Historically recognized and revered as one of the largest and most comprehensive global players in the corporate and transactional capacity (a position it still enjoys), Latham & Watkins has also proven itself to be an equally dominant presence on the litigation stage. The firm’s expansive US footprint covers a host of major markets, all staffed with partners deemed as “top class” in practices spanning antitrust, white-collar crime, securities, M&A litigation, intellectual property and even more niche practices like environmental law (an area the firm is said to have a higher-than-average concentration in compared to other firms of similar size.)
While it is enjoying what peers acknowledge as “a real moment” across several practice areas, Latham has been notably “on a tear” in the IP capacity. Further amplifying what is already considered one of the strongest patent litigation groups in the country, the firm added Anthony Sammi, formerly the head of IP litigation at Skadden, to its New York bench in August 2021. Sammi adds balance to the firm’s presence on the East Coast, coming on the heels of several recent key augmentations to the DC-based IP team, including Adam Perlman and all-purpose commercial litigator Nicholas Boyle, both from Williams & Connolly. Perlman, a patent trial lawyer who is said to have “probably made a living beating another top IP firm in ANDA cases,” augments an already highly successful build-out in the IP area. Boyle meanwhile attends to a niche in trade secrets. Beyond patent work, Latham’s IP group benefits from a strong copyright element as well. A peer states, “Andrew Gass in San Francisco is the head of the copyright practice there and is building a very cool group that has been getting more and more of the interesting copyright work, especially things that are better suited for a very big firm, things like the music rate-setting cases. He’s doing some work for Amazon. The expansion of their practice has been very impressive. Joe Wetzel, who was a King & Spalding copyright guy, joined their group as well, and he’s great.”
Latham’s securities practice is another capacity in which the firm has seen a staggering streak of victories. The firm boasts leading litigators in this practice in nearly every one of its domestic offices. In DC, Andrew Clubok is the co-chair of the firm’s securities practice and is unanimously revered as “very skilled and very successful” by peers in this capacity. A frequent opponent testifies, “I have a great relationship with him. He’s one of those guys who, if you go to him with a strong solid argument, will say ‘Let’s settle.’ Andrew may not have many fans among the plaintiffs’ bar but I really like him.” Clubok and San Francisco’s Elizabeth Deeley defended a number of clients including Facebook, NortonLifeLock, and AMD in some of the first shareholder derivative suits to allege breach of fiduciary duty relating to board diversity efforts. The Latham team secured dismissals in every case. This duo was also involved in a matter led by Orange County’s Michele Johnson, in which the team scored a major victory in the Ninth Circuit on behalf of Twitter and two of its executives, affirming a prior win in the Northern District of California in a securities class action followingTwitter’s announcement that steps taken to address certain issues with user settings choices adversely affected Twitter’s ability to target advertising and negatively impacted itsthird-quarter 2019 revenue. Johnson, one of the few securities practitioners to lay claim to taking a securities class action to trial, and winning, in recent years (for Puma Biotechnology) was also co-lead on a case, with San Francisco’s Peter Wald, on behalf of NextGen Healthcare, a developer of computer-based healthcare practice management and electronic health records solution, which was embroiled in a “holder’s claim” brought by a shareholder and former director who claimed he suffered a $400 million loss following a retraction in the company’s financial guidance. Johnson and her team scored a complete defense verdict. Also based in Orange County, Kristin Murphy is acknowledged as another securities star in the making. “She just made partner this past year and is already first-chairing trials,” confirms a peer.
In Chicago, Sean Berkowitz is a near-unanimous recipient of acclaim in the white-collar field. “Sean has long been known as one of the best,” confirms a peer. “He is one of those white-collar people who would actually try a case!” Berkowitz led a team that secured a complete defense verdict in a 14-count federal criminal action in the Northern District of Illinois on behalf of former CEO and co-founder of Power Solutions, Gary Winemaster, who was accused of a complex accounting fraud scheme to deceive investors by concealing information about certain transactions for the purpose of recognizing revenue in earlier reporting periods. The company settled with both the Securities and Exchange Commission and Department of Justice (DoJ) in 2020. The criminal case proceeded to a four-week bench trial in May and June 2021,and in September 2021 Winemaster was found not guilty on all charges. This case, and Berkowitz’s role in it, received a prestigious “impact case” award at the 2022 Benchmark award ceremony in New York.
Latham’s antitrust practice is also considered “premier league,” with Daniel Wall in the firm’s San Francisco office pointed to as a noted standout. Wall represents BMW in a pair of purported class actions filed by direct (car dealerships) and indirect purchasers (consumers) of German automobiles, who allege that BMW colluded with other manufacturers over the course of two decades to limit the pace and extent of technological innovations in their vehicles. Wall has successfully defended BMW from any liability in the US. New York’s Lawrence Buterman is also a peer favorite. “Larry was at DoJ and tried the eBooks case before he went to Latham. It’s been a pleasure to work with him,” testifies one contemporary.
