Minnesota

Firm overview

Who We Are: BFKN was founded in 1984 with a vision focused on delivering efficient team-oriented services of the highest quality. The firm has continued to focus on this vision and has grown and evolved into a sophisticated, first-class legal practice with a diverse client roster of national and international clients. We’ve accomplished this by practicing law in a different way. Our strategic vision is to continue growing organically by helping our clients succeed, by constantly evaluating and implementing ways to better serve our clients, and by recruiting the highest caliber of diverse talent. Our growth has been steady and measured and we’ve chartered our own unique path to success which is different than any other firm.

BFKN has more than 120 attorneys in ten practice groups. BFKN regularly serves a wide array of industries, but has particular experience serving: Luxury, Financial Services & Fintech, Manufacturing & Distribution, Motor Vehicle, Private Equity & Venture Capital, and Real Estate.

BFKN represents a wide array of clients, from start-ups to Fortune 50 corporations across all industries. Our clients are sophisticated and located across the globe, from the Midwest to the East and West coasts to Europe and Asia. Our firm is lucky to have nurtured several generational client relationships, where we have served as outside counsel to those clients for many decades and have grown with them through changes, challenges, and triumphs. We also have a mix of new generation clients that appreciate our creative and customized approach to representation.

Diversity, Equity & Inclusion: BFKN is committed to the establishment, maintenance, and growth of a culture where diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) are respected and intentionally valued by implementing initiatives and programs that will foster collaboration and accountability. We strive to attract the most qualified professionals from all backgrounds, perspectives, and abilities and to create a rewarding and fulfilling environment in which our people feel valued and appreciated and can grow and advance their careers. BFKN’s DEI Committee oversees equitable reviews of the firm’s policies and procedures, its accreditation into and implementation of the Midsized Mansfield Rule program, diversity, equity and inclusion training, and holistic recruiting procedures on an ongoing and forward-looking basis.

BFKN is proud to have achieved Midsize Mansfield Rule Certification Plus in 2023 and 2024. The Mansfield Rule, an initiative from Diversity Lab, measures the achievement of certain structural metrics designed to better ensure our paths to leadership – including lateral hiring, client pitch teams, promotions, and appointments – are open and transparent to all qualified attorneys. BFKN remains dedicated to broadening our networks for recruiting highly-qualified candidates from groups that have been historically underrepresented in the legal profession.

Litigation: Our firm has assembled a group of highly skilled trial lawyers – seasoned partners and well-trained associates – who represent clients both forcefully and efficiently. Unlike some litigators, who spend years engaging in expensive discovery only to recommend settlement on the eve of trial, we are always ready to try cases when necessary, but strive to achieve business resolutions early and economically when appropriate.

BFKN is a mid-sized firm that handles many of our clients’ most significant matters. We take pride in our efficient approach to dispute resolution. Even for the biggest matters, our litigation teams are lean, typically comprised of experienced partners and small numbers of associates and paralegals who can manage large amounts of data by leveraging our in-house discovery technology. A litigation team is assembled for each assignment based on the skill and experience required for that engagement.

We represent a diverse group of businesses in resolving these disputes, ranging from the world’s largest luxury goods company to large financial institutions, major telecommunications service providers, REITs, motor vehicle manufacturers, hedge funds, law firms, and consumer goods companies.

Our litigators have extensive experience in state and federal courts throughout the United States, at both the trial and appellate levels. We understand that we are asked to help resolve business problems, and we recognize that a trial is only one potential solution.

Because our clients’ success often rests on our ability to design thoughtful, cost-effective solutions to complex scenarios, a significant part of our time is focused on strategic counseling and alternative dispute resolution.

Alternative Dispute Resolution: Members of our group are experienced in a broad range of alternative dispute resolution techniques, including mediations, binding and non-binding arbitrations, mini-trials, and settlement trials with floors and caps.

Counseling: The Litigation Group also has extensive experience in strategic counseling designed to minimize the likelihood of litigation or reduce the exposure to litigation when potential problems arise. For engagements requiring a certain legal or industry focus, we assemble strong interdisciplinary teams designed to leverage the talents of attorneys in other practice areas. BFKN’s Litigation Group is often involved in complex corporate and real estate disputes that benefit from the comprehensive experience of our corporate, real estate, and bankruptcy attorneys. Such a cross-functional approach has proved successful in resolving controversies ranging from dissenting shareholders’ rights disputes to take-over litigation.

Firm overview

Saul Ewing’s Litigation Department features approximately 200 attorneys across 18 offices, including our newest locations in Los Angeles and Irvine, California. We handle a wide range of matters including complex business and commercial disputes, bet-the-company legal proceedings, and high-profile cases in state and federal courts and Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) forums across the nation. We represent local, regional, national and international organizations as well as individuals across a diverse array of industries, including but not limited to energy and environmental, financial services, construction, insurance, health care, food/beverage/agribusiness, life sciences, cannabis, higher education, sports/entertainment and real estate.

Our deep bench of litigators work to protect the interests of our clients and mitigate the impact of litigation on business operations in all phases of litigation, including investigation, pleadings, motions, fact and expert discovery and depositions, hearings, trials, appeals, settlement negotiations, and enforcement of judgments. Among our ranks are seasoned trial lawyers and former government officials and prosecutors, whose insight and strategic judgment are a valuable resource to our entire team.

Our core areas of focus include:

Appellate

Class Actions

Consumer Financial Services Litigation

Cybersecurity and Privacy

Employee Benefits & ERISA Litigation

Labor & Employment

Environmental Civil Litigation

Insurance Litigation & Arbitration

Intellectual Property Litigation

Title Claims & Coverage Litigation

White Collar & Government Enforcement

Within these core areas of focus, we have extensive experience representing clients in pursuing and defending claims of breach of contract, tortious interference with contracts and business relationships, fraud and misrepresentation, lender liability, property liability, negligence, unfair competition, unfair trade practices, antitrust violations, conspiracy, RICO violations, breach of fiduciary duty, defamation, trade disparagement, false advertising, malicious prosecution, theft of trade secrets, intellectual property infringement, trespass, conversion, trust and estate controversies, partnership and corporate dissolutions and claims arising in shareholder and partner derivative actions, among others.

Our Approach: We start by tailoring a strategy to meet our clients’ objectives and risk management priorities, whether those focus on litigation avoidance, early settlement, resolution through dispositive motions, or pursuing a case through adjudication at trial. Using early case assessment tools, we develop a detailed roadmap for each case. We recognize that litigation can be expensive, distracting and time-consuming, and that our clients need cost predictability. Depending on client needs, we are able to create customized litigation plans and budgets at the matter, phase and/or task levels. Our project management team carefully monitors work volume and billing metrics to help ensure that our services align with project scope and needs, and to maximize proactive communication with clients about changes in cost, scope and/or strategy.

eDiscovery: For cases requiring electronic discovery, we rely on our in-house Litigation Support Services (LSS) team, which is driven by members with sophisticated technical knowledge and credentialing by the Association of Certified E-Discovery Specialists. With extensive experience managing complex eDiscovery collection, processing, review and production, our LSS team leverages advanced analytics and technology-assisted review to quickly identify and locate relevant information, process and analyze data efficiently, and help reduce overall litigation costs.  

Updated Sep 2024

Firm overview

With more than 225 attorneys in seven major cities, Robins Kaplan LLP is among the nation’s premier trial law firms. Our attorneys litigate, mediate, and arbitrate client disputes, always at the ready for an ultimate courtroom battle. When huge forces are at play, major money is at stake, or rights are being trampled, we help clients cut through complexity, get to the heart of the problem, and win what matters most.

Our attorneys are experienced in a wide range of litigation. A few key areas in which we practice include:

Antitrust and Trade Regulation: The Antitrust and Trade Regulation group is one of few national practices to have obtained landmark successes on behalf of both plaintiffs and defendants in major antitrust litigation and at trial, including in several of the most significant antitrust cases ever litigated. With nearly $10 billion in recoveries for antitrust plaintiffs in the past several years alone and a long history of successfully defending Fortune 100 companies in antitrust disputes, Robins Kaplan regularly ranks as one of the top firms in the United States for antitrust litigation.

On the plaintiffs’ side, Robins Kaplan antitrust attorneys represent businesses and individuals in classes and direct actions in courts throughout the country, where we have achieved historic recoveries in some of the largest antitrust cases in U.S. history. Our lawyers secured the first settlement between a state and Big Tobacco using an antitrust theory, and our plaintiff successes have forced critical structural reforms in many other industries. As court-appointed co-lead counsel, we recently reached the largest settlement of a private antitrust action in the 130-year history of the Sherman Act in In re Payment Card Interchange Fee and Merchant Discount Antitrust Litigation.

Robins Kaplan antitrust attorneys also have a proven track record of successfully defending clients in high stakes antitrust cases and government investigations. Among our notable defenses, we successfully represented UnitedHealth Group and PacifiCare in an antitrust lawsuit alleging price-fixing and fraud related to prescription drug reimbursement, with claimed damages in excess of $1 billion.

Intellectual Property and Technology: The Intellectual Property and Technology Litigation group has a long history of extraordinary courtroom victories in high-stakes intellectual property and technology disputes. Our lawyers have led multiple enforcement campaigns on behalf of IP rights holders where recoveries in each exceeded $100 million. We are known for zealously representing and sharing risk with a broad range of clients, including some of the world’s largest technology-oriented companies, and innovative emerging companies, as well as individual inventors, authors, and developers.

Robins Kaplan’s attorneys represent clients across a full range of intellectual property matters, including patent litigation, strategic IP monetization, Hatch-Waxman litigation, trade secret litigation, copyright litigation, trademark litigation, and more. We have litigated and monetized technologies as diverse as software, microprocessor design, telecommunications equipment, drug and other therapeutic technologies, and imaging hardware. We have an established record of winning in federal and state courts, the International Trade Commission, the Patent Trial and Appeal Board, and both national and international arbitration forums. 

Commercial Litigation: The commercial litigation attorneys are no strangers to high-stakes, mission-critical litigation. They know how to litigate and efficiently resolve cases with a view to the bottom line. Our clients include an enviable sampling of Fortune 500 companies along with multinationals, technology superstars (and iconoclasts), and mom-and-pop success stories. Agile across a wide range of business sectors, we have developed particular depth serving entertainment, financial, food and beverage, insurance, manufacturing, and retail industry members as well as a nationally recognized government and internal investigations practice. 

Updated Sep 2023