: Member, Campbell Moot Court Board Honors: Member, Bench and Bar Legal Honor Society Honors: Dean’s Community Service Award Honors: Extern to the Honorable Sharon Lovelace Blackburn of the United States District Court for the Northern District of Alabama
Rhodes College, Bachelor of Arts in English Literature, 2002 cum laude

Honors and Awards
The National Trial Lawyers: Top 40 Under 40
Alabama and Midsouth Super Lawyer Rising Star in Securities Litigation

Prior Employment
Prior to joining Levin Papantonio, Ms. Dunning practiced with a Birmingham, Alabama based firm where her nationwide civil litigation practice concentrated on business and securities litigation matters in state and federal courts as well as AAA and FINRA arbitration.