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The world’s leading organizations and global players choose Proskauer to represent them when they need it the most. With 800+ lawyers in key financial centers around the world, we are known for our pragmatic and commercial approach. Proskauer is the place to turn when a matter is complex, innovative and game-changing. We work seamlessly across practices, industries and jurisdictions with asset managers, private equity and venture capital firms, Fortune 500 and FTSE companies, major sports leagues, entertainment industry legends and other industry-redefining companies.
Proskauer lawyers are at the cutting edge of contentious matters and have extensive trial experience in virtually every major forum across the globe. Proskauer has established itself as the go-to litigation and labor & employment firm for Fortune 100 companies, titans of the sports and cultural world, industry leaders in consumer products, and even commonwealths in times of existential crisis. We represent clients in challenging circumstances, address novel critical issues, and have a strong track record of success, securing landmark victories in the most high-profile of matters.
Our litigators have the depth, breadth and experience to handle disputes across industries and practice areas, including antitrust, products liability, asset management, sports, labor & employment, bankruptcy, copyright, false advertising, trademark, insurance recovery, international arbitration, patents, privacy and cybersecurity, real estate, securities, and white collar. Our clients turn to us for all aspects of litigation: trials, appeals (including at the Supreme Court), investigations, counseling, and government contractor issues.
Proskauer is consistently ranked for its litigation capabilities throughout the United States and abroad. We have earned top rankings from The American Lawyer (including regional publications), Benchmark Litigation, U.S. News Best Lawyers, Daily Journal, Los Angeles Business Journal, and Chambers, among others. The Firm was also previously noted in the New York Law Journal as a General Litigation Finalist for Litigation Department of the Year.
Clients called on us throughout the year to help them navigate their most challenging disputes, and we met the moment. Recent representations include:
- Lead outside counsel to the Financial Oversight and Management Board for Puerto Rico. The Oversight Board was created under PROMESA, a federal statute enacted in 2016, to oversee the restructuring of Puerto Rico’s finances. The Oversight Board represents the Commonwealth and related public entities in the largest ever series of municipal restructurings in the United States. At the height of its crisis, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico had approximately $74 billion of bond debt and $55 billion of under (or un-) funded public pension liabilities. The litigations surrounding Puerto Rico’s fiscal crisis, pending in the District of Puerto Rico, likely represent the single most active docket in the federal courts over the last seven years, and perhaps the most consequential matter in decades involving municipal and territorial restructurings.
- Secured a complete defense verdict victory for Sanderson Farms in a case alleging a nationwide conspiracy to reduce the supply of broiler chicken. Thirteen other defendants settled for hundreds of millions; our client Sanderson was the sole defendant to go to trial. Following a six-week trial, an Illinois jury delivered a full defense verdict, rejecting claims that our client participated in a supply reduction conspiracy with other producers in the industry. The Proskauer team defeated a damages claim totaling more than $7 billion, which – had the jury ruled against Sanderson – would have been automatically tripled by statute to $21 billion.
- Lead trial counsel for Netflix, director/writer Ava DuVernay, and writer Attica Locke in a defamation case in federal court in New York brought by Linda Fairstein, former head of the Manhattan DA's sex crimes unit. The matter related to the defendants’ series “When They See Us,” which recounts the wrongful convictions of the Central Park 5. The plaintiff alleged that the series’ portrayal of her by actress Felicity Huffman depicted her in a false and defamatory light. We obtained an extremely successful resolution when the plaintiff decided to walk away from the case on the eve of trial, settling with no payment to her or her lawyers and no confidentiality provision related to the settlement. Netflix agreed to move one sentence of the existing disclaimer from the end credits to the opening credits as part of the settlement and will voluntarily donate $1 million to the Innocence Project.
- Lead trial counsel for Gilead Sciences in various California state and federal product liability actions brought by ~20,000 plaintiffs related to Gilead's HIV prevention and treatment drugs, alleging either that Gilead was negligent in its development of TAF drugs, or that its TDF drugs were defectively designed and failed adequately to warn about the increased risk of potential kidney disease and bone injury that could result from use of its highly effective and FDA-approved HIV medications. The first federal bellwether trial was set for April 2024, but the plaintiff dismissed the case after Gilead prevailed on its motion to exclude the testimony of the primary plaintiff expert witness on the ground that the proposed testimony presented questionable scientific evidence.
- Lead counsel for the National Football League in actions filed by apparel distributors and NFL merchandise purchasers in federal court in New York alleging that the NFL’s agreements with Fanatics, Inc., a manufacturer, supplier and distributor of licensed sportswear and merchandise, violate state and federal antitrust laws.
- Defense of Major League Soccer against a federal lawsuit brought by the North American Soccer League against MLS and the US Soccer Federation following US Soccer’s decision not to sanction NASL as a Division II professional league for the 2018 season. NASL alleges that MLS and U.S. Soccer are engaged in an antitrust conspiracy to ensure that MLS is the sole Division I soccer league in the United States, and further alleges that MLS is an illegal monopoly in violation of the Sherman Act.
- Counsel to Bright Data Ltd. in two cases of first impression addressing whether social media platforms can use their terms of service and other state and federal law to prohibit public search and scraping of public information by non-account holders. In a case against meta, the Court granted Bright Data's summary judgment motion on Meta's breach of contract claim, after which Meta voluntarily dismissed its remaining tortious interference claim and waived its right to appeal, securing Bright Data’s right to engage in public search. In a case against X (formerly Twitter), the court completely dismissed the complaint, ruling that X failed to allege a claim based on access to its public site, and any claim based on copying public data was pre-empted by the Copyright Act. The dismissal creates a significant precedent that social media companies cannot unilaterally restrict public access to information they do not own but have made publicly available.
- Defense of Sandoz and its subsidiary, Fougera Pharmaceuticals, Inc. in In re: Generic Pharmaceuticals Pricing Antitrust Litigation, which includes dozens of cases consolidated in an MDL pending in the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, as well as actions brought by a State AGs in the District of Connecticut, alleging that pharmaceutical manufacturers conspired to fix the prices of and/or allocate markets and customers for certain generic pharmaceutical products.
Updated Oct 2024
