Helam Gebremariam is a partner in Cravath’s Litigation Department. She handles a wide variety of complex litigation cases, including shareholder derivative, mergers and acquisitions, general commercial and securities matters, and antitrust matters.
Ms. Gebremariam recently represented Forward Air Corporation in connection with an action filed by Omni Logistics in the Delaware Court of Chancery, which sought to compel Forward Air to close its proposed acquisition of Omni. On the day trial was scheduled to begin, the parties announced a settlement, agreeing to amend the merger agreement on terms favorable to Forward Air and dismiss their claims. She also represented Tesla CEO Elon Musk in winning a complete trial victory to defeat a $13 billion stockholder derivative suit filed in the Delaware Court of Chancery related to Tesla’s acquisition of SolarCity. Following a highly publicized 11 day trial, the court granted judgment in favor of Mr. Musk on all counts, and the judgment was affirmed by the Delaware Supreme Court.
Ms. Gebremariam is currently representing Yale New Haven Health in an action seeking declaratory judgment that it is not obligated to close its contemplated $435 million acquisition of three Connecticut-based hospitals. She is also representing select members of SunPower Corporation’s Board of Directors in a stockholder derivative action filed in connection with the sale of SunPower’s commercial and industrial business to a subsidiary of TotalEnergies as well as Citigroup in putative class action litigation asserting breach of contract and fiduciary duty claims for alleged failure to achieve “best execution” in equity trades.
Ms. Gebremariam previously served as Senior Counsel to Deputy Attorney General Sally Q. Yates at the U.S. Department of Justice and Senior Counsel in the Department’s Office for Access to Justice. She was later associated with and became Counsel at a law firm in Washington, D.C. where she advised clients on a host of commercial, regulatory and strategic matters.
Ms. Gebremariam received a B.A. with departmental honors in Political Science from Columbia College in 2007 and a J.D. from New York University School of Law in 2010, where she was Editor in Chief of the Law Review and an AnBryce Scholar. After graduating from law school, she served as a law clerk to Judge Robert P. Patterson, Jr. of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York.
Ms. Gebremariam joined Cravath in 2011. In 2015, she left the Firm to work at the U.S. Department of Justice. She rejoined Cravath in 2019 and was elected a partner in 2020. Ms. Gebremariam is a partner liaison to the African American/Black Affinity Group and a member of the Pro Bono Committee.
Updated August 2024
