The self-professed shark of The Am Law 100 is circling in new waters. Quinn Emanuel Urquhart Oliver & Hedges–whose logo is shaped like a shark fin–sharpened its teeth on IP trials for clients like Mattel, Inc., and Nokia Corp. that earned it this year’s top honor in that category [see "What Rhymes with Win?," page 82]. But the firm has also made an aggressive plunge into financial litigation of all kinds, where Quinn’s lack of a deal practice–and the conflicts that would generate–gives it a unique freedom to sue big banks. Founder John Quinn says that revenues from IP litigation have declined from over 60 percent three years ago to 37 percent of firm revenue in 2009. Meanwhile, disputes over structured finance products have risen from an afterthought to nearly a fifth of firm revenue. “Structured products,” says Quinn, “is where we’ve really differentiated ourselves from the pack.”
A pair of financial litigations accounted for Quinn Emanuel’s biggest recoveries in 2008–09. Bankrupt chemical maker Solutia Inc. won $2 billion in exit financing from leery lenders on the eve of closing arguments in a 30-deposition, million-document trial in which Quinn faced off against Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom on three weeks’ notice. (The banks say that they were merely fighting over the terms of the loan, and they were pleased with the terms negotiated in the settlement.) Meanwhile, four vulture funds hired Quinn as litigation counsel (with bankruptcy counsel Kasowitz, Benson, Torres & Friedman leading settlement talks) and recovered $2.1 billion from Enron Corp.’s shell on a set of Enron-linked notes issued by Citigroup Inc. with a par value of $2.4 billion. In take-home dollars and cents, these results dominated Quinn’s docket.
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