Shawn Rabin, a Susman Godfrey Partner and member of the firm’s Executive Committee, is a go-to trial lawyer for high-stakes litigation. Described by one client as “highly strategic and always looking out for his clients’ best interests,” Rabin personally handles all aspects of his cases, from evaluating claims before a complaint is filed to selecting juries and seeing cases through to verdict. Having tried cases all across America—from San Francisco to San Juan—Rabin’s creativity and strategic thinking give his clients the extra margin necessary for victory.
Rabin has a proven track record of success. This includes:
- Representing WeWork founder Adam Neumann against SoftBank after SoftBank withdrew its offer to buy up to $3 billion in WeWork stock from Neumann and other shareholders. This lawsuit represents one of the largest individual claims to be litigated this century. The litigation was placed on an expedited schedule in the Delaware Chancery Court. A week before trial, the case settled.
- Representing Uber in the nationally covered trial that pitted Google’s Waymo against Uber. Just a few months before trial, Rabin was hired to represent Uber in a theft of trade secret case that the media called the “Tech Trial of the Century.” Although Waymo sought damages of almost $2 billion, Rabin and his team got all of Waymo’s experts’ damages opinions struck. The case settled two trial days before Rabin’s cross-examination of the star witness Anthony Levandowski.
- Winning a federal jury trial in SDNY for General Electric in a breach of contract dispute with the Nebraska Investment Finance Authority over how many years an investment contract required GE to pay interest. After deliberating for two hours, the jury returned a verdict in favor of GE valued at over $160 million.
- Winning a federal bench trial in the District of Puerto Rico while representing the world’s largest retailer, who was challenging a local tax as violating the Dormant Commerce Clause and the Equal Protection Clause. The federal district judge agreed with Rabin, striking down the statute. The 1st Circuit unanimously affirmed.
- Arguing an appeal to an en banc panel of the Delaware Supreme Court — Rabin was hired to argue and draft the appellate brief on behalf of the former stockholders of Harmonix Music Systems against Viacom in an appeal involving Viacom’s acquisition of Harmonix and the Guitar Hero and Rock Band video games. The Delaware Supreme Court affirmed the lower-court judgment.
- Representing Jerry Moyes against the NHL his legal battle involving the Phoenix Coyotes — Rabin secured a ruling significantly reducing the $140,000,000 in potential damages sought stemming from Moyes’ ownership of the Phoenix Coyotes hockey team.
- Representing The Rawlings Company in a high stakes jury trial where, after presenting three-weeks of evidence to a jury in Oldham County, Kentucky, Rabin helped secure a complete defense victory in what was one of the first wage-and-hour class actions to go to trial in Kentucky.
Updated Sep 2023
