Founded in 1920, Akerman is recognized as one of the country’s premier law firms, with more than 700 lawyers in 25 offices throughout the United States..
Commercial Litigation: Akerman offers a leading trial team that includes litigators across the United States. We represent a diverse range of clients across numerous sectors, with particular strength in the financial services, private equity, insurance, real estate, construction, health and life sciences, and energy sectors. Akerman lawyers regularly appear before judges and arbitrators in class actions, securities, white-collar, fraud and recovery, product liability, intellectual property, employment, bankruptcy, and general business matters.
Appellate: With a bench that includes many former appellate and trial court judges, Akerman’s appellate practice is a national powerhouse with demonstrated success in handling appeals related to complex commercial litigation. Akerman's appellate team frequently assist trial lawyers during all phases of litigation, preserving errors for appeal, drafting motions and responses, and providing strategic advice on the best approach for seeking relief on appeal. They handle numerous matters before appellate courts nationwide in various commercial cases and class actions. We also have experience in administrative appeals involving high profile issues before state agencies. Additionally, Akerman's appellate lawyers represent industry associations as amicus curiae in appellate proceedings when our clients are not a party to an appeal but have a substantial interest in the outcome.
International Litigation & Arbitration: Akerman has a long record of accomplishment in resolving complex multijurisdictional disputes. Our team represents multinational, foreign, and domestic corporations and individuals before U.S. federal and state courts, as well as in arbitration proceedings before a wide range of international arbitral bodies in multiple jurisdictions. Akerman litigators help clients successfully address conflicts in a broad range of sectors, including general commercial disputes, power and energy, construction and engineering, and banking and finance, among many others. Our highly responsive, multilingual team works in tandem with experienced local counsel to provide seamless resolution to disputes throughout Latin America, as well as in Europe, Asia Pacific, Africa, and the Middle East.
Employment Litigation: Akerman’s national, multidisciplinary team helps clients navigate claims brought before state and federal agencies and boards as well as trial and appellate courts throughout the United States. Our lawyers regularly defend employers in all types of employment litigation, including complex class-action discrimination cases and collective action wage and hour matters. We also represent employers in connection with administrative charges and audits, and have successfully negotiated and supervised numerous settlements with the U.S. Department of Labor.
Updated Sep 2024
Who We Are: Founded in October 2018, Reichman Jorgensen Lehman & Feldberg LLP (RJLF) boldly entered the market as a trial boutique with a national reach and an ambition to create a new standard for litigation firms. Focusing on high-stakes commercial litigation, intellectual property, and white collar disputes, the firm made national headlines for breaking away from many law firm traditions, including reinventing the practice of law without the billable hour in favor of fee arrangements that align client interests. RJLF also eliminated two other standard law firm features – the partnership track and lockstep compensation – in favor of systems that encourage attorneys to advance as quickly as their skills allow. The firm is committed to attracting and retaining the most elite talent in the legal industry and pays above market.
In another departure from industry norms, RJLF is truly diverse. The firm is majority women-owned, with 30% of its lawyers being racially and/or LGBTQ+ diverse. Since the firm’s launch, RJLF has been recognized in Law360’s annual “Glass Ceiling Report” for having more women equity partners than any other U.S. firm of its size. The firm also scored as the most gender diverse of all U.S. law firms in any size category, according to the percentage of women equity partners. RJLF was named a “Top Trial Boutique” and awarded “Silicon Valley Firm of the Year” for three consecutive years by Benchmark Litigation and recognized as an “Elite Boutique” by The National Law Journal.
Elite Talent Wins Cases: RJLF’s break from industry traditions obviously resonated with the market, as the firm’s size quickly expanded with marquee talent from several esteemed “Big Law” firms such as Finnegan Henderson; Hughes Hubbard & Reed; Allen & Overy; Morgan Lewis, & Bockius; and White & Case LLP, among many others.
Our attorneys are from the most prestigious clerkships, including the Supreme Court, the D.C. Circuit, the Federal Circuit, the 2nd, 6th, 7th, and 11th Circuits, and District Courts around the country, as well as prestigious law schools such as Harvard, Stanford, Yale, Columbia, Berkeley, NYU, and others. The firm’s lawyers have undergraduate and advanced technical degrees in diverse fields including electrical engineering, physics, computer science, computer networks, and biotechnology. RJLF’s lawyers have also been recognized as among the most accomplished trial lawyers by The American College of Trial Lawyers, Chambers USA, The Legal 500, The National Law Journal, Managing IP, and IAM Patent 1000: The World’s Leading Patent Practitioners, among many others.
Recent Achievements: Punching well above its weight, RJLF often goes toe-to-toe with some of the largest law firms in the world, including Skadden Arps, Morrison & Foerster, Gibson Dunn, and Baker Hostetler, among others. Highlights of the firm’s trial prowess and recent significant wins include:
Pro Bono: RJLF is deeply committed to public interest litigation. We understand that our privilege of being trial lawyers naturally involves representing those in need, whether it’s high-profile impact litigation or a person who will be evicted from an apartment. We also collaborate and work side-by-side with our clients to develop targeted pro bono and community service programs. Our pro bono activities include handling cases involving civil rights, immigration, prison abuse, indigent defence, homelessness, and veterans’ issues, among others.
Offices:
California
100 Marine Parkway, Suite 300
Redwood Shores, CA 94065
T: +1 650 623 1401
W: reichmanjorgensen.com
New York
400 Madison Avenue, Suite 14D
New York, NY 10017
T: +1 212 381 1965
Atlanta
1201 West Peachtree Street, Suite 2300
Atlanta, GA 30309
T: +1 404 609 1040
Austin
515 Congress Avenue, Suite 1900
Austin, TX 78701
T: + 650 623 1401
Updated Oct 2024
King & Spalding helps leading companies advance complex business interests in more than 160 countries. Working across a highly integrated platform of more than 1,300 lawyers in 24 offices globally, we deliver tailored commercial solutions through world-class offerings and an uncompromising approach to quality and service.
Trial and Global Disputes: Our experienced disputes lawyers try and arbitrate high-stakes cases every year across the globe in the most challenging jurisdictions for corporate clients. Recognized for creativity, meticulous preparation, and top-rate advocacy, our lawyers help clients navigate the litigation lifecycle, working together from day one to identify business objectives, develop a strategy to meet those objectives, and then execute that strategy. With more than 450 lawyers in 17 offices worldwide, we are uniquely able to staff and manage large and cross-border disputes from filing, to trial, and through appeal. Our lawyers have a variety of expertise across substantive areas, including Appellate Law, Class Action Defense, Commercial Litigation, Construction & Engineering Disputes, Corporate & Securities Litigation, E-Discovery, Insolvency Litigation, Insurance Coverage & Recovery, Intellectual Property, International Arbitration, Labor & Employment, Product Liability, Professional Liability, and Toxic & Environmental Torts. Working together—one area of expertise informing another—our disputes lawyers provide clients with seamless and efficient representation in the most complex and sensitive matters.
Capabilities:
Government Matters: Clients ranging from Fortune Global 50 corporations to high-profile individuals in every region of the world entrust King & Spalding’s Government Matters practice to guide them through rapidly changing regulatory landscapes, complex investigations by U.S. and foreign enforcement authorities, highly sensitive internal investigations and related, often parallel civil proceedings.
Hundreds of lawyers across the United States, Europe and Asia bring decades of prior government service and industry experience to our regulatory and investigative practices, which serve the financial services, pharmaceutical and medical device, healthcare, energy, automotive and technology sectors in particular. The team includes six U.S. Attorneys, 24 Assistant U.S. Attorneys, and former senior officials from the highest ranks in regulatory and enforcement organizations that are most significant to our clients.
Our experienced team includes former leaders at the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, the Environmental Protection Agency, the Food and Drug Administration, the Federal Trade Commission, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, the Internal Revenue Service, the Department of Commerce, the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority, the Bank of England, the U.K’s Financial Reporting Council and the World Trade Organization.
Capabilities:
Corporate, Finance and Investments: Our Corporate, Finance and Investments team brings a collaborative approach to help clients execute complex, high-value transactions. We have a fully integrated platform with more than 330 lawyers in 17 offices, offering clients the benefit of global specialists with local knowledge and industry expertise. We work side by side with our clients to execute transactions efficiently and effectively—we understand what matters to both our clients and opposite parties and we explain the actual, practical risks to our clients.
Capabilities:
Updated Sep 2024
Sanford Heisler Sharp McKnight is a nationwide, plaintiffs-side law firm that was founded in 2004 by David Sanford and Jeremy Heisler to litigate public interest and social justice cases that make a significant difference in society. In 2017, Kevin Sharp, a former Chief Judge of the United States District for the Middle District of Tennessee, joined the firm as its third named partner. In 2024, H. Vincent McKnight Jr., Co-Chair of the firm’s Whistleblower and Qui Tam Practice Group, became a fourth named partner.
David Sanford has served as lead counsel in more than 50 class actions and numerous significant qui tam fraud cases; he has represented over 100 general counsel, in-house counsel, and lawyers in claims against their law firms and companies. Over the course of his 42-year legal career, Jeremy Heisler has achieved notable success in employment, civil rights, and consumer class actions and complex multiparty and multistate litigation, producing hundreds of millions of dollars in settlements to class members and individuals. Judge Sharp has nearly 30 years of experience litigating and/or presiding over complex civil litigation cases, qui tam and whistleblower matters, products liability claims, malpractice cases, class action matters, ERISA claims, and civil rights matters. H. Vincent McKnight Jr. is a leading voice on whistleblower law who has generated approximately $5 billion for the U.S. government and clients during the past ten years.
The firm has offices in New York, Washington, D.C., Palo Alto, San Francisco, San Diego, and Nashville. The firm has recovered over a billion dollars for its clients, and continues to move the needle in high-profile, precedent-setting litigation not only by winning significant compensation, but also through achieving real change in companies and institutions to create a more equitable environment and enlightened management policies.
The firm is committed to helping and giving a voice to disadvantaged groups and individuals, assisting whistleblowers litigate their claims, representing employees seeking relief from employers’ retirement fund mismanagement and abuses, and advocating for employees and executives in a wide range of employment disputes, including severance negotiations, wrongful termination, retaliation, wage and hour violations, sexual harassment, and gender, sexual orientation, race, national origin, and disability discrimination. The firm also promotes social and economic change by increasing media awareness and stimulating public dialogue.
The firm’s lawyers are successful in protecting plaintiffs’ rights in federal and state courts, in settlement negotiations, and in arbitrations nationwide. The firm has forged ahead, often against the odds, and achieved success against major technology firms, including Oracle, Western Digital, and Alaska Communication Systems; pharmaceutical giants like Merck, Novartis, Sanofi, and others; premier law firms in the United States such as Chadbourne & Parke (now Norton Rose Fulbright), Sedgwick, Morrison & Foerster, and Proskauer Rose; and top universities, including Dartmouth College, Columbia University, New York University, and the University of Arizona. The firm has waged and won lawsuits that have protected thousands of employees’ rights to have their 401(k) retirement plans appropriately managed as required by the federal Employee Retirement Income Security Act (“ERISA”).
The firm excels at holding institutions accountable when they cause harm, consistently advocating for victims of discrimination, harassment, and sexual assault, including employees at Fortune 500 companies, attorneys in Big Law, and university faculty and students, and routinely pursues cases against institutions such as schools, daycares, and religious institutions that fail to keep children safe from sexual abuse.
Most firms would shy away from challenging the most powerful interests in society. Sanford Heisler Sharp McKnight has taken on the largest corporations in the world and has succeeded.
Among the Firm’s Notable Successes.
In re: GE ERISA: In 2024, the United States District Court for the District of Massachusetts granted final approval of a $61 million settlement of a nationwide class action lawsuit against General Electric (“GE”). Our firm originated the lawsuit, filed under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) in 2017, alleging that GE failed to offer any alternative investments to its own proprietary, under-performing mutual funds in its employee 401(k) plan. Our firm regularly represents employees invested in 401(k) plans against their employers for alleged breaches of ERISA, including by allowing investment advisors to charge plans unreasonable fees and for failing to monitor and remove poorly performing investment options.
Crime Victims’ Rights Appeal: On August 30, 2024, the Maryland Supreme Court ordered the Baltimore City Circuit Court to conduct a new hearing to determine whether Adnan Syed’s 1999 conviction for the murder of Hae Min Lee, the subject of the podcast “Serial,” should be vacated. Our appeal on behalf of Ms. Lee’s brother, Young Lee, argued that the Circuit Court violated Mr. Lee’s constitutional and statutory rights as a crime victim’s representative in 2022 by failing to give Mr. Lee adequate notice to appear, hear the evidence overturning Mr. Syed’s conviction, and comment meaningfully on whatever evidence the state could produce in support of vacating Mr. Syed’s conviction.
Robinson v. De Niro and Canal Productions: In 2023, in the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York, a jury found Canal Productions liable for gender discrimination and retaliation and awarded our client, Graham Chase Robinson, $1.2 million. Ms. Robinson was Robert De Niro’s former longtime executive assistant. The jury also rejected Canal’s counter-claims of conversion, breach of fiduciary duty, and breach of the duty of loyalty.
Military Sexual Assault: The firm is representing 18 John Doe plaintiffs in Federal Tort Claims Act (FTCA) administrative complaints against the U.S. Department of the Army and the U.S. Department of Defense (collectively, “the Army”). The FTCA complaints seek to hold the Army responsible for failing to protect the plaintiffs from being sexually abused by an Army doctor who has been criminally charged for the sexual abuse of numerous soldiers and veterans in his care at Joint Base Lewis-McChord in Tacoma, Washington.
Whistleblower/Qui Tam: In 2023, our firm and the U.S. government settled a whistleblower action under the False Claims Act (FCA) with International Vitamin Corporation (“IVC”), a leading importer of dietary supplements. As part of the settlement, IVC agreed to pay the U.S. government $22.865 million to resolve claims that it systematically skirted customs duties on thousands of imports of nutritional supplements from China between 2015 and 2019 by fraudulently reporting incorrect tariff classifications and duty rates on the imports. The Complaint also alleged that IVC knew that it had evaded more than $10 million in duties but failed to inform the government and pay the duties as required under applicable law.
United States Marshals Service: In 2024, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) granted final approval of a $15 million settlement in a nearly 30-year-long race discrimination class action alleging that the United States Marshals Service (“USMS”) discriminated against African Americans in its promotions, recruitment, and hiring policies for Deputy U.S. Marshals positions. As part of the settlement, the USMS agreed to institute significant programmatic reforms to its hiring practices.
Updated Oct 2024