CRAVATH SWAINE & MOORE
Karin
DeMasi
of Cravath
she
possesses
expertise in securities, antitrust, ERISA, and general commercial matters.
As
co-lead partner
DeMasi obtained a dismissal
in defense of First Solar, one of the leading global providers of comprehensive photovoltaic solar systems, in a putative securities
class action.
DeMasi
and the chair of the antitrust department
Christine Varney are leading a case representing Blue Cross Blue Shield Association and numerous of its member plans in consolidated multidistrict antitrust class actions in connection with the BlueCard program and the company’s implementing of exclusive service area.
Varney was widely known for her roles as a former US Assistant Attorney General for Antitrust and a former Commissioner of the Federal Trade Commission, and uses that insight to navigate joint ventures, mergers, acquisitions,
dispositions and other business transactions for clients. Lauren Moskowitz is also known for her standout expertise in the speres of antitrust, intellectual property, general commercial, securities, and financial restructuring litigation.
Moskowitz’s casework over the last year has also included several intellectual property cases and a bankruptcy lawsuit
representing Blackstone Credit in an adversary proceeding and Chapter 15 suit filed by the Bankruptcy Estate of Norske Skogindustrier ASA.
Multidisciplinary New York litigator
Rachel
Skaistis
dedicates her practice to providing counsel in government and internal investigations, shareholder demands, derivative actions, and accounting restatement matters.
DESMARAIS
Based in the New York office of intellectual property boutique Desmarais,
Leslie Spencer is a patent-focused trial lawyer. Spencer has a particular emphasis on the technology space, an area in which she has routinely been championed by peers. In this area, she was part of a team that logged a substantial patent-infringement victory for Lenovo.
DUNN ISAACSON RHEE
Long noted as a trial luminary within Big Law, Karen Dunn made headlines in May 2025 when she launched her own DC-based boutique Dunn Isaacson Rhee and almost instantly attracted other top litigation talent to join her. Dunn has been particularly active in the antitrust world and is also one of the primary trial lawyers who logged a newsworthy win against the intiators of the "Unite the Right" rally in Charlottesville, Virginia in 2017.
Jeannie Rhee, another founder and name partner, comes equipped with first-chair trial lawyer skills as well as a background as a government prosecutor; she served as a Deputy Assistant Attorney General during the Obama administration.
ELSBERG BAKER & MARURI
Silpa Maruri is a name partner at brand-new trial-centric New York boutique Elsberg Baker & Maruri and has quickly developed a peer following. "I am huge fan of hers," declares one noted contemporary, who goes on to insist, "There’s nothing she can’t do, [she is] unbelievably impressive. You need to look into her more."
HECKER FINK
Jenna Dabbs has made considerable headway at the celebrated New York litigation boutique now known as Hecker Fink. A peer declares, "That firm has grown quite a bit. Every year, they get larger and so are in more matters, and they recruit more talent and so their reputation is getting stronger even beyond the name partners. Jenna Dabbs is one of these people, she is very effective."
HOLWELL SHUSTER & GOLDBERG
Blair Kaminsky is one of Holwell Shuster's top emerging stars. Kaminsky has recently developed a sizeable portfolio of work for insurer Chubb, with work consisting of opioids-related cases and otherwise, and occurring far beyond the firm's New York base. Priyanka Timblo is one of the youngest stars at the firm but has already made her mark as one of its top commercial litigators. Timblo was part of a team that won a $101 million jury verdict for London Luxury against Walmart in a lawsuit alleging that Walmart wrongfully cancelled its contract to purchase more than $500 million in personal protective equipment, waned. “That’s a great look for them, and for the firm,” asserts a peer. “You don’t see too many other firms giving 40-something-year-old partners their $100 million jury trials!”
KAPLAN MARTIN
Founder and name partner of her own new boutique, trial luminary Roberta Kaplan carries instant name recognition."Robbie Kaplan is a great lawyer, very talented and gutsy," comments a peer. "[She] takes risks, which have paid off with some really high-profile wins. Although I have seen her on the defense side a fair deal, still does great plaintiff work with a social justice component." A recent recruit to the newly formed firm,
Ellen Holloman has developed a vocal peer following. "She has been doing a lot of work in the Sean Combs case," confirms one contemporary, who notes " I worked with her for many years and [she] taught me a lot. I took my first deposition with her."
KOBRE & KIM
Danielle Rose in the New York office of global shop Kobre & Kim manages a broad portfolio of commercial litigation matters on which she also appears as lead counsel. "She is very talented," commends a peer. "She is a rare breed of lawyer who generates business and also tries the cases."
MENDES & MOUNT
Based in New York, Mendes & Mount's Eileen McCabe has cultivated a loyal fan base among peers in the insurance litigation community. "Eileen is a big personality and nice person, with good litigation instincts and good judgment," testifies one peer. "She's also really funny and fun to be around." Another contemporary confirms, "She is creative, she makes something out of nothing - [she is] really good lawyer."
PATTERSON BELKNAP WEBB & TYLER
Patterson Belknap's Barbara Mullin has earned considerable traction for her patent-focused intellectual property practice. Mullin's acuity in this capacity was recently on display in her representation of Janssen Pharmaceuticals, for whom she provides lead counsel in several Hatch-Waxman matters.
PAUL WEISS RIFKIND WHARTON & GARRISON
In New York, Susanna Buergel is the co-chair of Paul Weiss's securities department, largely considered a cornerstone of the firm. Buergel has been called "[Paul Weiss's securities leader] Brad Karp's secret weapon." One peer asserts, "Some of the biggest financial institutions keep Susanna on speed-dial."
Katherine Forrest, a former judge and an established senior trailblazer at the firm, comes equipped with a keen level of experience and savvy in the tech and AI sectors as well as a broad fluency in antitrust work.
Michele Hirshman is a star of Paul Weiss's white-collar and investigations team. Her client appointments, many of which are sensitive and/or confidential, run the gamut from banks (and their executives and directors), pharmaceutical entities and educational institutions. Loretta Lynch comes equipped with private-practice experience as well as government credentials; she was the Attorney General at the Department of Justice from 2015-2017. Known primarily for her white-collar acumen, Lynch has recently been at the forefront of the firm's racial justice and equality initiatives, which, according to peers, "Paul Weiss has made a commitment to in a big way. They have three of the top black trial lawyers in New York, and Loretta is one of them." One peer testifes, "I had the opportunity to work closely with Loretta over the last few months, and she's fantastic. Her reputation precedes her." The firm augmented its roster of female litigation stars further this past year, with the addition of
Elizabeth Weiswasser to its bench. Weiswasser is an acclaimed figure in the intellectual property space, with a host of wins in the patent arena.
POMERANTZ
Emma Gilmore operates from the New York office of top plaintiff securities class-action shop Pomerantz. Gilmore logged a substantial, newsworthy and, for her, personally satisfying win in October 2022 when she scored a 50% recovery for investors in a class action against Deutsche Bank alleging that between 2018 and 2020, the bank made materially false and misleading statements about its anti-money-laundering deficiencies and didn’t properly monitor or give exemptions to customers it considered high risk, such as financier and accused sex offender Jeffrey Epstein as well as oligarchs and/or alleged terrorists and, to quote a peer, “highly unsavory figures that were kept on as clients because they generated millions in revenue.”
Murielle Steven Walsh scored a newsworthy corporate governance-related win in July 2021 when the District of Nevada court denied, in part, the defendants’ motions to dismiss the Second Amended Complaint in a securities fraud class-action arising from Wynn Resorts Limited’s concealment of a long-running pattern of alleged sexual misconduct by CEO and founder Steve Wynn against female employees of the company, which was confirmed by gaming regulators after a lightning-rod exposé via 2018 Wall Street Journal article. Steven Walsh also scored a win in January 2021 when she secured a nearly $4 million settlement on behalf of defrauded investors in Ormat, a US- and Israeli-based renewable energy entity.
PROSKAUER
Nationally recognized as a renowned force in employment litigation, Proskauer's Elise Bloom has extensive experience with taking employment cases to trial. In one recent matter representing Rockefeller University, she led the client in a four-week trial, and in another, she defended Major League Soccer in a lawsuit filed by a former professional soccer player and coach. A luminary in commercial litigation, Proskauer's
Margaret Dale maintains a diverse practice that covers all types of cases. She serves as head of the data privacy and cybersecurity practice group. Her casework has included bankruptcy litigation and she has been involved in handling the PROMESA case representing the Financial Oversight Management Board. The long-running case has developed numerous related disputes. Most recently, Dale and the team prevailed against the Governor and Legislature of Puerto Rico and bondholders of the Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority in separate cases. The lawsuit filed by the Governor and Legislature sought to nullify employment laws that violated the certified Fiscal Plan. Operating from Proskauer's Los Angeles and New York offices,
Sandra Crawshaw-Sparks is dedicated to entertainment litigation, an area in which the firm has historically maintained a niche. Her client roster consists of household names in the music, sports, and media industries.
SAUL EWING
Cathleen Devlin, resident in the Philadelphia office of Saul Ewing and the firm's head of litigation, serves as lead counsel defending Waste Management of Pennsylvania and Grand Central Sanitary Landfill in two putative class actions filed in by two groups of area residents, who alleged claims of negligence and public and private nuisance arising from alleged odors emanating from the client’s operations at a landfill.
SIMPSON THACHER & BARTLETT
Lynn Neuner in the New York office of Simpson Thacher maintains a practice that balances securities, insurance and a false advertising niche. She is a peer and client favorite, unanimously championed by contemporaries. A client praises her as “straightforward and transparent, extremely intelligent and knowledgeable.” Consistently recognized as one of Benchmark’s “Top 250 Women in Litigation” and one of the “Top 100 Trial Lawyers,” Neuner was also made Simpson’s co-chair of litigation in December 2021, the first woman to claim this role. Lori Lesser also operates from the New York office of Simpson Thacher, where she attends to a niche intellectual property practice that also encompasses entertainment, cyber-security and data protection."Lori is great, one of the few people at Simpson doing what she does," testifies a peer. "I worked with her on a licensing dispute regarding fragrances." In the DC office,
Sara Razi is an antitrust-focused lawyer known for attending to deals for private equity clients in strategic transactions, many of which are outside the US, as well as clients in industries ranging from energy to healthcare. Razi recently displayed her trial acumen in a challenge to the government on behalf of Change Healthcare. A peer exclaims, "I love Sara! That Change Healthcare trial was really hard; Sara took three witnesses in one day. Yes, she mostly works on the advisory side but she can and does try cases as well, as evidenced by this!"
SULLIVAN & CROMWELL
Based in New York, Sharon Nelles is the managing partner of Sullivan & Cromwell's ltigation group. She attends to a diverse commercial litigation practice, with much of it touching on areas such as securities and consumer-related actions. "Sharon is a strong personality and one of the best-known and most-liked litigators in the city," asserts a peer, echoing the sentiments of others. Based in the DC office,
Renata Hesse is the co-head of the firm's antitrust group. Her practice touches on merger-clearance and cartel work as well as "no-poach" and labor-fixing matters. Hesse also maintains a niche in the intersection of antitrust and intellectual property issues.
WACHTELL LIPTON ROSEN & KATZ
Elaine Golin is considered "a fantastic general litigator" at Wachtell and is someone who conducts a good deal of her practice outside of the M&A space for which the firm is so celebrated. Golin is part of a team acting as overarching strategic counsel, as well as resolution and corporate governance counsel, to Cardinal Health in connection with matters related to the broad and sweeping opioid epidemic.
Rachelle Silverberg is known as a go-to for Delaware corporate litiagtion. "Rachelle practically
lives in the Delaware Chancery Court," exclaims a peer. "She is very strong and active in a lot of cases."
Sarah Eddy has ascended to the status as one of the firm's most promising stars in the white-collar, regulatory and appeals space. "She rose to be Chief of Appeals, which is a big deal," confirms a peer. "She has really emerged as one of [Wachtell's] top-flight civil litigators. She can really write appellate briefs.
WILKINSON STEKLOFF
Beth Wilkinson, leader of her own DC-headquartered but nationally recognized litigation boutique Wilkinson Stekloff, is unanimously revered as an ace all-purpose generalist trial lawyer. Wilkinson has played, and continues to play, a lead counsel role in some of the country's biggest headline-grabbing matters over the years, across a spectrum of different practices. "Beth just continues to kill it," raves a peer, summing up the general consensus. "She is my role model of what a trial lawyer should be." Wilkinson's firm has apparently wasted no time in grooming other female trial lawyers as well, several of whom debut on the Top 250 list this year.
Cali Arat has gained considerable traction for her trial acument. "Cali is one of my favorite people," raves a peer. Another testifies, "She did an individual voir dire, and also led her own Roundup case. Bayer was so confident in her from the job she did in a previous Roundup trial that they started giving her more of a first-chair role."
Keri Arnold joined in September 2022 from the DC stronghold of a major "Big Law" firm and since then has hit the ground running. "She is set to try a case for Monsanto regarding Roundup," testifies a peer. Arnold is a member of the prestigious American College of Trial Lawyers. Moira Penza is a relatively new partner but has quickly made considerable strides and established her self as a trial force. Penza served as lead trial counsel for Altria in an adversarial administrative proceeding before the FTC, who alleged that Altria and e-cigarette giant JUUL violated the antitrust laws through Altria’s purchase of a minority interest in JLI and sought to require Altria to divest its interest in JLI.
WILLIAMS & CONNOLLY
Lisa Blatt is a nationally revered "superstar" of the appellate bar. "Lisa has a 'win-at-all-costs' mentality. Appellate courts don't 'split the baby.' They never settle. Lisa is ready for that, and she can do any kind of appeal - antitrust, pharmaceutical work, she even did the [DC-based NFL team] Redskins case!" While Blatt is considered to be "in her prime and nowhere near retirement," she is also "doing an exceptional job of building out the practice and grooming the next generation of Williams & Connolly appellate superstars." Heidi Hubbard is one of the firm's most revered and popular true trial lawyers. "We just love her," cheers a fellow universally beloved DC-based trial lawyer, who goes on to confirm, "She just had a reverse-payment win, which are so complicated and don’t go to trial very often. She has Amazon, just a ton of great work. [She is] Lovely to work with and super smart."
Enu Mainigi is a trial lawyer with a particular focus on the health care industry. As lead counsel for Cardinal Health, Mainigi scored a huge July 2022 win for the company in a federal bellwether trial in West Virginia in the massive litigation concerning opioids. This landmark win comes hot on the heels of a June 2021 trial victory for CVS in a hard-fought class-action litigation related to the company’s Health Savings Pass generic discount drug program.
Katherine Turner is the co-chair of Williams & Connolly's accountant liability and congressional investigations practice. Turner led a plum appointment representing Hillary Clinton before the House Select Committee on Benghazi. "This was a great experience for her," observes a peer, "and she put on a stellar performance."
WILMERHALE
Hallie Levin in the New York office of WilmerHale is a frequent mention as a standout in the commercial litigation and securities capacities. Levin is a fellow of the American College of Trial Lawyers and put her courtroom acuity on display when she led a team that secured a victory for T-Mobile following a five-day bench trial in Delaware Chancery Court in August 2021.
