Our runners up for Litigator of the Week include a cross-firm team from Hogan Lovells and Boies Schiller Flexner, who joined forces on behalf of a Barclays Bank Delaware subsidiary, Analog Analytics Inc. A New York Commercial Division jury rejected a claim by a travel marketing company that had sought $100 million in damages for alleged breach of contract. The Hogan Lovells team was led by partner Marc Gottridge, and the Boies Schiller team consisted of partners Christopher Duffy and Helen Maher.

Also take a bow Libby Locke and Joe Oliver of Clare Locke, who scored a win for Sarah Palin. The duo were brought in as appellate counsel after the former Alaska governor’s defamation claim against The New York Times was dismissed by a federal judge in Manhattan. The paper ran a (since-corrected) editorial blaming Palin’s political action committee in part for a 2011 mass shooting.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit sided with the Clare Locke team on every issue, concluding not only that the procedure taken was improper, but also that Gov. Palin had plausibly alleged malice (and the other elements of her defamation claim) in her proposed amended complaint.

At Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher, partners Mylan Denerstein and Akiva Shapiro won one for the entire title insurance industry in New York. They persuaded a Manhattan Supreme Court justice to invalidate as unconstitutional a sweeping regulation adopted in late 2017 by the New York State Department of Financial Services. The regulation would have barred marketing and advertising practices such as taking a real estate attorney to lunch or hosting an office party—and it would have imposed an across-the-board, industry-wide 5% rate reduction on title insurance premiums.

Latham & Watkins lawyers racked up a securities class action hat trick, getting three cases dismissed in seven days. New York partner Kevin McDonough persuaded a Washington State court to dismiss a suit against Funko. The pop culture collectibles company’s IPO in November 2017 suffered the largest first-day price drop since the year 2000.

Latham’s Peter Wald led the charge for generic pharmaceuticals company Impax in a shareholder class action in the Northern District of California. Following oral arguments on May 2, 2019, the court granted Latham’s motion to dismiss the second amended complaint with prejudice.

And Matthew Rawlinson and Melanie Blunschi scored a win for Apple in the In re Apple Processor Litigation related to the Spectre and Meltdown global security vulnerabilities. The motion to dismiss was granted without leave to amend.

Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan also had multiple wins. Partner Joe Paunovich notched his biggest one yet on behalf of startup Olaplex in a battle with industry giant L’Oreal over hair color technology. A federal jury ordered L’Oreal to pay Olaplex $91.3 million for stealing its trade secrets.

QE’s Andrew Corkhill prevailed on behalf Lansuppe Feeder, Inc., a subsidiary of Och-Ziff Capital Management, in a fight against a group of Mississippi banks before the Second Circuit. At issue: Is there a private right of action under the Investment Company Act of 1940? The panel held there was—diverging with the Third Circuit—but also that the banks had failed to state a claim.

And Quinn partner Stephen Neuwirth—along with Richard Parker of Gibson Dunn and Britt Miller of Mayer Brown—succeeded in winning dismissal of both direct and indirect purchaser class action complaints alleging that the nation’s largest pork producers colluded to raise pork prices by reducing the supply of hogs.

Last but not least, Pepper Hamilton executive committee chair Thomas Gallagher won the release of Philadelphia resident John Miller, who walked free after 21 years of wrongful imprisonment for second-degree murder. Over the last eight years, Gallagher dedicated 3,000 hours of pro-bono service to secure Miller’s release—a wonderful example of a firm leader demonstrating a commitment to pro bono and the pursuit of justice. Bravo Mr. Gallagher.