· Latham & Watkins has handily transitioned from its image as a California-headquartered focused on corporate work. Although the firm did see its origins in the Golden State and has a coveted corporate practice, Latham has also gained a well earned reputation as an undeniable litigation powerhouse whose footprint has not only reached national levels but boasts litigation heavyweights in nearly every one of its US offices across a diverse spectrum of practice areas. “I see Latham everywhere because they are so big,” confirms a peer, attesting to the firm’s domestic dominance.
California continues to be a stronghold, with stars in all of its key partners throughout the state across a spectrum of practice areas. Orange County-based litigation head
Michele Johnson is a securities authority with a flair for trial. “These types of big securities cases rarely go to trial,” explains a contemporary, “but Michele has already had an impressive number of them that have and has done great with them.” Hot on the heels of a landmark win in a rare securities trial for Puma Biotechnology four years ago, within the past year Johnson won a jury verdict in favor of client OWLink Technology in a breach-of-contract dispute concerning alleged failure to pay commissions and other violations of contractual obligations. The jury awarded OWLink $26.2 million in damages. Johnson took on this case three weeks before trial. Johnson also teamed up with DC securities star
Andrew Clubok to secure a complete dismissal with prejudice of a securities stock-drop class-action complaint on behalf of Twitter/X, alleging cybersecurity, data-privacy, and user-metric misrepresentations. Peers are also a fan of
Kirsten Murphy, also in the Orange County office. “I’ve had great experiences with her,” extols one. In the San Francisco office,
Chris Yates is a consistent standout. “Chris is noted as an antitrust lawyer, but he is really much more of a trial lawyer,” insists a peer. “He has great instincts about what to push as a trial lawyer, and he has the antitrust horsepower to augment that.” Yates teamed up with Chicago white-collar star Sean Berkowitz to represent TKO Group, the parent company of the Ultimate Fighting Championship in the high-profile antitrust lawsuits brought by a group of mixed martial artists who accused the organization of abusing its market position to suppress fighter pay. The Latham duo was brought in to try the case once it became clear the court would certify a damages class and the matter would head to a jury. Latham was retained to handle a second copycat class action as well. The parties negotiated a US$335 million settlement to resolve both cases.
Boston’s BJ Trach and Steve Feldman, who operates from New York and Los Angeles, secured a victory for Peloton in a high-profile putative nationwide consumer class action in the Southern District of New York asserting violations of false advertising and consumer-protection laws relating to Peloton’s advertisement of an “ever-growing” library of on-demand classes. Latham defeated class certification entirely by highlighting the plaintiffs’ failure to establish that the ads increased costs to consumers by allowing Peloton to extract a price premium and demonstrating plaintiffs’ expert’s failure to propose a model capable of measuring damages. “I continue to be impressed by
Jamie Wine,” asserts a peer, summing up the consensus of several others. The New York-based Wine triumphed in securing dismissal of a high-profile defamation and antitrust lawsuit brought in Missouri federal court by chess grandmaster Hans Niemann against Latham clients Chess.com and several of its officers. Niemann was faced with allegations of cheating in September 2022 after he defeated an individual purported to be greatest player in chess history. In response, Chess.com closed Niemann’s account and withdrew his invitation to the then-upcoming Chess.com Global Championship tournament, and Niemann sued in response. Wine and Feldman achieved a major trial victory for Sorrento Therapeutics and Scilex Pharmaceuticals in a lawsuit filed against Scilex’s former president. The court found for Latham’s client and determined that the former president breached his restrictive covenant agreement with Sorrento relating to its purchase of Scilex, breached his fiduciary duties to Scilex, and misappropriated several of Scilex’s trade secrets.
In the DC office, enthusiasm is strong for Roman Martinez, who maintains a practice dedicated to appeals, constitutional and administrative law. “He seems to have a lot of excitement around that practice,” asserts a peer. “He has really built it out.” Martinez scored on behalf of Farfetch in front of the Second Circuit Court of Appeals, which affirmed dismissal of wide-ranging Exchange Act and Securities Act claims against the client and its executives and directors (along with other defendants). Plaintiffs filed a class action lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York on the heels of a nearly 45% decline in Farfetch’s stock price after the company’s IPO. Also operating from DC, as well as Chicago,
Michael Morin is a recipient of peer praise for his patent-focused intellectual property prowess. “He is a good, thoughtful guy,” states a peer. “He is very smart and savvy. Latham really developed some exceptional talent in the IP area over the past few years, and Michael is emblematic of that.”
