New York

Firm overview

A National and International Litigation Practice: Wachtell Liption has represented clients in some of the world’s largest and most complex disputes, including domestic and cross-border deal litigation, corporate governance disputes, white collar and regulatory defense, commercial, securities and bankruptcy litigation, complex settlements, appeals, and arbitration. Our litigators have a long history of handling cutting-edge merger litigation, including many of the most significant takeover defense battles in history. We are called upon to play a central role in high stakes and high profile matters generally, including litigation related to the tragic events of 9/11, the recent financial crisis, and other litigations with fundamental consequences for our clients. We also assist our clients with sensitive internal and law enforcement investigations. In addition, our litigators engage in significant pro bono activity at both the trial and appellate court levels, write and speak in areas of expertise, and teach at the nation’s top law schools.

Our Approach to Litigation: A tight-knit group of approximately 75 lawyers, we approach each matter with intensity, thoroughness and creativity and build teams appropriate to the circumstances. We approach our clients’ legal issues within the larger framework of their strategic, business, and financial goals. We specialize in matters that require careful attention, tested experience, and a high degree of expertise. We handle litigation at all stages, from pre-suit counseling and investigations through trials and appeals. Engagements undertaken by the firmare at all times afforded the direct personal attention of partners possessing relevant expertise. Our approach is to achieve the best result for the client as quickly as possible. We regularly take cases to trial and win before judges, arbitrators and juries. But we also know when it makes sense to settle, and we have structured some of the largest and most complex litigation settlements to date.

Takeover and Merger Litigation: Wachtell Lipton is known for trendsetting takeover, transactional, and corporate governance litigation. We litigated the Revlon, Household, and other cases in the 1980s that set the doctrinal framework for all subsequent deal litigation. And we continue to lead in the area — year after year, the firm handles the most important corporate governance and takeover cases in the nation, from the seminal case Corwin v. KKR Financial, which recognized the merger ratification defense to the successful Airgas trial (in which the court reaffirmed the “poison pill” takeover defense against a generation of attack) to the successful Vulcan trial (in which the Firm secured an unprecedented order enjoining a hostile takeover bid) to the successful Sotheby’s defense of the company’s shareholder rights plan against an activist investor attack; to Allergan’s closely watched takeover battle with Valeant and Pershing Square, resulting in a groundbreaking preliminary injunction that set new federal precedent against unfair tactics in takeover bids, to Twitter’s successful litigation to compel Elon Musk to complete his $44 billion acquisition of the company. Other leading merger cases we have litigated include: Paramount Communications, Inc. v. Time, Inc.; Paramount Communications, Inc. v. QVC Network, Inc.; and IBP, Inc. v. Tyson Foods. Our litigators also have led the charge against appraisal arbitrage litigation, securing post-trial victories in the appraisals of Ancestry.com, SWS Group, PetSmart, and AOL. And we have been the thought leaders behind innovative corporate litigation developments in books-and-records suits and stockholder forum-selection bylaws.

Complex Commercial and Securities Litigation: Wachtell Lipton's approach to complex commercial and securities litigation also exemplifies our focus on fresh thinking and creative solutions and the fact that we are called upon to handle some of the nation’s biggest and most complex cases. We represented National Australia Bank in the landmark Morrison case, in which the U.S. Supreme Court held that Section 10(b) of the Securities Exchange Act and SEC Rule 10b-5 apply only to purchases and sales of securities in the United States. The decision overturned 40 years of lower-court precedent and eradicated a burgeoning species of securities litigation along with billions of dollars in potential liability for foreign securities issuers. We successfully defended Goldman Sachs in Baker v. Goldman Sachs, a five-week jury trial in federal court in which co-founders and major shareholders of a speech-recognition software company, Dragon Systems, were challenging Goldman’s investment banking advice and seeking over half a billion dollars in damages. We helped Bank of America contain its mortgage exposures arising from the financial crisis, including by negotiating Bank of America’s landmark $8.5 billion settlement of claims involving more than 500 trusts for mortgage-backed securities issued by Countrywide and in resolving multibillion dollar claims arising from the foreclosure crisis with the federal government and 49 state attorneys general. Following the tragic events of 9/11, we were called upon to represent the leaseholder of the World Trade Center in two jury trials with its property insurers that ultimately helped it secure enough money to rebuild the site. And we continue to represent Philip Morris USA in arbitrations and litigation that have arisen under the landmark 1998 settlement between the major tobacco companies and 52 states and territories, after previously  structuring and negotiating this more than $200 billion settlement, and in 2022 successfully defended the company’s successor Altria in defense of the FTC’s effort to unwind Altria’s 2018 investment in JUUL as anticompetitive under the antitrust laws, where we achieved complete victory in the FTC’s own administrative court.

Bankruptcy and Restructuring Litigation: Wachtell Lipton has a long and successful record representing major parties in litigation relating to bankruptcy cases and other debt-related issues. We have represented major companies in the successful defense of actions brought by bankruptcy trustees and creditors. We represented JPMorgan Chase in: (1) the Lehman Brothers bankruptcy, where the firm obtained summary judgment dismissing $8.6 billion of estate claims; (2) the Bernard Madoff liquidation, where the firm obtained dismissal of claims by the trustee seeking $18 billion in damages; and (3) the General Motors bankruptcy, where we successfully defended the bank at trial from fraudulent transfer claims seeking $1.5 billion. We represented Campbell Soup at trial and on appeal in defeating a fraudulent transfer challenge to the spin-off of Vlasic Pickles. On behalf of Education Management, the firm defeated an attempt to enjoin the company’s $1.5 billion restructuring and won a precedent-setting appeal from a judgment under the Trust Indenture Act. We have represented private equity firms, hedge funds, and other clients in significant contested matters arising in chapter 11 cases, including Toys “R” Us and Energy Future Holdings. We also represent companies in defending litigation and default claims by activist debtholders.

White-Collar and Regulatory Enforcement: Wachtell Lipton has a leading white-collar criminal and regulatory practice. We have represented major financial institutions and multinational corporations, as well as their boards of directors and senior executives, in a broad range of the most complex and typically high-profile white-collar criminal and regulatory enforcement matters, both nationally and internationally. In the past few years alone, our litigators have handled both U.S. and foreign governmental investigations focusing on the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, criminal tax evasion, criminal transfer pricing, the False Claims Act, insider trading, securities fraud, accounting fraud, criminal antitrust, crypto regulation, and export control violations. In addition, we regularly represent boards, audit committees, and special committees charged with conducting special investigations in response to whistleblowers or governmental inquiries.

Updated Sep 2023

Firm overview

Patterson Belknap brings a unique combination of bench strength, trial experience, and commercial business acumen to represent its clients in a variety of highly sophisticated litigation matters. More than half of the firm’s attorneys are devoted to litigation. Our litigation partners have tried hundreds of cases, including many of the most complex in their fields. Over 75 percent of the firm’s litigators have held judicial clerkships, including at the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First, Second, Third, Fifth, Sixth, Seventh, and Ninth Circuits as well as the U.S. Supreme Court, Federal District Courts, and various State Courts.

Our work includes several areas of commercial litigation, including antitrust matters; commercial disputes; complex financial litigation; class actions; intellectual property, including patent, copyright, false advertising, and trademark disputes; securities and commodities cases; structured finance litigation; employment litigation; real estate workouts and litigation; and disputes among corporate shareholders, among other complex litigation matters.

The firm’s clients include Fortune 500 corporations, as well as individual officers and directors of large companies in industries such as multinational pharmaceutical manufacturers, media conglomerates, and financial institutions. In addition, we represent foreign governments, state-owned enterprises, major banks, brokerage firms, pension funds, insurance companies, major investors, entrepreneurs, and privately- held corporations. We have in-depth experience in a number of industries, including pharmaceuticals; medical devices; consumer products; food and beverage; media and entertainment; financial services and investment management; manufacturing; technology and communications; commercial real estate; and others.

Our litigation team is at the cutting edge of today’s high-profile disputes resulting from the meltdown of the mortgage-backed securities market and global credit crisis. We are the leading law firm representing the monoline insurance industry in its efforts to recover against financial institutions and other sponsors of residential mortgage-backed securities transactions.

The firm is a leader in intellectual property litigation and our attorneys are recognized among the leading practitioners in the nation. Law360 recently named the firm “Intellectual Property Practice Group of the Year.”  Additionally, the firm received Benchmark Litigation’s “Impact Case” award for the firm’s victory in a trade secrets case on behalf of a major software company, in which it secured a $2 billion jury verdict for trade secrets misappropriation by a competitor. Our success in patent litigation is facilitated in part by the scientific and technical backgrounds and varied industry experience of many of our attorneys. This includes experience in diverse fields such as chemistry, biochemistry, biology, biotechnology, statistics, mathematics, and chemical, nuclear and electrical engineering. These skills benefit our clients, not only in patent infringement litigation, but also in complex reexamination and interference proceedings before the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office.

In addition, our False Advertising practice is consistently recognized on a national level as being “one of the elite players in false advertising litigation.” Our attorneys have represented both plaintiffs and defendants in false advertising cases throughout the nation.

We advise clients with respect to claims of misappropriation of trade secrets and ideas as both plaintiffs and defendants. We often counsel on ways to make these types of claims less likely and to protect our clients’ secrets and ideas. We regularly represent major corporations in cases of corporate espionage, a growing issue worldwide.

Our widely recognized Media and Entertainment group continues to secure high-profile litigation wins on behalf of media companies, radio and television networks, music companies, cable operators, production companies, publishers, internet companies, and well-known entertainers, among others. In addition to the full range of commercial issues, we represent clients in investigations matters, as well as copyright, trademark, false advertising, First Amendment, libel and slander, rights of privacy and publicity, and other intellectual property disputes.

The firm’s White Collar Defense and Investigations team includes several former federal prosecutors, a former Senior Counsel for the SEC’s Enforcement Division, and the former Attorney General of the State of New Jersey. The group conducts sensitive investigations that can be critical in preventing or halting potential criminal and civil problems on behalf of business organizations and individuals. We handle cases involving investigations by state and federal prosecutorial and regulatory agencies throughout the U.S., frequently including litigation components.

The firm also has a specialized anti-counterfeiting practice that works with clients to address the growing global product counterfeiting problem. Our team litigates counterfeiting and product diversion cases on behalf of major international corporations, often involving counterfeit medical devices, pharmaceuticals, and other consumer, industrial, and electronic products where the counterfeit has the potential to cause serious injury or death. Team attorneys have successfully sued and executed seizure orders globally against hundreds of individuals and businesses that have manufactured and distributed counterfeits. This has resulted in the seizure and destruction of millions of counterfeits and the collection of millions of dollars in settlements and judgments. Their efforts have also secured criminal convictions of many counterfeiters and resulted in their incarceration.

The National Law Journal has recognized Patterson Belknap as “a major player in defending law firms against complex liability claims.” Our legal defense practice recently won several high-profile victories for law firms accused of malpractice and related torts. We have defended legal malpractice, conflict of interest, breach of fiduciary duty and fraud claims, represented lawyers in disciplinary proceedings, untangled disputes over partnership compensation, opposed disqualification motions, and represented firms facing third-party subpoenas. The Firm’s Appellate group combines our national recognition in trial work involving advertising, patents, copyrights, trademarks, products liability, false advertising, and media law with the experience of litigators who have successfully argued numerous landmark appeals. Clients work not only with appellate practitioners having a track record of success, but also with practitioners deeply grounded in the subject matter of the appeal.

Updated Aug 2024

Firm overview

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:

• Appellate, Constitutional and Administrative Law 
• Bankruptcy and Insolvency Litigation
• Class Action Defense
• Commercial Litigation
• Construction and Engineering Disputes
• Corporate and Securities Litigation
• E-Discovery
• Insurance Coverage and Recovery
• Intellectual Property, Patent, Trademark and Copyright Litigation
• International Arbitration and Litigation
• Labor and Employment
• Product Liability
• Professional Liability
• Toxic & Environmental Torts

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:

• Antitrust
• Data, Privacy and Security
• Environmental, Health and Safety
• FDA and Life Sciences
• Government Advocacy and Public Policy
• Government Contracts
• Healthcare
• International Trade
• National Security and Corporate Espionage
• Securities Enforcement and Regulation
• Special Matters and Government Investigations

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:

• Activist Defense
• Alternative Capital and Credit Funds
• Capital Markets
• Construction and Procurement
• Corporate Governance
• Emerging Companies and Venture Capital
• Employee Benefits and Executive Compensation
• Energy and Infrastructure Projects
• Financial Restructuring
• Investment Funds and Asset Management
• Leveraged Finance
• Mergers and Acquisitions
• Middle East and Islamic Finance and Investment
• Private Equity
• Real Estate
• Securitization
• Tax

Updated Sep 2024

Firm overview

Cohen Ziffer Frenchman & McKenna LLP, which opened its doors in New York in January 2021, is built on the reputations and experience of nationally recognized lawyers who have worked together and represented policyholders as a unified team for more than 20 years, recovering billions of dollars for their clients and securing landmark judicial rulings. The group has earned a national reputation as fierce advocates for policyholders in high-profile, high-dollar disputes against insurance companies. The team—which has tripled in size since the firm’s founding—represents a client base of Fortune 500 companies, hedge funds, and private equity firms.

Many of those recoveries have come in closely watched cases, including a first-of-its-kind appellate decision on flood limit clauses that allowed New Jersey Transit to access $400 million in coverage after Superstorm Sandy. For a pump manufacturer, the firm won a precedent-setting $500 million ruling over insurance coverage for asbestos liabilities. And on issues at the frontier of insurance law, the firm has won multiple significant rulings—dealing with, for instance, damage from email spoofing under computer crime policies and a first-impression test of insurance coverage for SPACs. The firm has also earned a reputation for gaining precedent-setting rulings and shifting the landscape of D&O and E&O coverage in favor of policyholders.

Additional precedent-setting wins in recent high-profile disputes include:

• A rare jury verdict reversal for Conduent State Healthcare in its pursuit of insurance coverage from AIG and other insurers for defense costs relating to a $236 million Medicaid fraud settlement. It was the first jury verdict that Delaware Superior Court Judge Mary Johnston reversed in her nearly 20 years on the bench.
• A series of significant victories for Walmart in a lawsuit against nearly 40 insurance carriers related to coverage for hundreds of millions of dollars in defense costs incurred in defending against thousands of lawsuits arising out of the sale and distribution of opioids and related settlements totaling more than $3 billion. The team recently defeated efforts by dozens of Walmart’s insurers to dismiss their Arkansas action and earned a precedent-setting ruling establishing Walmart’s right to coverage for defense costs incurred in opioid lawsuits.
• A Delaware court ruling that directors and officers of Clover Health Investments Corp. count as “insured persons” under a D&O policy issued to Social Capital Hedosophia Holdings Corp., a SPAC that took Clover Health public. In one of the first decisions addressing coverage for a SPAC, the court ruled that the SPAC’s D&O insurers must pay defense costs for not only the SPAC itself, but also for its future officers and directors.
• A favorable decision for Paramount Global (f/k/a Viacom Inc.), finding that Viacom’s insurers cannot rely on a bump-up exclusion to avoid covering the $122.5 million settlement that had resolved Viacom shareholders’ lawsuit over the company’s merger with CBS.
• A win for Crystal Windows & Doors Ltd. in a dispute over coverage owed for alleged construction defects that allegedly caused over $20 million in damages. The New York Supreme Court dismissed the insurer’s action seeking to resolve its indemnity obligation as premature and, in a precedent-setting ruling, held that the insurer’s acknowledged duty to defend also required the insurer to pay the insured’s costs in defending against the coverage action.

With decades of insurance recovery and advisory experience, Cohen Ziffer also assists clients with their insurance counseling needs, guiding organizations through complex insurance issues and advising on the insurance coverage that is right for them. The firm’s attorneys work with clients and their insurance brokers to identify the most likely liability risks and to review their insurance policies and advise on whether they are likely to cover those risks. When incidents do occur, they also guide their clients through the insurance claims process.

The firm’s commercial litigators are first-rate trial lawyers who also have experience tackling a host of complex commercial insurance disputes on behalf of organizations across the country, and have handled a spectrum of very large, complex, high-stakes, and cutting-edge cases. The team litigates these high-stakes coverage suits in a variety of state and federal courts and tribunals and jurisdictions around the world, and represents organizations in a diverse array of economic sectors, including financial services, manufacturing, professional services, and real estate.

Practice Areas:

• Insurance Recovery
• Insurance Advisory Services
• Commercial Litigation

Updated Aug 2024