New York

Firm overview

Trial skills matter—even in a world where few disputes ever see the inside of a courtroom.

Winston & Strawn has built a reputation as a trial lawyers’ firm. Our litigation lawyers are fully prepared to defend our clients’ interests in court, both in the United States and around the world. From compliance counseling to mediation, settlement negotiation, motion practice, trial, and appeal, Winston offers a full-service litigation law firm capable of meeting our clients’ business and legal objectives, whatever they may be.

Our litigators are some of the most seasoned in the industry, bringing extensive courtroom experience to every matter our firm handles. This experience enables us to spot outcome-determinative legal issues earlier so we can prepare compelling arguments that support our clients’ positions. What’s more, our long history of taking cases to trial – and winning – gives our clients tremendous settlement leverage with their adversaries, as well as confidence in a successful outcome if and when they go to trial.

Winston’s global team of more than 500 litigators on three continents approaches every case with strategic focus, unrelenting advocacy, and intensive preparation. That’s why some of the world’s largest companies and financial institutions have asked us to represent them in their most difficult litigation matters. 

Firm overview

MoloLamken is a law firm focused exclusively on representing clients in complex disputes. It handles civil, criminal, and regulatory matters, as well as appeals, across the United States. The firm’s clients span the globe. MoloLamken is involved in some of the most significant disputes of the day.  

The firm’s founding partners, Steven Molo and Jeffrey Lamken, developed national reputations based on their courtroom successes while partners at large full-service firms where they held leadership positions. With an abiding belief that complex disputes are most effectively handled by smaller teams comprised of smart, highly experienced lawyers focused on results rather than process, they formed the firm. 

MoloLamken provides experienced advocacy – for claimants as well as defendants – before judges, juries, arbitral forums, and courts of appeals, including the Supreme Court of the United States. The firm also represents clients in regulatory and criminal investigations and conducts internal investigations.

Firm overview

History: Pomerantz LLP is the oldest securities litigation firm in the United States and one of the most highly respected. The firm was founded in 1936 by legal pioneer and “dean” of the plaintiffs’ securities bar, Abraham L. Pomerantz, who helped secure the rights of investors to bring class and derivative actions.

Practice: Pomerantz protects and vindicates shareholder rights through its securities litigation services and proprietary PomTrack® portfolio monitoring program. The firm’s global clients include more than 100 of the largest and most influential pension funds, asset managers and private institutions, with combined assets of over $5.7 trillion. Pomerantz’s practice also includes corporate governance, antitrust and strategic consumer litigation.

Global Expertise: Jennifer Pafiti, Partner and Head of Client Services, is dually qualified to practice in the United States and United Kingdom. Our Paris office is headed by French lawyer, Nicolas Tatin, Pomerantz’s Director-Business Development Consultant for France, Benelux, Monaco and Switzerland. In addition to the Firm’s in-house team in the United States and Paris, Pomerantz utilizes an extensive network of prominent law firms in the United Kingdom, Switzerland, and the Middle East, so that we are ready to assist clients, wherever they are situated, in recovering monies lost due to corporate misconduct and securities fraud. Our team of attorneys is collectively fluent in English, Arabic, Mandarin and Cantonese Chinese, Farsi, French, German, Greek, Hebrew, Italian, Portuguese, Romanian, Spanish, and Ukrainian.

Cutting-Edge Legal Strategies: Pomerantz’s position at the cutting edge of 21st century concerns is evidenced in the cases it pursues and the law it makes. For example, the firm’s $80 million settlement in In re Yahoo! Inc. Sec. Litig. was the first ever significant settlement of a securities fraud class action filed in response to a data breach. Pomerantz is Lead Counsel in a securities class action against Wynn Resorts Ltd. stemming from accusations of sexual misconduct towards the company’s employees by its founder and former CEO, Steve Wynn. Such allegations have not traditionally been considered to be within the realm of securities laws. The Firm aims to convince the court that a company’s statements as to compliance with its code of conduct are indeed actionable.

Results: In early 2018, Pomerantz, as sole lead counsel, achieved a landmark $3 billion settlement for investors in the securities class action against Petróleo Brasileiro S.A. – Petrobras. The allegations arose from a decades-long, multi-billion-dollar corruption scheme—a scandal that ensnared not only Petrobras’ former executives, but also Brazilian politicians, including every former and current living Brazilian president and at least one third of the Brazilian Congress. This historic settlement represents:

• the largest securities class action settlement in a decade;
• the largest settlement ever in a securities class action involving a foreign issuer;
• the fifth-largest class action settlement ever achieved in the United States;
• the largest class action settlement ever achieved by a foreign lead plaintiff; and
• the largest class action settlement ever not involving a restatement of financial reports.
  
  

Throughout the i litigation, Pomerantz achieved important precedents at the Second Circuit Court of Appeals that will form the bedrock of securities class action jurisprudence and help protect investors for decades to come.

In August 2019, Pomerantz achieved final approval of a $110 million settlement in a securities class action against Fiat Chrysler N.V., one of the world’s largest car manufacturers, for allegations that the company misled investors about its compliance with regulations for safety recalls and emissions. In late 2018, the firm achieved an $80 million settlement in the class action litigation against Yahoo! Inc., arising from one of the largest data breaches in U.S. history and represents the first significant settlement of a securities fraud class action filed in response to a data breach. Also in 2018, Pomerantz secured a $31 million partial settlement in In re Libor Based Financial Instruments Antitrust Litigation, a closely-watched case concerning the London Interbank Offered Rate rigging scandal.

Recognition:

Judge Jed S. Rakoff of the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York stated at the February 2018 hearing for preliminary approval of the $3 billion settlement achieved by Pomerantz in In re Petrobras Securities Litigation:

...the lawyers in this case [are] some of the best lawyers in the United States, if not in the world.

In approving the Petrobras settlement in June 2018, Judge Rakoff wrote:

[T]he Court finds that Class Counsel’s performance was in many respects exceptional, with the result that, as noted, the class is poised to enjoy a substantially larger per share recovery [65%] than the recovery enjoyed by numerous large and sophisticated plaintiffs who separately settled their claims.

In approving the settlement in Thorpe v. Walter Investment Management Corp. in October 2016, Judge Ursula Ungaro wrote:

Class Counsel has developed a reputation for zealous advocacy in securities class actions. ... The settlement … is an outstanding result.

Firm overview

Last updated Sep 2020