Headquartered in the UK, global powerhouse Freshfields has achieved remarkable success in establishing a US presence; indeed, it can be argued that it has entrenched itself in this market to a broader and deeper extent than any of its “Magic Circle” contemporaries. This is especially true with regard to litigation, with Freshfields boasting an ever-expanding team in the securities and commercial litigation capacities, in addition to an established international arbitration and white-collar bench.
Many credit the firm’s relatively recent spike in the securities area to
Meredith Kotler and Mary Eaton, both of whom operate from the New York office. “They are both very strong individually, and together, they make a formidable duo,” states one peer. Kotler is cheered by a client as a “quick learner, good communicator and a strategic thinker,” and a peer testifies, “I look for different styles when I’m referring a securities case to someone, and if I have a case that needed a ‘fire-breathing dragon,’ it’s Meredith Kotler. She is a former prosecutor and brings that energy.” The duo of Kotler and Eaton successfully represented global pharmaceutical giant AstraZeneca and two of its executives in a stockholder class action in Delaware’s Court of Chancery, challenging Viela’s US $3 billion sale to Horizon Therapeutics. The complaint alleged that AstraZeneca – which held 26% of Viela’s stock – controlled Viela as a result of the support agreements and coerced Viela’s Board to sell the company to Horizon for an unfair price. In December 2023, Kotler argued for motion to dismiss, which was granted in July 2024. David Livshiz and Jennifer Loeb are representing Rio Tinto in a US federal climate change class action in Puerto Rico. The lawsuit alleges that the defendants’ production, promotion, refining, marketing and sale of fossil-fuel-based consumer product caused losses, deaths and destruction of property resulting from severe storms in Puerto Rico in September 2017. Livshiz is championed by a client as “incredibly responsive, exceptionally bright and able to synthesize extensive information in a short period of time. He is extremely knowledgeable about our business and able to provide strategic and pragmatic solutions.” Loeb is also cheered as “clear, proactive and thoughtful.” Freshfields’ amplification of its securities practice has been no less successful on the West Coast, where the team is bookended by
Boris Feldman and Doru Gavril. Feldman is a seasoned local luminary whose “name drops a lot of weight in this [Bay] area” and who, despite his senior status, remains firmly on the cutting edge, specializing in the tech space, the dominant Bay Area industry. A peer opines, “I think Boris would be bored with just basic securities work! Give him tech-related cases, and that’s where he shines. It seems to me that’s really where he wants to be, and he’s got the chops and vocabulary for it.” Feldman and Gavril have been representing gaming platform Roblox in every shareholder lawsuit it has had since its public listing. Feldman also worked with Livishiz for AI juggernaut Palantir and several of its officers and directors in parallel securities class-action and derivative litigation. The team achieved complete dismissals with prejudice at the pleading stage in both federal and state courts.
Freshfields has also doubled down on its commercial litigation area, having lured New York star
Gayle Klein to its bench two years ago. Klein leads a team representing Tesla in four putative class actions relating to a company data incident involving the misappropriation of company data by former employees. Plaintiffs allege that Tesla failed to protect the personal information of over 75,000 current and former employees that was exposed in the incident.
