Founding Partner

1 Penn Plaza, Suite 4015
New York, NY 10119

+1212.597.2603

Litigation Star

English


Practice area:

Commercial


Rollo C. Baker IV is a founding partner of Elsberg Baker & Maruri.

Rollo is an experienced trial lawyer focused on litigating and trying complex commercial disputes. He has deep and widespread experience in a variety of subject matters, having successfully litigated cases involving securities, corporate governance, trade secrets and intellectual property agreements, mergers and acquisitions, energy and environmental law, commercial real estate, employment law, judgment enforcement actions, the False Claims Act, and insurance. Rollo has extensive experience in the Delaware Court of Chancery in litigating fraud, MAE, and breach of fiduciary duty cases, and in courts around the country litigating both plaintiff and defense-side securities fraud matters.

Rollo has an active trial practice, having first-chaired or had leading roles in numerous bench and jury trials and arbitrations. He has been singled out by clients who note that he “is as good as I’ve seen” and that his ability to “drill-down on the witness and to flex in and out of that mode impressed and at times astonished.”

Chambers awarded Rollo in its competitive General Commercial Litigation rankings, and has said of Rollo, “the jury lights up when Rollo stands up.”

The Legal 500 named Rollo in its inaugural US Elite rankings for New York. Rollo is one of three lawyers to be ranked in Tier 1 for Corporate and M&A. The Legal 500 also awarded Rollo in the area of M&A/Corporate and Commercial - Delaware counsel.

Benchmark Litigation named Rollo a Future Star in 2024 and 2025, describing him as “exceptionally bright, committed and strategic.”

Lawdragon named Rollo both a Leading Plaintiff Financial Lawyer, and as one of the “500 Leading Litigators in America” two years in a row.

Crain’s selected Rollo as one of its Notable Litigators and Trial Attorneys. Crain’s also selected Rollo as one of its Notable Leaders in Law

‍Rollo and his colleagues were named “Litigators of the Week” by The AmLaw Litigation Daily for their trial and appellate victories in the AbStable v. MAPS $6 billion+ busted deal case. He has also been repeatedly recognized in AML’s weekly “Litigator of the Week ”publication for, among other things, defeating a TRO in a high-profile trade secrets case brought by Jane Street, a case dispositive victory on summary judgment in an expedited $200 million private equity dispute following his oral argument; his leading role in the first COVID-19 era busted deal case to go to trial in which the court concluded that his client properly terminated a $6 billion sale transaction after the CEO he crossed at trial conceded that the target business had “made major material changes to its business when compared to its past practice;” and the reversal by the Delaware Supreme Court of a jury verdict in a M&A case concerning the enforceability of the parties’ agreement to limit remedies for reckless fraud.

Prior to founding the firm, Rollo was a partner at Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan, where he was the co-chair of the Corporate Governance Litigation Practice.

Rollo regularly publishes updates on developments in Delaware law and has authored articles and presented on various M&A topics, including MAE provisions, ordinary course covenants, and issues of title insurance.

 

Updated Sep 2025

  • Won a trial victory after a one-week trial in the Delaware Court of Chancery on behalf of Athilon Capital Corp. and its board of directors in the Quadrant v. Vertin case, defeating claims seeking hundreds of millions of dollars as well as a court order that would have forced our client to liquidate its assets and shutter its business. In its post-trial decision, the Court denied all the relief sought and allowed Athilon to carry out the long-term business strategy that Quadrant had challenged at trial. This trial victory was described in the press as a “resounding win” in a “literal bet-the-company case” that set precedent in Delaware concerning the test for legal insolvency, which was affirmed by the Delaware Supreme Court.

  • Won a $63 million judgement after a three-week bench trial, in which American industrialist Len Blavatnik alleged that JPMorgan violated its obligations under agreed-upon investment guidelines, which in turn caused substantial losses. Mr. Blavatnik contended that instead of complying with the conservative guidelines, JPMorgan breached a 20% limit set for mortgage-backed securities by misclassifying securities backed by risky subprime loans as “asset-backed” rather than “mortgage-backed” securities. The Court rejected JPMorgan’s argument at trial that it should not be liable on grounds that its classification of the risky subprime securities followed “industry practice.”

  • Won trial victory after one-week bench trial in Delaware Court of Chancery in the first COVID-era busted deal case in which the client sought to walk away from a $6 billion deal. In addition to being released from deal, client obtained full recovery of its $600 million+ deposit and was awarded its full attorneys’ fees and costs. Affirmed on appeal by the Delaware Supreme Court in an opinion setting the precedent on ordinary course covenants in deal documents.

  • Won a trial on behalf of Express Scripts in a case brought by the New York City Transit Authority claiming that Express Scripts failed to police “fraudulent, abusive or excessive” claims for compounded medication prescriptions and seeking $100 million in damages. After an eight-day trial in the SDNY, the jury awarded the Transit Authority no damages.

  • Currently representing Fairstead against a former executive in actions pending in the Delaware Court of Chancery and New York state court regarding the proper interpretation of various limited liability company agreements.

  • Appellate
  • Arbitration
  • Class action
  • Commercial
  • Commercial disputes
  • Dispute resolution
  • Labor and employment
  • Plaintiff

  • Financial services
  • Investment management
  • Pharmaceutical and life sciences
  • Real estate

  • J.D. - Georgetown University Law Center - 2010
  • B.A. - Franklin and Marshall College - 2007

  • State Bar of New York  - 2011
  • United States District Court: Southern District of New York  - 2013