Cory E. Manning is a partner of Nelson Mullins Riley & Scarborough LLP and practices in the areas of special litigation and corporate investigations, securities litigation, business litigation, and class action defense. He has been with the Firm since 2005. He chairs the Firm's Special Litigation and Corporate Investigations practice group.

Experience. Mr. Manning’s practice involves litigation, negotiation, and counseling services in both civil and criminal matters. He has developed substantial experience in several areas, including securities litigation, complex commercial litigation, internal investigations, officer and director liability, merger and acquisition litigation, class action and derivative litigation, regulatory enforcement actions, RICO, and environmental and other mass tort litigation. He has represented clients in a variety of forums around the country, including state and federal courts, state and federal administrative tribunals, self-regulatory organization tribunals, and numerous alternative dispute resolution settings.

In addition to representing clients in federal and state courts and other forums, Mr. Manning regularly advises public and private companies and their officers and directors on a broad range of issues regarding litigation risk-reduction strategies, commercial contracts, fiduciary duties, and corporate compliance matters. In the last ten years, he has conducted over a dozen internal investigations on behalf of corporate boards and board committees into allegations of possible misconduct, including the following:

• government procurement fraud
• securities fraud
• insurance fraud
• insider trading
• accounting irregularities
• banking irregularities
• discriminatory employment practices

Prior to joining Nelson Mullins, Mr. Manning practiced law at Cooley Godward LLP in Palo Alto, California. He also served as a judicial clerk for the Honorable Robert M. Parker of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit in Tyler, Texas. Prior to his clerkship, Mr. Manning represented state attorneys general in the Medicaid recoupment litigation against the tobacco industry from 1997 to 1999.

Publications and Memberships. Mr. Manning has spoken and written on various legal topics, including the following: internal investigations; disclosure of environmental liabilities; business courts; class action litigation, including the Class Action Reform Act (CAFA) and the Securities Litigation Uniform Standards Act (SLUSA); legal ethics; negotiations; and Sarbanes-Oxley compliance. His most recent piece, "Internal Product-Related Investigations with International Implications" appears in the "Elite Section" of the International Comparative Legal Guide to: Product Liability 2011. In addition, he regularly writes on oddities found in legal rules and case law in a column for The South Carolina Lawyer, entitled “Pinhead Points.”

Mr. Manning is a member of the Litigation and Business Law Sections of the ABA and serves as the Chair of the Business Law Section’s Subcommittee on Business Courts.

Community Involvement. Active in the community, Mr. Manning is the Vice President and a member of the board of the South Carolina Philharmonic.  He previously served on the board of the Richland SERTOMA Club for three years. In January 2010, he was chosen by The State newspaper to receive the “20 Under 40” Achievement Award in recognition of his professional achievements and community leadership.

Admissions and Education. Mr. Manning is admitted to practice in California, South Carolina, and various U.S. District Courts and U.S. Courts of Appeals around the country. He received his Juris Doctor, with distinction, in 1997 from the University of Iowa College of Law, where he served as articles editor and book review editor for the Iowa Law Review. He attended the University of Northern Iowa on an NCAA wrestling scholarship and received a Bachelor of Arts, magna cum laude, in political science in 1993.