Mitchell A. Karlan is among the nation’s premier trial and appellate lawyers, with a deep and varied experience in major, complex commercial litigation, with significant concentration in the areas of mergers and acquisitions, corporate control disputes, directors’ fiduciary duties, federal securities law, shareholder derivative actions, bankruptcy litigation, and domestic and international arbitration.
Mr. Karlan has tried numerous jury and nonjury cases in federal and state courts. He has appeared in courts in the majority of the States and has appeared in most of the federal Courts of Appeals. He has argued in the highest courts of three States.
Mr. Karlan has represented broker dealers and issuers in securities class actions. He has defended and prosecuted numerous shareholder derivative cases in Delaware and elsewhere involving alleged breaches of fiduciary duties.
Mr. Karlan has represented special committees of boards of directors of corporations in connection with takeover disputes and derivative actions, and has led special investigations on behalf of boards. He has litigated post-acquisition disputes involving post-closing adjustment clauses and alleged breaches of representations and warranties. He has spoken at Practicing Law Institute panels on the duties of members of a board of directors.
Mr. Karlan has represented several foreign clients in federal litigation and in international arbitration. His clients have included both private corporations (domestic and foreign) and agencies and instrumentalities of South American and European governments.
Benchmark Litigation has recognized Mr. Karlan as a “Top 100 Trial Lawyer in America” and a national and local “Litigation Star,” In March 2020, The Am Law Litigation Daily named Mr. Karlan as “Litigator of the Week” for obtaining a successful jury verdict on behalf of a Fortune 250 company. In 2020 The National Law Journal honored him as among the nation’s “Winning Litigators.”
Updated July 2023
