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2 Manhattan West, 375 Ninth Avenue
New York, New York, 10001

+1 212 474 1934

Litigation Star

Top 250 Women in Litigation


Practice area:

White collar crime


Rachel G. Skaistis 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 accounting, securities fraud and governance issues; insider trading; the False Claims Act; and the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA). 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 represented a Special Committee of the Board of Twitter, Inc. (n/k/a X) in connection with a shareholder litigation demand letter and advised a special litigation committee of the Board of Directors of Alphabet Inc. (the parent of Google) in shareholder legal proceedings related to past workplace conduct and data privacy issues. She has represented a special committee of the Board of Directors of Prudential Financial; the Audit Committee of the Board of Directors of Campbell Soup; a special committee of the Board of Directors of Cognizant Technology Solutions; special committees of the Board of Directors of MetLife; special committees of the Board of Directors of The Hartford Financial Services Group; a special committee of the Board of Directors of Bank of New York Mellon; and the Board of Directors of General Electric Company and its various committees in numerous matters for over a decade.

Many of the other matters that Ms. Skaistis handles are non-public government and internal investigations, including FCPA investigations in North America, Europe, Asia and the Middle East, insider trading investigations and investigations related to workplace misconduct. Ms. Skaistis’s other clients have included: Credit Suisse, Deloitte & Touche, INEOS, JPMorgan Chase, Novartis and Time Warner/Warner Media.

  • Ms. Skaistis recently served as independent counsel for the Special Litigation Committee (“SLC”) of the Board of Directors of Hertz Global Holdings to investigate and advise the SLC in connection with allegations and issues raised in a derivative stockholder litigation pending in Delaware Chancery Court. Following an approximately six-month investigation, the SLC determined that it would not be in the best interests of Hertz or its stockholders to pursue the derivative claims in litigation further. In May 2025, the SLC filed a motion to terminate the derivative claims in the litigation, which plaintiff did not oppose, and that motion is currently pending.
  • Ms. Skaistis also represented Eros Media World plc, a global media and entertainment company, in connection with an Audit Committee investigation and a related SEC investigation into the company’s accounting practices and internal controls. The SEC closed its investigation without recommending an enforcement action against the company, or any of its affiliates, officers or employees.
  • Ms. Skaistis additionally represented Qualcomm and certain of its directors and officers in a shareholder class action securities suit filed in the wake of antitrust investigations and litigation concerning the company’s patent licensing and modem chipset businesses.

  • Government and regulatory
  • Securities
  • White collar crime