Rachel G. Skaistis is a partner in Cravath’s Litigation Department. She focuses her practice on advising boards of directors and management in connection with government and internal investigations, shareholder demands, derivative actions and accounting restatements. Ms. Skaistis represents clients in matters involving the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA), the False Claims Act, insider trading, accounting and securities fraud and governance issues. She also handles a wide variety of general litigation, arbitration and appellate matters, including in the areas of employment, securities, bankruptcy and general commercial disputes.
Ms. Skaistis recently represented Qualcomm and certain of its directors and officers in a consolidated purported shareholder securities class action suit filed in the wake of antitrust investigations and litigation concerning the company’s patent licensing and modem chipset businesses. She also represented Crown Castle and certain of its affiliates in a breach of contract action filed against DISH Wireless concerning DISH’s use of space on plaintiffs’ communication towers.
Ms. Skaistis represented a Special Committee of the Board of Twitter in connection with a shareholder litigation demand letter, and she advised a special litigation committee of the Board of Directors of Alphabet (the parent company of Google) in connection with various shareholder legal proceedings related to past workplace conduct and data privacy issues. She also represented Telia Company in connection with FCPA investigations by the SEC, DOJ and Swedish and Dutch authorities, resulting in one of the largest FCPA resolutions ever. The resolution did not require the company to retain a compliance monitor, implement changes to its compliance program or periodically self-report on its compliance program to the DOJ or SEC.
Ms. Skaistis devotes substantial time to pro bono service. She is one of the liaison partners for Cravath’s relationship with Montefiore Children’s Hospital and Morgan Stanley Children’s Hospital, through which the Firm represents patients who need legal services related to their medical care. She also is the liaison partner for Her Justice, an organization that procures pro bono legal services for low‑income women and children.
Ms. Skaistis received a B.A. in 1992 from Yale University and a J.D. cum laude from Cornell in 1997. She joined Cravath in 1997, but served a one-year clerkship with Hon. Shira A. Scheindlin of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York in 1999. She returned to the Firm in 2000 and was elected a partner in 2004. Ms. Skaistis is Co-Chair of the Firm’s Diversity Committee.
Updated Aug 2024
