Our finalists for Litigator of the Week include Simpson Thacher & Bartlett litigation practice co-chair Jonathan Youngwood, who notched a pro bono win in an unconstitutional policing lawsuit in Mississippi. Youngwood led a Simpson Thacher team that worked alongside the American Civil Liberties Union and the ACLU of Mississippi to win a consent decree that will help to prevent Mississippi's Madison County Sheriff's Department from engaging in racially motivated policing practices.  

Dechert partners Matthew Larrabee and David Kotler prevailed in a bench trial in the Southern District of New York on behalf of Calamos Advisors, fending off a claim that Calamos charged one of its funds "excessive" investment advisory fees. SDNY Judge Edgardo Ramos rejected claims by mutual fund shareholders that fees charged to institutional or subadvisory clients should act as a ceiling for fees charged to a mutual fund.

At Sullivan & Cromwell, Jeff Scott and Marc de Leeuw scored for Barclays, rebuffing a breach of contract claim by Black Diamond Capital Finance. At issue: the interpretation of ISDA agreements, which govern trillions of dollars of financial derivatives contracts. The decision by the Appellate Division, First Department, of the New York State Supreme Court offers a valuable precedent for how to interpret such agreements.

Michael Goldberg of Baker Botts led a team securing a $53.7 million verdict for Ford Motor Credit Company in one of the nation's largest auto-dealer fraud cases. Ford alleged that six Texas dealerships and their principals defrauded the automotive financing company. A unanimous federal jury in a Lubbock awarded full damages.

Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton's Carmine Boccuzzi led the firm's Argentina litigation team in a pair of wins before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit. The court affirmed dismissal of two sovereign debt claims against the Republic of Argentina on statute of limitations grounds. The win closes out another chapter in nearly 20 years of litigation connected to Argentina's default on almost $90 billion dollars of debt in 2001.