Robert Giuffra is Co-Chair of Sullivan & Cromwell and a partner in the Firm’s Litigation Group. He has served on Sullivan & Cromwell’s Management Committee since 2007. Mr. Giuffra joined the Firm in 1989 after serving as a law clerk to Chief Justice William Rehnquist of the U.S. Supreme Court and to Judge Ralph Winter of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit. He focuses on “bet-the-company,” securities, white-collar criminal, product liability, commercial, insurance, banking and tax litigation.
A fellow of the American College of Trial Lawyers and the International Academy of Trial Lawyers, Mr. Giuffra is recognized as one of the leading litigators in the United States. The American Lawyer has selected him as “Litigator of the Year” (2014), ”Transatlantic Disputes/Regulatory Lawyer of the Year” (2017) and as “Litigator of the Week” eight times since June 2011, most recently in August 2023. The National Law Journal has named him a “Winning Litigator” (2015), an “Energy and Environmental Trailblazer” (2017), a “Litigation Trailblazer” (2015), and a “Crisis Leadership Trailblazer” (2021). He is a ten-time Law360 MVP (2011, 2013, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022), the most for any lawyer since Law360 started naming MVPs. Euromoney has named him a “Top 100 Trial Lawyer” and “National Star” in Benchmark: America‘s Leading Litigation Firms and Attorneys and one of the top 30 litigators in the 2019 Best of the Best USA Expert Guide. In 2012, The International Who’s Who Legal listed him as one of its ten “Most Highly Regarded” litigators globally. In 2011, The Financial Times profiled him as one of its ten leading U.S. legal innovators.
For over 25 years Mr. Giuffra has represented prominent corporations and individuals in their most challenging civil and criminal cases, including at jury and bench trials, and on appeal in federal and state courts around the United States, before arbitration panels, and in investigations involving the U.S. Department of Justice, the SEC, the EPA, the Department of Homeland Security, U.S. and non-U.S. bank regulators, the U.S. Congress, all fifty State Attorney Generals, and the Internal Revenue Service. He regularly advises senior executives and boards of directors in internal governance matters.
Mr. Giuffra is currently National Coordinating Counsel for Volkswagen in its recent diesel-related matters and is lead counsel to Fiat Chrysler in its emissions issues. Mr. Giuffra has participated in litigations and government investigations arising out of the financial crisis, the bankruptcy of Enron, the restructuring of MBIA, the accounting fraud at HealthSouth Corporation, and specialist trading on the New York Stock Exchange. He has represented many of the world’s leading financial institutions, including Allianz, ABN AMRO, Bank of America, The Bank of New York, Barclays, BNP Paribas, CIBC, Citigroup, Goldman Sachs, HSBC, ING, JP Morgan, Merrill Lynch, Morgan Stanley, Natixis, RBC, RBS, Société Générale, UBS and Wachovia. His corporate clients have included Biovail, Boeing, Cablevision, Computer Associates, DISH Network, Enbridge, Ericsson, Exxon, Grupo Mexico, Kinross, Kohl’s, McKesson, Oxford Health Plans, Philips Electronics, Porsche, Tenaris, Tudor Investment Corporation, UnitedHealth Group, and Vornado Realty Trust. He has also represented the Republic of Argentina, Société Nautique de Genève, the two-time defender of the America’s Cup sailing trophy, the New York Giants and Jets NFL teams, and a major university. His individual clients have included CEOs, lawyers and senior government officials.
A graduate of Princeton University and Yale Law School, he has served in all three branches of the U.S. government. In addition to his judicial clerkships, he served as Chief Counsel to the U.S. Senate Banking Committee from 1995-1996. Previously, he served in the White House under President Ronald Reagan. In 2017, Chief Justice Roberts appointed him to the Standing Committee on Rules of Practice and Procedure of the U.S. Courts. A native New Yorker, he has served on New York’s Permanent Commission on Access to Justice, the State Commission on Public Integrity, the State Ethics Commission, the State-Federal Judicial Council, the Commercial Division Advisory Council, the Southern District Magistrate Judge Selection Panel, and the Commission on Attorney Discipline. He has also served as president of the Federal Bar Council.
For more information, visit: https://www.sullcrom.com/Lawyers/Robert-J-Giuffra-Jr
Updated September 2024
