Barack Ferrazzano Kirschbaum & Nagelberg
Barack Ferrazzano Kirschbaum & Nagelberg, based in Chicago and Minnesota, is a litigation group that specializes in the motor vehicle and luxury goods industries. The firm keeps its teams lean with an eye toward achieving the client’s goals without delays. The firm’s in-house eDiscovery technology allows it to manage data while reducing client costs. Clients include financial institutions, manufacturers, REITs, hedge funds, law firms, and consumer goods companies.
Robert Shapiro is among the firm’s multi-disciplined litigators and has experience in intellectual property, antitrust, and commercial competition disputes. He focuses on serving clients in the fashion and luxury retail sectors. Shapiro recently defended Sephora in a class action in the U.S. District Court, claiming that “Clean at Sephora” labels are misleading because some products with that language contain synthetic and/or allegedly harmful ingredients. Shapiro argued that the label isn’t misleading because “Clean at Sephora” is conspicuously defined to mean that only certain and specific ingredients are natural. The court found in Sephora’s favor.
Shapiro and Maile Hitomi Solís, a co-chair of the firm’s litigation group, are lead counsel defending luxury designer brand Christian Dior in a Biometric information Privacy Act (BIPA) lawsuit alleging that the “virtual try-on” feature for eyewear collects BIPA-regulated biometric information in violation of the law. The team obtained a dismissal at district court, and it was ruled that the feature was not in violation of BIPA.
Solís acts as national counsel to Louis Vuitton and joined the team, led by Owen Smith, in defense of the luxury client against a putative class action. The lawsuit alleged antitrust claims, specifically that Vuitton’s “no-hire agreements” impede competition and compensation for employees within the high-end retail market. Solís and Smith took the lead in the briefing with the co-defendants and secured a dismissal with prejudice earlier this year. A decision from the Second Circuit is pending.
Smith also chairs the motor vehicle group that specializes in handling litigation for industry-leading motor vehicle companies. In Illinois, Smith is challenging the constitutionality of the Multiplier Act, an amendment to the Motor Vehicle Franchise Act that changed how much manufacturers must reimburse dealers for warranty services and restricts them from recovering costs associated with the act. The case is being litigated, and Smith is seeking an injunction and a declaration that the amendment is unconstitutional on behalf of Volkswagen.
Connor Grant’s complex litigation experience includes class actions and contract disputes. He joined Solís and Smith in the Louis Vuitton case and teamed up with Shapiro in the defense of Christian Dior Perfumes in a false advertising Class Action. Dior sold two foundation products that referenced “24H Foundation” and “24H Wear” on its front packaging. The plaintiff alleged that consumers were misled into believing that the sunscreen would also last for 24 hours. The judge dismissed all claims with prejudice.
Bartlit Beck
Bartlit Beck is celebrated among peers for forging a template of what many aspire to; the firm’s name is one of the most frequently referenced by maverick litigators who calve off of larger “Big Law” institutions and forge their own shops. One peer declares, “They set the standard for litigation boutiques in the US. Most people setting up litigation shops owe at least some debt to Bartlit Beck, whether they know it or not.” Ironically, the runaway success that the firm has experienced with its business model has caused it to outgrow its “boutique” status; the firm now has more than 40 partners practicing in its offices in Chicago and Denver. “Yes, they’re like a boutique on steroids now,” sums up one peer. “The big difference between them and a boutique is that it’s not ‘eat-what-you-kill’ and it’s not just a ‘one-star’ system. They have the bench depth! They don’t need to take on all the cases to make a lot of money, they can just take the lead on two or three and just do a great job on them. That puts the client more at ease because they feel like they will get more attention.”
While Bartlit Beck has arguably demonstrated its most high-profile successes in the fields of product liability, intellectual property and antitrust, the firm’s generalist approach has ensured that it is certainly not limited to these practices by any means.
While the firm’s legacy as a gold-standard trial-centric litigation powerhouse remains unchanged throughout the years, one noticeable change that has played out is the transition of generational talent and the work being managed by these groomed ranks of personnel. Based in the Denver office, Kat Hacker led Bayer-Monsanto to a victorious verdict in a trial in Missouri concerning allegations of the client’s Roundup herbicide causing cancer. “The snowball momentum has continued for Kat Hacker,” observes a peer. “Bartlit Beck in general seems very busy, and Kat in particular has been very impressive.” Hacker serves as lead national coordinating counsel on fraudulent-transfer claims for three DuPont entities in over 6,000 cases pending across the country related to per- and poly-fluoroalkyl substances (PFAS). In these cases, plaintiffs allege that DuPont engaged in a series of corporate transactions to try to fraudulently transfer assets to avoid paying potential judgments. “These are ugly, nasty cases, but Kat doesn’t flinch from them!” Also based in Denver, Karma Giulianelli has emerged as what peers identify as “an antitrust rockstar, who is also doing plaintiff work!” In one such example of this, Giulianelli represented a class of consumers that purchased applications and in-app products on Android-compatible mobile devices in a case against Google, alleging monopolization of the application distribution market for Android devices and the associated aftermarket for in-app purchases. The case alleged that through a series of contractual restrictions and other anticompetitive conduct, Google's Play Store obtained a monopoly over the distribution of applications, allowing Google to generally charge a 30% commission for all application and "in-app" purchases. Following Giulianelli’s appointment as lead counsel, many State Attorneys' General followed suit, and the teams worked together on a novel joint prosecution effort, which culminated in a settlement prior to a planned trial.
In the Chicago office, Rebecca Weinstein Bacon continues to enjoy a status as a peer favorite on the strength of her versatility and trial acuity across a spectrum of practice areas. Bacon and Chicago future star
Luke Beasley triumphed for Align Technology in two AAA Arbitrations and confirmation proceedings. Both concerned breach-of-contract claims related to Strategic Supply and Operating Agreements between Align Technology and SmileDirectClub In one case, Align was the defendant; in the other, Align was the plaintiff.
Sean Gallagher represents Hamilton Sundstrand in a series of personal-injury lawsuits alleging exposure to trichloroethylene (TCE) due to the operation of an industrial facility that a predecessor company owned and operated during the 1970s and 1980s. TCE was detected in the community water supply in the late 1990s and it has been detected in area soil and groundwater as well as ambient air in nearby houses. The plaintiffs in these cases include former employees and area residents with various injuries and ailments that they attribute to occupational or environmental exposures to TCE. A trial was held in August 2023, and a Missouri jury returned a complete defense verdict later that month. A peer insists, “You need to recognize Jason Peltz – he is the managing partner there, but he also has his own very cutting-edge litigation on the go.” Peltz and
Hamilton Hill represented Collins Aerospace in a suit brought by Boeing for breach of contract and warranty. Boeing alleged that Collins (a supplier) breached certain contracts related to components Collins provided for the CST-100 Starliner Space Vehicle. The parties settled their dispute in late 2023. Peltz and
Brian Swanson also act for Raytheon in another breach-of-contract case brought by Boeing in Missouri Circuit Court relating to landing gear, avionics, and other various components on the F-15 and F/A-18 fighter jets. The case was settled in late 2023.
DiCello Levitt
Since its 2017 formation, DiCello Levitt has emerged as one the most expansive and diverse plaintiff shops. Foregoing a linear path devoted entirely to one practice area more typically seen at other plaintiff firms, DiCello manages a portfolio of cases dedicated to a host of novel issues without sacrificing quality control. “One thing that impresses me about DiCello is that they take on more than many other plaintiff firms would, but they do this well and they avoid the ‘BS’ cases,” observes a peer. “I won’t mention any names but other firms who take this approach and wind up bringing a bunch of weak junk that is embarrassing to the plaintiff bar. DiCello doesn’t do this – they are very analytical about the cases they work up.” With offices in New York, Chicago, Birmingham, Cleveland, and Washington DC, DiCello Levitt may bear the formal features of a boutique, but its team of litigators continues to outpace the competition in its weight class year after year.
The firm recently made a push in the antitrust area, with the auspicious addition of New York’s Greg Asciolla to the firm from plaintiff shop Labaton Sucharow, which made a strategic decision to return to its core areas of securities class actions. “Those are some good people they got,” observes one contemporary, “and those antitrust people are getting a more supportive platform here than they got [at their former firm].” Asciolla leads a firm team that, acting with several other firms, filed a landmark antitrust case on behalf of a class of players and associations against several US and Canadian hockey leagues, aimed at exposing what plaintiffs allege to be egregiously anticompetitive collusion that targets teenage hockey players across North America. Specifically, the plaintiffs allege that the leagues conspired to restrain competition for players, rendering them nothing more than the property of the major junior teams that draft them, and compensate those players at artificially suppressed, noncompetitive levels.
Firm mainstays and founding partners Adam Levitt of Chicago and Cleveland’s Mark DiCello continue to serve in pivotal roles. Levitt, a complex commercial and securities specialist, is identified by a client as “exceptionally bright and creative.” The same client also notes that, “He gets along well with people and is committed to the highest ethical standards. His work is first rate.” Levitt’s practice focuses on complex multidistrict commercial matters, public client representation, and class-action representation across several industries. DiCello, on the other hand, is recognized for his personal injury and mass tort expertise. Levitt represented certified and proposed statewide classes of vehicle owners who purchased GM SUVs with defective V8 5.3-liter engines that allegedly consume an excessive amount of oil, resulting in engine damage and malfunction. Despite having long known of the oil consumption defect, GM failed to disclose it to purchasers and lessees and has refused to offer an effective repair. By so doing, GM has breached its warranties, committed fraud, and violated state consumer protection laws. Levitt has filed 12 class-action lawsuits on behalf of purchasers and lessees of GM vehicles with the defective 5.3-liter engines. In the Northern District of California, Levitt successfully moved for certification of Idaho, California, and North Carolina classes, achieving a $102.6 million verdict for those three states in October 2022. In another automotive-related action, Levitt represents plaintiffs who allege that the Nissan vehicles, including Rogue and Rogue Sport, have defective emergency braking systems that are prone to sudden, unintended brake activation when there are no hazardous objects in the vehicles’ path, posing a substantial risk. After overcoming a September 2022 motion to dismiss, Levitt and his team triumphed in securing class certification in 10 states in March 2023.
In Chicago, Amy Keller serves as DiCello Levitt’s privacy, technology, and cybersecurity practice chair, her focuses accordingly lying in data security and consumer privacy matters. Keller, along with Levitt, worked as one of the teams acting on behalf of more than 300 million customers who were impacted by a data breach announced by Marriott Hotels in 2018, resulting in dozens of nationwide class action lawsuit filings across the US. The plaintiffs’ successful 2022 certification of the case was overturned on appeal before finally being recertified in November 2023. Keller made her fourth consecutive appearance as one of Benchmark’s Top 250 Women in Litigation this year, an accomplishment all the more impressive due to her being considered one of the youngest nominees.
In the firm’s Birmingham office, Diandra “Fu” Debrosse took infant formula entities Abbott and Mead Johnson to task, representing a class of families who suffered premature infant births owing to the defendants’ formulas greatly increasing the risk of a severe gastrointestinal disorder that causes intestinal tissue death and can be fatal. Debrosse also led the filing of the first three lawsuits in the US alleging that long-term exposure to hair relaxers made by Revlon, L’Oréal, and others causes uterine cancer and other significant health problems. In November 2023, the court materially denied the defendants’ motion to dismiss and granted the plaintiffs the ability to continue prosecuting this multidistrict litigation.
Kirkland & Ellis
Kirkland & Ellis has steadily risen from its roots in Chicago (where it remains a dominant brand) to become an international powerhouse. “Kirkland is a very formidable firm – [they have] a lot of talent. They have a lot of really solid people. There’s just something ‘cool and tough’ about them that you just can’t touch.”
One of the larger and more comprehensive litigation capacities, Kirkland stands out as a firm that that boasts bench strength and high-level appointments in virtually every area of practice it offers, which include (but are not limited to) securities, antitrust, product liability, appeals, intellectual property, white-collar and investigations, commercial litigation, and bankruptcy, with the last being an area in which the firm is particularly dominant. “In bankruptcy, it’s Kirkland every day – they have to be at the top,” insists one peer, himself a leader in this practice. “I would specifically point to
Mike Slade as a leader here – he takes some of the hardest bankruptcy cases around.”
Kirkland is also noted for housing several leaders in the trial law specialty. To that end, perhaps the biggest news is the 2023 return to Kirkland of
James Hurst, a famed and prolific Chicago-based trial luminary noted for prodigious courtroom acumen who took a multi-year hiatus. Hurst
represented Abbott Laboratories and its affiliate, Abbott Molecular., in a lawsuit alleging gender and race discrimination brought by an African-American female and former employee of Abbott. Hurst prevailed on the clients’ behalf in September 2023. Another of the firm’s marquis trial lawyers, DC’s Mike Brock(who has been consistently ranked as one of Benchmark’s Top 100 Trial Lawyers since its inception in 2014) led a team along with Chicago’s
Leslie Smith and Anne Sidrys representing 3M Company and its subsidiary Aearo Technologies in product liability litigation concerning 3M’s allegedly defective dual-ended Combat Arms Earplugs. In 2021, the Kirkland team secured a complete defense verdict in the second and fifth bellwether trials in this massive and headline-grabbing litigation. Operating from the firm’s Los Angeles and San Francisco offices, all-purpose commercial litigator
Mark Holscher is another of the firm’s trial stars – one who makes his debut on the Top 100 list this year. A local candidate on this list testifies, “Mark is terrific. He’s now on the plaintiff’s side and become a thorn in the side of entertainment studios.” Holscher is representing Stable Road Acquisition in a purported consolidated securities class action arising from a merger, as well as an SEC action involving the CEO and founder of the merger candidate entity.
Domestically, Kirkland has exhibited a remarkable level of growth in its New York office in particular. Kirkland came into this market and started knocking over furniture and not asking permission, just taking it,” quips one contemporary, summing up the firm’s explosive growth in the city. “We do a lot of work with them, and they send us work. They can’t be adverse to most of the private-equity firms that matter, but they have become an utter juggernaut in the New York market. More than anyone, they are responsible for the cultural shift in New York firms – there is a poaching war going on between them and some ‘white-shoe’ firms that I’m sure are historically not used to having their dominance challenged!” Many credit
Sandra Goldstein, a litigation powerhouse and “straight shooter,” for this phenomenon. “Sandra has not only a terrific reputation but a sizeable book of business,” states one peer. “She has a carousel of securities and Delaware-related litigation on the go. But she also benefits from having the Kirkland machine and a great team that is coming under her and, at this point, with her – people like
Stefan Atkinson, Rachel Fritzlerand Matthew Solum. They are all junior to Sandra but absolutely critical and playing major roles.” A peer elaborates, “Stefan Atkinson is a young guy that is very strong in Delaware.” The duo of Golstein and Atkinson prevailed in affirming a judgment entered in favor of Constellation Brands in a case in which Mexican beer brand Modelo brought suit against Constellation, the holder of a perpetual license to use the Corona and Modelo trademarks on “Beer” in the US, alleging that Constellation’s new Corona Hard Seltzer and Modelo Ranch Water products fell outside the scope of the license because hard seltzers are not beer. A peer insists, “You’ve got to look at [the New York office of] Kirkland harder for securities work! Just at the moment they’ve got GrubHub. Jeld-Wen. Six Flags. Honeywell…shall I go on?”Solum in particular is identified as “a securities star in the making,” with one peer stating, “We are seeing him everywhere and not just in one specific type of securities case, either. He’s got M&A work, derivative work, class actions, you name it.” Solum represents Avalara and certain of its former directors in putative securities class action arising from Vista Equity Partners’ $8.4 billion take-private acquisition of Avalara. Solum also represents Avalara in a related petition brought by Avalara against dissenting shareholders to determine the fair value of shares. Another New York partner, in the intellectual property space,
Dale Cendali represented Take-Two Interactive Software in a copyright infringement lawsuit brought by a tattoo artist related to the depictions of NBA players LeBron James, Danny Green and Tristan Thompson in Take-Two’s popular NBA 2K video game series. Take-Two designs each of the NBA players’ avatars with an eye toward realism, which requires including the players’ real-world tattoos on their virtual avatars in NBA 2K. The plaintiff claimed that the inclusion in NBA 2K of six tattoos he inked on these three NBA players amounted to copyright infringement. At trial, the Cendali and her team argued (among other things) that the inclusion of these nearly imperceptible tattoos in the massive video games is de minimis, a fair use, and covered by a license from LeBron James. In April 2024, the jury returned a verdict of no infringement.
Latham & Watkins
· 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.”
Loeb & Loeb
A full-service firm with a national – and global – footprint, Loeb & Loeb provides a wide array of legal services through its six offices in the US and two in China. In litigation specifically, the firm has deep ties to the entertainment industry. “It’s really time to take a closer look at Loeb & Loeb,” says one contemporary. “For entertainment litigation, they are really quite dominant. They have some strong connections there, some very high-profile clients.”
Not surprisingly, much of this is serviced by practitioners in its Los Angeles office. A team of Loeb litigators, led by partner
Jim Curry, represents CBS in litigation relating to the popular daytime television program “Judge Judy,” including defending CBS against first-of-their-kind cases involving claims that a sale of a television library should trigger a “buy-out” of the profit participant’s interest. The Loeb team also previously defended CBS against a related case where a former agent and profit participant sought a declaration that Judge Judy’s salary is too high and should not be deducted as a profit participation. Curry and his team won the case on appeal of the granting of summary judgment to CBS.
LA partners John Gatti and
Lauren Fried represent Miramax and its related licensees, including Amazon and Walmart, among others, in a suit brought by a photographer that claimed to own the rights to an iconic photograph of Uma Thurman used in a poster for the movie “Pulp Fiction,” which Miramax produced. After decades of Miramax licensing the image, the photographer claimed for the first time in his 2020 lawsuit that he owned the photograph, that Miramax had no right to exploit the photo in any way, and that Miramax and each of its licensees were liable for copyright infringement. The Loeb team successfully secured an order that the photographer was late in filing any copyright registration, thereby limiting the alleged damages. Gatti and Fried also represent singer/songwriter Tracy Chapman in a copyright-infringement case based on rapper and songwriter Nicki Minaj’s sampling of Chapman’s works without permission. On summary judgment, the district court found triable issues of fact as to whether Minaj could be held liable on Chapman’s distribution claim and set a date for trial. Minaj subsequently agreed to pay Chapman the full amount of damages sought and judgment was entered in the federal court case in Chapman’s favor for nearly half a million dollars.
Operating from the firm’s New York office,
Barry Slotnick and Tal Dickstein represent a group of six music publishers in a copyright-infringement action against the owners and operators of the website Wolfgangs.com, an online collection of recordings of thousands of live concert performances. The collections consisted primarily of audio and audiovisual recordings of concert performances from the 1960s to the 2000s by artists such as the Rolling Stones, The Who and the Grateful Dead. Defendants acquired the concert recordings primarily from the concert promoters and concert venues that recorded the concerts. Defendants converted those recordings to digital format and made them available for streaming or download to subscribers of their websites. The music publishers asserted that defendants’ exploitation of the recordings constituted copyright infringement of more than 200 works to which they owned the copyrights. Dickstein and Slotnick also defended UMG Recordings, PeerMusic and Warner Records, the publishers and record labels for the hit song “You Raise Me Up,” which was initially released by the Irish band Secret Garden in 2001, and then released by the US performing artist Josh Groban in 2003. The plaintiff, an Icelandic songwriter, claims “You Raise Me Up” infringes an Icelandic song titled “Soknudur.”
Polsinelli
Polsinelli has grown beyond its Kansas City roots to inhabit various strategic locations throughout the country. The firm’s aggressive expansion over the years has equipped it with breadth and depth in many areas of litigation, while still maintaining its premier reputation as a go-to litigation firm for the healthcare industry.
Chicago’s Mary Clare Bonaccorsi
previously served as Polsinelli’s Cross-Department Litigation Chair, while keeping an active practice mainly focusing on the healthcare industry, routinely leading high-stakes corporate internal investigations for clients in healthcare and the pharmaceutical industry. Additionally, her casework often involves false claims act litigation in both state and federal courts throughout the country.
Thomas Gemmell and Daniel Reinberg join Bonaccorsi in the Chicago office. Gemmell’s practice mixes IP and business litigation. He leads several industry-specific practices, serving as lead of the unmanned systems and advanced robotics practice and co-lead of both the aviation practice and the transportation and logistics practice. Reinberg like Bonaccorsi concentrates his practice on the healthcare industry.
John Peterson bridges a geographic and practice divide, practicing in Nashville and Chattanooga as well as Los Angeles, Peterson is a commercial litigator with vast experience in securities as well as real estate, and he is yet another Polsinelli partner devoted to healthcare litigation, an industry essential to Tennessee's economy. New addition to this year’s Litigation Star ranking is Atlanta-based partner
Kurt Erskine. His practice’s focus is white collar crime, both investigating and litigating cases against state and federal entities. He is leading a healthcare company through a civil rights investigation conducted by the Department of Justice. Beyond the healthcare industry, Erskine is handling securities and insider trading fraud investigations by the SEC and DOJ, as well as a fraud case filed by the FBI and DOJ.
Farah Nicol operates out of the firm’s Raleigh and Los Angeles offices and serves chair of the firm’s litigation department -- the first leader to not be based in Kansas City, the firm’s mainstay. Nicol’s primary focus is on product liability and toxic tort litigation.
Rounding out the South, Dallas partner
Adrienne Frazior debuts this year as a Litigation Star. She leads government investigations with an added expertise in employee benefits. Currently, Frazior defends companies that managed and administered self-funded health benefit plans in a Department of Labor investigation and subsequent litigation. She also defends a company in a matter alleging violations of Missouri Sunshine Laws, initiated by the state’s Attorney General.
Polsinelli has maintained a commitment to upholding its labor and employment practice.
Denise Drake, chair of the labor and employment practice, is among the firm’s leading, Missouri-based litigators. Drake is a leader through and through – leading the practice, the expansion into growing markets, and clients in their disputes. She has been consistently distinguished as a Labor & Employment Star since its inception, maintaining the status with a roster of notable class action disputes. Los Angeles litigator
September Rea serves as the firm’s arbitration and dispute resolution vice chair, with Colorado-based
Donald Samuels serving alongside her as chair. . Rea leads the California-based lawsuits arising from an investigation into allegations of C-suite misconduct that included abuse, harassment, retaliation and unfair competition. The case has spanned Italy, California, and Texas. Dallas’ Angelo Spinola specializes in handling labor and employment disputes on behalf of clients in the home health industry, particularly hospice and homecare companies. He recently resolved a lawsuit alleging violations of the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) challenging the company’s alleged practice of not including certain nondiscretionary bonuses in the regular rate when calculating overtime pay.
Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan
Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan continues to reign supreme as the ubiquitous litigation juggernaut it set out to be upon its genesis. The firm name’s official subtitle of “Trial lawyers” makes no bones about its agenda, and the firm has fulfilled this boast with what has been observed as typical aplomb. The firm has placed as one of Benchmark’s Top 20 Trial Firms since that list’s inception, and no fewer than four of its attorneys have consistently been recognized in Benchmark’s Top 100 Trial Lawyers in America, an enviable percentage. “If you’re in the litigation game, not only do you know Quinn Emanuel but you are seeing them, and chances are good that you’re seeing them a lot. They just perennially acquire talent,” is how one peer sums up the firm’s dominant position, further confirming, “I know I certainly do. If I’m out with fellow litigators, they are sure to come up in conversation – I’m forever going, ‘Ah, I knew you were going to bring them up!’” With offices in New York, DC, Boston, Miami, Chicago, Houston, and in several venues throughout California, the firm’s geographic footprint has grown to further showcase its bench depth. The firm leaves no stone unturned when it comes to litigation services either; nearly every practice area is touched on by its expansive roster of partners, with particular pockets of strength in the areas of bankruptcy, white-collar crime, antitrust, intellectual property and commercial litigation. “Subject-matter expertise is down to each individual – but either way Quinn breeds you to fight in court, period.”
The firm has historically found itself in the national headlines for its role in milestone cases, and this year was no exception.
Stephen Swedlow, a Chicago-based partner, led a team that recently obtained judgments against the US government in precedent-setting litigation from July 2020, recovering $3.7 billion for health insurance companies under the Affordable Care Act concerning the “risk corridors” created by the act. This eye-popping sum is even more remarkable considering that it was on a contingency basis. On the strength of this, Swedlow not only makes his debut as a litigation star in this edition of Benchmark, but also wins a coveted position among the Top 100 Trial Lawyers. Another consistent placer on the Top 100 Trial Lawyers list, New York’s Michael Carlinsky led long-time client AIG to a February 2022 victory (which also made the news) by getting a policyholder’s claim for $27.5 million worth of coverage tied to a settlement with the State of Texas denied. Carlinsky and his team argued that the policyholder had structured a settlement with the State of Texas for Medicaid fraud in a fashion that was intentionally designed to mask a contract case, which would allow for coverage. Yet another Top 100 Trial Lawyer, Los Angeles’ Bill Price is viewed favorably by several other candidates on this privileged list. “I think the world of him, he’s the best,” offers one peer, summing up the general consensus. Price’s recent client list includes Elon Musk, for whom Price scored in December 2019 in the defamation case brought against him by one of the rescuers of 12 children trapped in a cave in Thailand, after Musk referred to him as “pedo guy” following an online spat. Just weeks later, Price logged another win, in the plaintiff capacity, in an IP case in which he represented the California Institute of Technology in a patent dispute with Apple. Price chalked up a whopping $1.1 billion verdict for his client.
The firm’s bankruptcy practice is viewed by peers in the restructuring capacity as “one of those rare instances where they have actual bankruptcy trial lawyers, as opposed to just corporate or hybrid restructuring people.” This same peer elaborates further on the flinty approach employed by these practitioners, which include Susheel Kirpalani – a near-constant mention: “These are the bomb throwers, the people you think of when you’re going, ‘Who do I call when I need a rabid dog?’”
While the firm is certainly better known for its trial-level work, its appellate work – and particularly that of New York-based luminary Kathleen Sullivan – has also prominently featured in newsworthy matters. In December 2021, Sullivan, along with future stars Rollo Baker and William Adams, scored when they persuaded the Delaware Supreme Court to uphold a trial court decision allowing client Mirae Asset to walk away from a $5.8 billion deal to buy luxury hotels based on the seller’s breach of an “ordinary course” covenant. This decision, delivered via an en banc ruling, upheld what is reported to be only the second decision ever from the Court of Chancery allowing a buyer to back out of a merger.
Saul Ewing
Saul Ewing saw its genesis as a regional shop primarily focused on the Mid-Atlantic through its offices in Philadelphia, Baltimore, Wilmington and Newark and Princeton, New Jersey. It has since expanded its reach into Boston, West Palm Beach, Minneapolis and Chicago and, as of this past year, into California, officially bringing its national ambitions into fruition. The firm is appreciated by clients for “efficient, high-level legal services that are sensitive to the unique issues in the education industry, with a focus on client-centered advice that is cost effective for a non-profit entity. We use the firm because the lead counsel carefully reviews our needs and brings the necessary resources to help our businesses.”
The firm’s dominance in the education area is undisputed, and acumen in this practice is frequently demonstrated by various partners.
Jason St. John and Mark Simanowith, both in the Baltimore office, lead a team representing the Maryland State of Board of Education in defense of a challenge by a class of Baltimore City plaintiffs who are the parents of Baltimore City school children. Plaintiffs are attempting to revive a lawsuit from the early 1990’s and claim that the State has failed to comply with its constitutional duty to provide adequate education to Baltimore City school children, including adequate funding for Baltimore City public schools. Plaintiffs further claim that the State has failed to fix the crumbling school facilities in Baltimore City that leave children cold from broken heat systems in the winter, overheated from schools lacking air conditioning in the summer, and wet from pipe leaks throughout the year. The court granted the State’s motion for summary judgment on all claims in March 2023, and the case is now on appeal. Simanowith makes his debut as a future star in this edition. A former future star making the leap to litigation star in this edition, Philadelphia’s Josh Richards represents California Lutheran University in a case that arose when members of a softball team performed and placed on social media a routine where they dressed up as the Fresh Prince of Bel Air cast, with some of them coloring their faces darkly for the performance. The school responded to significant student concerns about the content of their performance and condemned its racial insensitivity. A lawsuit ensued, with two dozen plaintiffs suing the school on 13 counts, including defamation. “Josh is a smart, client-focused, fantastic attorney,” extols a client.
Saul Ewing is plenty busy beyond the education capacity. John Stoviak and
Cathleen Devlin, both resident in the Philadelphia office, serve 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 in Pen Argyl, Pennsylvania. Devlin, the firm’s head of litigation, enjoys another year as one of Benchmark’s Top 250 Women in Litigation. Another former future star who is elevated in this edition,
Justin Danilewitz was selected as counsel to the Court-appointed monitor in the District of Delaware Bankruptcy Court proceeding involving pharmaceutical entity Mallinckrodt. As part of Mallinckrodt’s bankruptcy and settlement with a broad coalition of state Attorneys General, the Bankruptcy Court entered an operating injunction, which requires the appointment of the monitor to oversee Mallinckrodt’s opioid compliance program and its compliance with the operating injunction more generally.
Based in the Minneapolis office, Katie Barrett-Wiik is addressed as “a very talented appellate lawyer,” by a peer, who goes on to elaborate, “She is my primary contact with the firm. I refer appellate matters to her when appropriate. [She provides] responsive, skilled advocacy and client care. She is smart, skilled, dedicated and passionate about representing her clients; she is very well known and highly regarded in the local legal and judicial community.”
Hilda Piloto, based in the firm’s West Palm Beach office, is championed as “an excellent technical and practical litigator,” by a peer, who goes on to testify, “I encountered her as we represented adverse clients in a very hotly contested litigation. She had a very difficult client but managed both that client's temperament and expectations very well.”
Sidley Austin
Sidley Austin occupies a prestigious position that has grown far beyond its Chicago roots and blossomed into a full-service international powerhouse. “They really cover the waterfront,” declares a peer, speaking to depth and breadth of the firm’s practice portfolio. “They have some great people across almost every area.” While the firm has grown to global stature, it is still considered primarily for its national footprint, particularly in its offices in LA and San Francisco, Dallas, DC and New York, as well as the aforementioned Windy City. The firm is also cheered for its approach to litigation; one peer testifies, “I’ve recently had good experiences with Sidley. They are not only good litigators but there’s also an ethic there across the board. You can tell how they lean, they’re very polite, and I value that. I view that as someone you want to work with. You know, we’re in litigation, but we don’t have to be doing battle all the time.”
The firm’s DC office, already considered one of its strongest, made a significant augmentation in 2024, when it lured
Greg Williams and Richard Smith to its ranks from Wiley Rein. “Greg and Richard were at Covington [& Burling] before – they seem to be moving in parallel! They are both great, and that’s a nice boost for [Sidley.]” Williams’ hire has been viewed as a strategic enhancement to the firm’s international arbitration and litigation practice, which has historically been regarded as one of the country’s most seasoned. The firm’s DC office is also home another Covington alumnus,
Jennifer Saulino, a product liability star who makes the remarkable three-pronged debut in Benchmark as a litigation star, one of the Top 100 Trial Lawyers in America, and one of the Top 250 Women in Litigation on the strength of some considerable credentials and peer review. “Jennifer belongs in the top league,” insists another peer on the Top 100 Trial Lawyers list. “She’s versatile and great on her feet in court, where she spends a lot of time.” Saulino obtained a major victory on behalf of Roundup herbicide manufacturer Monsanto in a product-liability trial alleging that Roundup was linked to the plaintiffs’ injuries. In March 2024, the plaintiffs voluntarily dismissed their case with prejudice, unable to prove that Roundup was the cause of their alleged injuries. The judge accepted the dismissal with prejudice and discharged the jury. The DC office is also home to not only the firm’s but the country’s top appellate luminaries,
Carter Phillips. “I often forget to mention him, not because he’s not still killing it, but just because I take it as such a given,” states a peer. Phillips secured a major victory when the Second Circuit affirmed a judgment against Lynn Tilton and her companies for breaching her fiduciary duties to TransCare and conducting an actual fraudulent conveyance. Phillips argued the appeal and led the briefing team. DC’s
William Levi is namechecked as the next generation of appellate firepower. “Will came into a case we had involving Microsoft, and he was the lead on the legal issues team. He’s not a trial lawyer, but he’s a great appellate counselor. He can write a brief on the fly that tells the judge the facts with common sense.”
Based in the New York office, Eamon Joyce, who makes the leap from future star to litigation star in this edition, recently successfully settled the last of a series of putative class action cases, which began in 2014, involving allegations that Kimberly-Clark Corporation’s flushable wipes are not in fact flushable. In a series of cases filed around the country, plaintiffs (consumers and municipalities) alleged the claims of “flushable” and “sewer-and-septic safe” on the packages for Cottonelle and other Kimberly-Clark brand flushable wipes were false and misleading. In the firm’s San Francisco office,
Sarah Brody is routinely championed by peers in securities capacity. “I’m a big fan of Sarah,” declares one, “and she’s got a great practice. She has had a lot of cases involving startups – there are a lot of them in the Bay Area – that go public…and then they fail. Sarah has had a sweet spot with that.” In the labor and employment practice,
Wendy Lazerson is praised by a client as “very experienced, smart, and knowledgeable, who diligently and thoughtfully represented our interests.” In the Los Angeles office,
Debra Pole has long been acknowledged as a product liability trial lawyer. “She’s still a rockstar,” enthuses a peer. “She still commands the room.”
Willkie Farr & Gallagher
A global business firm, Willkie Farr & Gallagher has been steadily increasing its litigation profile in both market share and a literal headcount/geographic footprint sense. “A few years ago, I would have said Willkie was a great business firm with a small but good litigation bench,” offers a peer. “Not anymore! They have really doubled down on litigation of late, and it seems to really be working. They are now in several key markets and building several practice areas to rival others.” While its core strength in the US has historically been New York (and remains so), the firm has branched out and developed other domestic locations as well; it opened a Chicago office in 2020, officially planting its flag on the Midwest legal landscape, continued developing its DC resources, and has doubled down on its expansion in California, where it now has three offices (Palo Alto, San Francisco and Los Angeles.) “The biggest disrupter in the LA market recently has been Willkie Farr,” quips a peer in observation of the firm’s build-out of that office. “I feel like anything that’s not nailed down, they’re trying to take!”
Willkie’s bet on California has paid dividends; the firm has attracted star partners in each office. In Los Angeles, that office’s managing partner Alex Weingarten is a peer favorite. “Alex is the real deal. He represented Jamie Spears [father and former conservator of Britney], and I thought he did a very good job with that,” opines one peer. “Alex was at Venable before moving to Willkie,” states another peer, who goes on to confide, “I was trying to get him to come here! He’s a terrific litigator who has some high-profile entertainment clients. [He’s] Unbelievable!” Weingarten represents The Chosen, Inc. producers of the popular television series, The Chosen. The client is engaged in an arbitration against a licensor of the series Angel Studios. Angel Studios has dramatically exceeded the scope of its licensed use of the series and is using its affiliation with the client to improperly promote its unrelated content. An arbitration hearing was commenced in March 2024. Acting with Weingarten on this matter is Kori Bell, a white-collar-focused partner with an avid peer following of her own that the firm lured from LA boutique Larson in 2023. Weingarten also represents Fitness Technologies, a software company servicing enterprise fitness boutiques, in its lawsuit against a concerning claims, among other things, the rival has engaged in an scheme to exclude competitors from the industry, including the use of exclusive contracts and non-competes. In San Francisco,
Simona Agnolucci, identified by peers as “a real player,” acted with
Benedict Hur in leading Google to a March 2024 defense against allegations of violating New York and Minnesota privacy laws by improperly retaining consumer streaming video rental data, such as rental history and personal identification, beyond the legal limits. Agnolucci also acts with Jonathan Patchen in representing Ever.Ag., a provider of technology, services, and intelligence platforms to the US dairy industry, in a hotly contested trade secret dispute against a Canadian startup competitor that has asserted antitrust counterclaims against the client, alleging that Ever.Ag has illegally monopolized the market for data services for milk producers and processors in the US through anticompetitive contracts and acquisitions of competitors. A peer also insists, “Let’s talk about [San Francisco-based IP-focused future star]
Barrington Dyer – he’s great!”
In the New York office, the firm continues to enjoy esteemed positions in the insurance and securities spaces. In the former practice,
Christopher St. Jeanos represents AIG, which has a major role in current and expected future coverage disputes arising from the opioid lawsuits. There are now 15 active litigations against 13 different policyholders. “He’s a stand-up lawyer,” insists a peer, “and I think he’s only in his mid-40s! My litmus test when it comes to dealing with counsel is ‘Are you just a paper tiger?’ And Chris is not – he’s the real deal.” Securities partner
Tariq Mundiya is representing Zayo founder, CEO, and Chairman Dan Caruso in an action arising out of a $14.3 billion buyout of Zayo by a consortium of equity co-investors. Plaintiffs claimed that Caruso breached his fiduciary duties by steering the sales process towards an acquirer so he could capture upside through a roll-over of his stock and remain as CEO post-merger. They further alleged that the company’s board was aware of the CEO’s actions and did not properly oversee his actions to maximize stockholder value and that Caruso was liable for making misleading disclosures and omissions in a proxy statement recommending that stockholders approve the merger. Another securities partner,
Todd Cosenza represents several current and former Board Members of Wells Fargo & Company in a civil RICO action. The plaintiff is a business owner who contends that he was injured when about $1.3 million of three of his companies’ funds were deposited into unauthorized deposit accounts and then withdrawn without authorization.
Craig Martin, Chairman, Midwest, joined Willkie in 2020 from Jenner & Block and has continued to build out the firm’s Windy City office. Martin’s practice encompasses a wide spectrum of commercial litigation, white-collar work, intellectual property, and pro bono human rights issues.
