New York

Firm overview

Sophisticated clients worldwide entrust us with their formidable disputes for a single reason–our remarkable track record. Clients seek our advice on high-stakes litigation, cross-border disputes, as well as government and internal investigations in the Americas, Europe and Asia.

Antitrust and Trade Regulation: Clients turn to us for our record of success in handling high-stakes antitrust disputes, investigations, and achieving regulatory clearance for the largest and most complicated transactions. We advise clients on internal investigations, enforcement matters, and regulatory issues in connection with the OFAC, the Department of State, and the SEC.

Bankruptcy: Our comprehensive practice covers all aspects of bankruptcy-related litigation–from disputes over plan confirmation to tender liability and equitable subordination claims to issues arising out of insurance disputes and mass tort-related bankruptcies.

Equity and Civil Rights Reviews: Simpson Thacher’s multidisciplinary Equity and Civil Rights Reviews team provides companies, boards, sponsors and other financial institutions with comprehensive audits, analyses and concrete guidance to mitigate legal, reputational and business risks associated with diversity, equity and inclusion issues.

ERISA Litigation: Clients benefit from our coordinated advice in closely aligned areas, including securities, bankruptcy, and government investigations, and our ability to present arguments and evidence in the manner best suited to advance business interests and resolve conflicts with minimal disruption to their operations.

False Advertising Litigation: Companies in a broad range of fields, including pharmaceuticals, financial services, consumer products and food and beverage, turn to us for our significant experience in false advertising litigation, including disputes between competitors and consumer class actions.

Funds, Regulatory and Investigations: Our team includes attorneys with decades of experience in the funds industry, former senior government officials from the SEC, former U.S. federal prosecutors, and a former PE Chief Compliance Officer, who draw upon their deep experience and institutional knowledge to provide sophisticated advice to clients on a broad spectrum of critical regulatory and compliance issues.

Government and Internal Investigations: Government and internal investigations can be a highly sensitive, time-consuming ordeal for any company. Large and small companies and their boards, audit and special committees, officers and directors, and other individuals regularly turn to us for advice on a wide range of criminal, regulatory, congressional and other sensitive government inquiries and internal investigations.

Insurance and Reinsurance: Clients benefit from our experience as the leading firm representing the interests of both ceding companies and reinsurers in litigations and arbitrations throughout the United States, the United Kingdom and Bermuda. Major insurance groups, including Travelers, AIG, Berkshire Hathaway, Lloyd’s of London and CNA have trusted us on their most significant matters.

Intellectual Property: Understanding and protecting IP is crucial to the long-term success of many businesses. Clients seek our advice in high-stakes, “make it or break it” disputes and rely on our broad array of substantive experience in both litigation and transactional matters to help them protect their interests.

International Arbitration: Multinational corporations across the globe rely on our International Arbitration Practice for high-stakes matters when their business reputation or commercial relationships are at risk. We have a track record of success in taking cases through trial and final awards in major international arbitration venues such as Paris, London, Geneva, The Hague, Singapore, New York and Washington, D.C.

International Regulatory and Compliance: With increased activism and cross-border cooperation between enforcement and regulatory agencies, we represent the interests of clients operating in multiple jurisdictions and have advised on issues in China, India, Eastern Europe, the Middle East, Latin America and Africa. The clients we represent are involved in numerous sectors, including financial services and asset management, telecommunications, energy, mining, manufacturing, technology and healthcare.

Mergers and Acquisitions Litigation: Clients seek our market-leading advice in all aspects of M&A litigation—where we excel at defending challenges to the largest and most complex mergers and acquisitions. They appreciate our extensive experience defeating efforts to enjoin transactions prior to closing; resolving claims through reasonable settlements pre-closing; and litigating claims for damages post-closing.

Privacy and Cybersecurity: Our multidisciplinary Privacy and Cybersecurity team advises global companies facing heightened regulatory, contractual and consumer obligations surrounding the management of data.

Product Liability and Mass Tort: Since the 1970s, clients have relied on our advice as a leader in the development of product liability and mass tort law in the United States. We have taken countless product liability and mass tort cases to jury trial in state and federal courts over the years, amassing invaluable courtroom experience.

Securities: For decades, clients have relied on our securities litigators in the most complex, high-profile, high-stakes securities matters of the day. The country’s most respected Fortune 500 corporations and financial institutions turn to us to help defend against headline-making allegations.

Whistleblower and False Claims Act: Companies and their boards have relied on us to respond to allegations by whistleblowers and to help them devise and implement corporate whistleblower policies. Clients seek our counsel on whistleblower matters in a broad range of sectors—including defense, healthcare, technology and financial services.

Office Locations: New York • Beijing • Brussels • Hong Kong • Houston • London • Los Angeles • Palo Alto • São Paulo • Tokyo • Washington, D.C.

Updated Aug 2023

Firm overview

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Firm overview

History: Pomerantz is the oldest law firm in the world dedicated to championing investor rights. Founded in 1936 by Abraham Pomerantz, the Firm’s work during the Great Depression to hold corporations accountable helped secure the rights of investors to bring class actions and derivative suits. Today the Firm’s global clients include more than 100 of the most influential public pension funds, asset managers, and private institutions. Honoring its founder’s legacy, the Firm continues to fight for defrauded shareholders while expanding the rights of global investors and championing transparent markets and good corporate governance.

Securities Litigation: Over the past eight decades the Firm has recovered billions of dollars for defrauded investors, with many settlements achieving new records. Notable matters include:

• A $3 billion settlement in litigation against Brazil’s state-run oil company Petrobras, involving an alleged decades-long corruption scheme that ensnared multiple former Brazilian presidents, among many others. The recovery stands as the fifth-largest securities class action settlement ever achieved in the United States (In re Petrobras Securities Litigation).
• A $225 million recovery for the Class in a suit against Comverse Technology, Inc., the second-largest recovery involving the backdating of stock options (In re Comverse Technology, Inc. Securities Litigation).
• A $110 million settlement with Fiat Chrysler Automobiles N.V. that opened new avenues for discovery in securities litigation (Pirnik v. Fiat Chrysler Automobiles N.V., et al.).
• A $74 million settlement for investors in Arconic, whose insulation panels were implicated in the June 2017 fire at Grenfell Tower in London (Howard v. Arconic et al.).

A Tradition of Innovation: Pomerantz is a recognized leader in developing novel legal theories to address the evolving juridical, social, and corporate landscape. For example, the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling in Morrison v. National Australia Bank, Ltd (2010) barred investors in foreign securities from using U.S. courts to seek recovery. In the years since, Pomerantz has worked to win back these rights on behalf of investors. In a series of individual cases arising out of the 2010 BP Gulf of Mexico oil spill, Pomerantz convinced the court to allow, for the very first time post-Morrison, both U.S. and foreign investors seeking recovery for losses in a foreign company’s foreign-traded securities to do so in a U.S. court. In a securities class action against the global pharmaceutical company Perrigo Co., the Firm’s ground-breaking legal arguments led the U.S. court, for the first time since the Morrison decision, to certify a foreign purchaser class. Both decisions have significant precedential value, expanding the options available for domestic and foreign investors seeking recovery in cases of securities fraud.

Portfolio Monitoring: PomTrack®, the Firm’s proprietary portfolio monitoring system, tracks and evaluates suspicious market activity, as well as securities and antitrust class actions and settlements, covering both domestic and international events. This system empowers investment plan fiduciaries to fulfill their duty to preserve investments by quickly identifying fund losses that may have been caused by financial misconduct. Comprising attorneys, forensic economists, damages analysts, paralegals, and support staff, the PomTrack® team monitors assets valued at over $9 trillion, making it one of the largest systems of its kind in the U.S. 

ESG: Pomerantz partners are pioneering securities litigation as a means to address 21st century ESG concerns. The Firm achieved a settlement with Deutsche Bank AG that recoups nearly 50% of estimated damages for investors in a case alleging that the bank failed to adhere to its own due diligence policies for certain high-worth clients, including convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. Pomerantz also recently won class certification in its case against Wynn Resorts Ltd., which alleges that former CEO Steve Wynn engaged in egregious sexual misconduct against the company’s female employees, while the company and its directors simultaneously covered up his behavior, assuring investors of the company’s commitment to high ethical standards. 

Corporate Governance: In addition to addressing corporate governance via securities litigation, the Firm’s Corporate Governance Practice Group has achieved significant corporate governance reform at numerous major corporations through shareholder derivative lawsuits. Areas of interest include workers’ health and safety, environmental compliance, pay and gender equity, excess executive compensation, and addressing corporate transactions that result in an unfair price for shareholders. 

Education: Pomerantz partners frequently speak on corporate governance at conferences around the world, and the Firm regularly hosts Corporate Governance Roundtables for institutional investors. The Firm also publishes The Pomerantz Monitor, a bi-monthly journal of attorney-authored articles on securities litigation, corporate governance, and related regulatory and government policies. 

Updated Sep 2023

Firm overview

Since its founding in 2017, Kaplan Hecker & Fink LLP (Kaplan Hecker) has quickly grown into one of the country’s elite litigation boutiques, fusing a high-stakes, cutting edge litigation practice with a groundbreaking commitment to serving the public interest. Kaplan Hecker’s highly-experienced litigators help clients navigate their most pressing legal challenges; from complex commercial litigation for some of the country’s biggest companies, to high-profile white-collar criminal defense, to sensitive internal investigations and intricate regulatory and securities matters. The firm leads some of the nation’s most prominent public interest litigation and also frequently files amicus briefs – at all levels of the judiciary – to support the most vulnerable. Kaplan Hecker’s team of New York and Washington, DC-based litigators share a mission to provide the highest level of client service and advocacy, while at the same time maintaining a deep commitment to principles of integrity, fairness, and public service.

Kaplan Hecker has been named by Benchmark Litigation as “Boutique Firm of the Year” in 2022, 2021, and 2020. Since 2019, Benchmark Litigation has also recognized us as one of the “Top Boutiques” in the country. The publication has also consistently given the firm its highest ranking as a “Highly Recommended Law Firm – New York,” making Kaplan Hecker one of the very few litigation boutiques – and the only firm founded by women – to achieve that top designation. Kaplan Hecker is routinely recognized in Chambers, Legal 500, Crain’s New York, National Law Journal, The American Lawyer, New York Law Journal, among many others.

Kaplan Hecker is recognized for the extensive trial experience of its lawyers, who have tried numerous civil and criminal cases to verdict in both federal and state court. The team includes four former federal prosecutors and three former public defenders – experience that uniquely positions the firm to take any case to trial and secure the best possible results for its clients. In what has been recognized by Benchmark Litigation as a 2020 “Impact Case” and by Global Investigations Review as “Most Important Court Case of the Year,” Kaplan Hecker secured a “rare” acquittal at trial in a market manipulation case against a former Barclays trader in early 2019. Kaplan Hecker was also recently honored at the 2022 Benchmark Litigation East Coast Awards with “Impact Case of the Year” for our work on Sines v. Kessler. Kaplan Hecker won a historic $26 million settlement for our clients, representing ten plaintiffs in a groundbreaking lawsuit against twenty-five white supremacists and neo-Nazis, bringing claims based on their roles in organizing the racial and religious-based violence in Charlottesville during the summer of 2017.

Kaplan Hecker lawyers have consistently been individually recognized as among the leading litigators in the country, including partners Roberta Kaplan and Sean Hecker having been consistently honored as two of the nation’s top litigators in commercial litigation and white-collar criminal defense respectively.

As a peer noted to Benchmark Litigation, Kaplan Hecker’s lawyers “are unwaveringly committed to staring down injustice without blinking, and their work proves that. They are ambitious, feisty and fearless, especially tailor-made for these tumultuous times.”

Commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion is more than a value of our firm, it is who we are. Our firm was founded by women and members of the LGBTQ+ community. Today, over 80% of our attorneys identify as women, people of color, members of the LGBTQ+ community, or some combination thereof. We strive to make sure that our policies, the way we practice, and opportunities for advancement at our firm all actively reflect our prioritization of building an equitable and inclusive workplace. We are extremely proud that The American Lawyer has recognized this work, naming Kaplan Hecker its 2021 inaugural “Best Diversity Initiative” award recipient. 

Kaplan Hecker has built a track record of impressive results in high-stakes litigation, fueled by a small team of litigators with extensive trial experience and wide-ranging subject matter expertise. Its practice focuses on the following areas: 

Commercial Litigation: Kaplan Hecker lawyers are highly-experienced commercial litigators with wide-ranging backgrounds. Clients range from large financial institutions and ratings agencies, to Fortune 500 companies, tech companies and startups, and nationally prominent individuals – among numerous other categories. We are efficient, diverse, creative, collaborative, and focused on achieving the best possible results for our clients. 

White-Collar Criminal Defense: The firm has extensive experience defending companies, boards of directors, and executives from criminal investigations and enforcement and regulatory proceedings across a range of practice areas, including the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act and anti-corruption, whistleblower and False Claim Act claims, anti-money laundering, and various kinds of financial fraud, among many others. 

Cybersecurity and Data Privacy: Kaplan Hecker lawyers have wide-ranging experience helping companies and executives navigate complex challenges involving cybersecurity, data privacy, and related regulatory compliance. 

FCPA and Anti-Corruption: Kaplan Hecker lawyers have significant expertise representing clients in which the FCPA and other anti-corruption issues arise – including in internal investigations, representing companies and individuals in government enforcement matters, and advising companies on anti-corruption compliance. 

Employment, Discrimination, and Sexual Misconduct: The firm has substantial experience representing organizations in sensitive employment and discrimination matters, including with respect to Title VII and Title IX claims and independent contractor and Fair Labor Standards Act classification. Kaplan Hecker has particular expertise representing top academic institutions in their most important Title VII and Title IX matters. 

Investigations and Crisis Management: Kaplan Hecker helps its clients navigate every aspect of sensitive internal investigations: conducting the investigation, developing internal and external communications strategies, advising on public disclosures, and reviewing and revamping compliance structures. 

Regulatory and Securities Matters and Litigation: The firm has represented some of the nation’s leading financial institutions and commercial businesses in regulatory proceedings, including securities enforcement proceedings and anti-money laundering investigations, helping clients navigate the ongoing challenges to relationships with regulators, investors, and shareholders that these proceedings can cause. 

Public Interest Litigation: Kaplan Hecker takes on some of the most pressing and groundbreaking public interest litigation in the country. 

Appellate Litigation: The firm’s appellate practice spans all areas of its work. Kaplan Hecker team of lawyers, which includes three former Supreme Court clerks, have litigated cases in all levels of state and federal courts, including the U.S. Supreme Court. 

Updated Sep 2023