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Quick Takes

Litigator of the Week Runners-Up and Shout Outs

Our first runner-up this week is Roy Black of Black, Srebnick, Kornspan & Stumpf who won the first trial acquittal for a defendant in the government's Varsity Blues probe into elite college admissions practices.
6 minute read
Analysis

Litigation Boutiques: Where Every Partner Knows Your Name

Here's how the half dozen newly-minted partners at litigation boutiques who participated in Law.com's "How I Made Partner" series this past year described their career paths.
7 minute read
Analysis

What's Changed?: Checking In With Kent Raygor of Sheppard Mullin

"If you hadn't before, you better write the best papers you can because that might be your only shot at winning a motion," says the veteran litigator of the growing momentum for judges to decide issues without oral argument.
5 minute read
Q&A

Litigation Leaders: Skadden's Jim Carroll Touts the Value of Having an In-House Trial Consulting Group

"Our trial consultants enable our litigators to deploy best practices on every case, maintaining a comprehensive archive of materials that serve as exemplars for trial presentations."
10 minute read
Q&A

Litigators of the Week: The Duo Behind a Landmark Retaliation Verdict Against So Cal Edison and Edison International

A Los Angeles jury awarded $422,377,265 to Alfredo Martinez and $42,200,000 to Justin Page who alerted company officials about harassment in the Torrance, California, office of Southern California Edison – a huge win for David deRubertis of The deRubertis Law Firm and Brennan Kahn of Perona, Langer, Beck, Serbin and Harrison.
11 minute read
Quick Takes

Litigator of the Week Runners-Up and Shout Outs

The first runners-up this week are litigators from MoloLamken and CERA LLP who took home a win for plaintiffs in a rare securities class action that made it to trial
8 minute read
Analysis

Can Fewer than 12 Be Greater Than 12? Let's Talk About Smaller Juries

Michael Maguire of ADR Services Inc., Paula Hannaford-Agor, the director of the Center for Jury Studies at the National Center for State Courts, and Orange County, California, plaintiffs lawyer Eric Traut lay out the case for embracing procedures allowing smaller juries.
6 minute read
Q&A

Bruce Proctor of Lixil Americas on the Value That Litigators Bring to In-House Practice

"Our internal litigation expertise causes us to have very realistic views about litigation and the goals to be achieved in any particular instance," says Proctor, the GC of the parent company of water and housing product brands including American Standard, DXV and GROHE.
9 minute read
Quick Takes

An Early-Week Batch of Litigator of the Week Shout Outs

With two weeks' worth of wins under consideration in this cycle of Litigator of the Week, we're giving a little extra shine to a worthy batch of shout outs.
5 minute read

Newly-Minted Second Hundred Litigation Partners Open Up About What It Takes to Make It

Lawyers who recently made partner at firms in the second half of the Am Law 200 have embraced specialization and say that personal development can lead to professional opportunities.
6 minute read
Q&A

Litigators of the Week: The Latham Duo Who Won an Acquittal for Former Perkins Coie Partner Michael Sussmann

Sean Berkowitz and Michael Bosworth convinced a federal jury that Sussmann was not guilty of lying to the FBI about his client representations when he shared allegations of possible ties between the Trump Organization and a Russian bank in the run-up to the 2016 election.
11 minute read
Quick Takes

Litigator of the Week Runners-Up and Shout Outs

Our first runners-up this week at Bracewell won a whopping $1.6 billion in damages in a breach of contract suit against IBM Corp.
4 minute read
Analysis

What's Changed for Litigators?: Checking In With Mintz's Seth Goldman and Skadden's Meredith Slawe

We asked if anyone wanted to talk about what's changed for litigators over the past couple of years. Seth Goldman of Mintz Levin and Meredith Slawe of Skadden Arps were the first two to take us up on the offer.
6 minute read
Best Practices

The 4 Corners of Cross-Examination and Some Tips for Handling Hostile Witnesses

Judge Amy Hanley says maintaining control of the witness is central to a successful cross-examination. Here's how she says to do it.
6 minute read
Q&A

Litigation Leaders: The Founders of MoloLamken on the Firm's 'Brains and Brass Knuckles' Litigation Approach

"We're aggressive, keeping cases moving forward to trial. But we always keep legal issues at the forefront, recognizing they almost always dictate the outcome of cases," says Steven Molo, who founded the firm in 2009 with Jeffrey Lamken.
5 minute read
Q&A

Litigators of the Week: A $77.5 Million Plaintiff's Verdict in the 16th and Final Scheduled 3M Earplug Bellwether Trial

The jury verdict that Brad Bradford and Bryan Aylstock of Aylstock, Witkin, Kreis & Overholtz won last week for former soldier Jay Beal was the highest to date for a single plaintiff in the massive MDL and included $72.5 million in punitive damages.
8 minute read
Quick Takes

Another Round of Litigator of the Week Runners-Up and Shout Outs

Mark Ressler and Paul "Tad" O'Connor III of Kasowitz Benson Torres won a $185 million arbitration award for real estate developer client SL Green against Chinese conglomerate HNA Group.
5 minute read
Commentary

Kudos and 'C'mon!': ACTL Just Pulled Off an Impressive Program to Diversify the Trial Bar. Again, Please.

This past weekend a group of fellows of the American College of Trial Lawyers gathered in Chicago to help lawyers aspiring to be part of the next generation of trial advocates.
5 minute read
Analysis

Break Out the Org Chart: How Covington Is Managing Its Opioid Docket for McKesson

Paul Schmidt, Andrew Stanner and Laura Flahive Wu of Covington & Burling discuss the challenge of staying on top of the all-encompassing assignment that's called on 50 lawyers at any given time.
6 minute read
Best Practices

Everybody's Uncomfortable During Voir Dire

Read to the end for jury consultant Diane Wiley's go-to question to get at the attitudes of prospective jurors.
5 minute read
Analysis

How the United States Soccer Federation Got to Labor Peace and Equal Pay

Karen Leetzow, the federation's chief legal officer, discusses the "Rubik's cube" of litigation and collective bargaining that led to last week's announcement of new deals with the men's and women's national teams, alongside her lead labor negotiator Nicole Buffalano of Morgan Lewis and her lead litigator Jamie Wine of Latham & Watkins.
6 minute read
Q&A

Litigators of the Week: The Irell Duo on a Win Streak for USAA in Mobile Check-Cashing Patent Cases

Jason Sheasby and Lisa Glasser of Irell & Manella scored a $218.45 million damages verdict in Marshall, Texas, last week for USAA against PNC Bank. They previously won jury verdicts of $200 million and $102 million in 2019 and 2020 in cases against Wells Fargo Bank.
4 minute read
Quick Takes

A Fresh Batch of Litigator of the Week Runners-Up and Shout Outs

Our first runners-up at Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher, Greenberg Traurig, and Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman got a last-minute temporary restraining order barring the town of East Hampton, New York, from moving forward with plans to close its public airport.
6 minute read
Commentary

A Few Questions for You

A lot has changed about the way I think and work over the past couple of years. What about you?
4 minute read
Analysis

Overcoming Fear of Public Failure and Embracing Mentorship: Asian American Judges Trace Their Paths to the Bench

"Being a first Asian American anything is great," said Judge Holly Fujie of Los Angeles County Superior Court. "But making sure that you're not the last Asian American something is even more important."
6 minute read
Q&A

Skadden Appellate Head Shay Dvoretzky On Making Business Arguments to a Textualist Supreme Court

"I think that's even more true now than it used to be the court seems more willing to follow the statutory text wherever it leads, even if that has adverse policy consequences for businesses," says Dvoretzky, who moved to Skadden to launch its Supreme Court and appellate practice about 18 months ago.
7 minute read
Q&A

Litigators of the Week: Patterson Belknap Scores a $2 Billion Trade Software Secret Verdict in Virginia for Software Maker Appian

Rival software company Pegasystems referred internally to a developer who had access to confidential Appian code as "our spy." After a seven-week trial, a Virginia state court jury sided with Appian and their trial team led by Adeel Mangi, Muhammad Faridi and Jeffrey Ginsberg of Patterson Belknap Webb & Tyler.
9 minute read
Quick Takes

Litigator of the Week Runners-Up and Shout Outs

A Delaware federal jury awarded Quinn Emanuel client Complete Genomics $333 million in damages last week, while also invalidating two patents asserted by competitor Illumina.
5 minute read
Q&A

Sweet Home California? How 2 Former Chicago Prosecutors Came to Lead Jenner & Block's SF and LA Offices

Back when they were AUSAs in Chicago a decade ago, Reid Schar and Brandon Fox talked about their mutual goal to end up in California. Now they're leading Jenner's offices in San Francisco and Los Angeles respectively.
9 minute read
Analysis

Genetic Stop and Frisk? Gibson Dunn Pairs With Legal Aid to Block 'Familial Search' of New York's DNA Database

New York's Appellate Division, First Department issued a 3-2 decision last week siding with Gibson Dunn, Legal Aid and their clients, finding that the state agencies that authorized the practice had overstepped their authority.
5 minute read
Analysis

Keeping Up With Cooley: How Tech's Favorite Litigators Won a Major Defamation Trial for the Kardashian-Jenner Family

Cooley's Mike Rhodes and Michelle Doolin discuss representing members of the preeminent reality TV family in a $100 million defamation lawsuit brought by Rob Kardashian's ex-fiancé, Blac Chyna.
6 minute read
Q&A

Litigation Leaders: Winston & Strawn's Steve D'Amore Says the Firm Always Keeps an 'Eye on Succession'

"We recently transitioned our litigation leadership team to include a new and more diverse generation of leaders, which has empowered our rising stars to take on greater ownership of the litigation department's and the firm's future."
14 minute read
Q&A

Litigators of the Week: The Cravath Team Defending Elon Musk from Shareholder Claims Over the Tesla-SolarCity Deal

Delaware Vice Chancellor Joseph Slights last week found the deal process was "far from perfect," but the price Tesla paid for SolarCity was "entirely fair" — a win for Musk and his trial team led by Evan Chesler, Daniel Slifkin and Vanessa Lavely.
12 minute read
Quick Takes

Litigator of the Week Runners-Up and Shout Outs

After a two-week trial in Richmond, Virginia, a federal jury this week sided with Sullivan & Cromwell client Columbia University finding that NortonLifeLock Inc. infringed two cybersecurity patents developed by professors at Columbia's Intrusion Detection Systems Laboratory.
4 minute read
Analysis

Another Chapter in the Recent Run of Unsuccessful Federal Antitrust Prosecutions of Individuals

Paul Coggins of Locke Lord and Fort Worth criminal defense attorney Brian Poe talk about defending a bellwether federal wage-fixing case targeting two former officials at a Texas physical therapy company.
5 minute read
Q&A

What's Up With the 60% Jump In Cases Brought Under California's Privacy Law?

Michelle Reed and Natasha Kohne, the co-heads of the cybersecurity, privacy and data protection practice at Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld, discuss the firm's report finding a jump in the number of cases filed seeking to enforce provisions of the California Consumer Privacy Act, or CCPA, from 91 in 2020 to 145 in 2021.
8 minute read
Analysis

The Making of a Modern Am Law 100 Litigation Partner

Newly-minted litigation partners from the nation's largest law firms say focusing on genuine, personal relationships is key to business development, and associates who aspire to make partner should start thinking like one sooner rather than later.
7 minute read
Analysis

State and Federal Courts Diverge in How They've Tackled the Pandemic

The pandemic fueled an unprecedented surge of cooperation between state courts. Federal court officials, meanwhile, have been deliberating how to address future emergencies.
5 minute read
Podcast

Will DOJ Really Bring Criminal Monopolization Charges?

The Department of Justice has signaled that criminal monopolization cases could be on the horizon. In this week's episode, Axinn's Tiffany Rider illustrated what such a case could entail.
1 minute read
Q&A

Litigators of the Week: Covington Scores a Major Insurance Coverage Win For Brooklyn Gas Co. Over Gowanus Canal Cleanup Costs

After nearly five weeks of trial, a state court jury in Manhattan sided with Brooklyn Gas Co., represented by Ben Razi, Gretchen Hoff Varner and Mike Lechliter of Covington & Burling, in a dispute over claims for pollution cleanup costs.
11 minute read
Quick Takes

Litigators of the Week Runners-Up and Shout outs

Roberto Finzi and Richard Tarlowe of Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison and Justin Weddle of Weddle Law secured a plea deal for their clients, Anilesh "Neil" Ahuja, the founder and former CEO of hedge fund Premium Point Investments and former trader PPI trader Jeremy Shor that resulted in no prison time.
7 minute read
Analysis

How Kirkland & Ellis Contributed 5,000-Plus Hours to an Investigation Into Discriminatory Policing in Minneapolis

Kirkland donated about 5,300 hours to an investigation by the Minnesota Department of Human Rights following the murder of George Floyd. The state's civil rights enforcer announced Wednesday it found Minneapolis and its police department engaged in "a pattern or practice of race discrimination" in violation of the state's Human Rights Act.
5 minute read
Analysis

Flying Close to the Sun?

2021 was a banner year for the Am Law 100. But will Big Law litigation departments feel the squeeze in its wake?
5 minute read
Analysis

How Do You Build a Mass Torts Practice Where 90% of Partners are Women? For Sidley, It's Been Decades in the Works

In the core team of 20 lawyers in the firm's product liability and mass torts practice, Sidley reports 90% of the partners are women as well as more than 80% of associates.
5 minute read
Q&A

Litigators of the Week: The Defense Team that Fended Off Criminal 'No Poach' Charges at Trial for DaVita and Its Former CEO

Lawyers at Morgan Lewis and Wilmer represent the Denver-based dialysis company and a team from Winston & Strawn, Fish & Richardson and McDermott represent former CEO Kent Thiry. A federal jury this week acquitted the defendants on all counts of conspiring with three companies run by DaVita alumni to avoid competing for employees.
13 minute read
Quick Takes

Litigator of the Week Runners-Up and Shout Outs

A team of Faegre Drinker Biddle & Reath intellectual property litigators led by partners David Gross and Chad Drown won a defense verdict for Seagate after a two-week patent infringement trial.
5 minute read
Q&A

Art Imitates Life as a Big Law Trial Lawyer

Retired Alston & Bird trial lawyer Michael Kenny discusses his debut novel "Life's Illusions," which follows the life and career path of a fictional Big Law trial lawyer.
9 minute read
Best Practices

The Case of the Pilfered Pokémon Book: A Lesson in Cross-Examination

Effective cross-examination involves story-telling and comparison and contrast, says Walkup, Melodia, Kelly & Schoenberger partner Doris Cheng.
5 minute read
Commentary

A Few Insights on How We Choose Litigator of the Week

The process, admittedly, is not without its flaws. But there are some things that you can do to help it run better.
7 minute read
Q&A

Litigation Leaders: O'Melveny's Litigation Co-Chairs Call D&I an Existential Issue for the Firm

"We treat diversity and inclusion as though the firm's survival depends on it — because we believe it does," says Apalla Chopra who co-chairs the department with partner Rich Goetz. "It informs the way we recruit, hire, train, mentor, and promote our people, as well as the leadership roles we look to fill."
11 minute read
Q&A

Litigators of the Week: Defense Lawyers for the Poultry Execs Who Won't Be Facing a Third Antitrust Conspiracy Trial

Federal prosecutors announced late last month that after a second mistrial in their criminal case against 10 executives at poultry companies they were dismissing all charges against half the defendants.
14 minute read
Quick Takes

A Two-Week Batch of Litigator of the Week Runners-Up and Shout Outs

Our runners-up at Hueston Hennigan landed a $175 million damages award against VPX, the maker of the "Bang" energy drink, after an arbitrator found it doesn't contain creatine.
9 minute read
Best Practices

Point to What Your Opponent Did Wrong and Save Some Nuggets for the Witness Stand: Tips for Compelling Openings

"I'll suggest to you that you are not trying to persuade the jury any less in opening statements than you are in closing arguments. It's just that you have to do so within the confines of the rules of evidence and the rules of procedure and the rules of ethics," says Chicago trial lawyer Dan Kotin.
6 minute read
Analysis

The Soft Skills It Takes to Succeed as Part of a Virtual Law Firm Trial Team

The multi-firm, all-star approach to staffing multidistrict and mass torts cases may not be a panacea, but it's got its upsides — especially for litigators who aren't afraid to share the credit.
5 minute read
Quick Takes

Getting a Jump on a Loaded Week of Litigator of the Week Shout Outs

With two weeks' worth of results in the running this week, we're stretching out the shout outs over a couple of columns to give everyone their due.
6 minute read
Analysis

How Are Judges Like Athletes?

Chief U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Mildred Cabán of Puerto Rico and retired Minnesota state court Judge Kevin Burke say their colleagues on the bench could benefit from coaching and time in the film room.
4 minute read
Q&A

Litigators of the Week: Arnold & Porter and Loevy & Loevy Win $14M for Protestors Injured By Police in Denver George Floyd Protests

After a three week trial in federal court, jurors sided with Arnold & Porter's Tim Macdonald and Matthew Douglas, and Loevy & Loevy's Elizabeth Wang in finding police officers used excessive force against their clients during protests after the 2020 killing of George Floyd.
10 minute read
Quick Takes

Litigator of the Week Runners-Up and Shout Outs

BraunHagey & Borden brought home a $56 million verdict in a trademark case brought on behalf of San Diego craft brewer Stone Brewing against global beer giant Molson Coors.
5 minute read
Q&A

All They Do is Win, Win, Win: Dissecting a Trial Hot Streak With Kirkland's Adam Alper and Mike De Vries

The duo has reeled off six straight jury verdicts over the past two-plus years, including four plaintiff-side trade secrets wins.
13 minute read
Q&A

Cronos Group's Michael Akavan on Managing Litigation in the Frequently-Changing Legal Landscape Around Cannabis

"Because our company is still in a start-up phase, our legal team tends to be very entrepreneurial—it's not unusual for us to work nights and weekends and we want our outside counsel to be available when we need them," says the Sullivan & Cromwell alum.
8 minute read
Q&A

'It's All Starting Now': Crowell's Ian Laird on the Commercial Disputes Likely to Result from Russia's Invasion of Ukraine

Ian Laird, the co-chair of the international dispute resolution group at Crowell & Moring, says he sees potential parallels with a batch of bi-lateral investment treaty arbitrations brought against Russia for expropriations in Crimea.
7 minute read
Q&A

Litigation Leaders: Gibson Dunn's Global Litigation Co-Chairs on Bringing 'Energy, Enthusiasm and Grit' to Law-Shaping Matters

"We play the long game, whether that is identifying and preserving legal issues for appeal as part of a trial team or doing what it takes to ultimately prevail in the appellate chain," says Gibson's Helgi Walker.
11 minute read
Q&A

Litigators of the Week: Orrick Scores a Market-Moving Reversal at New York's High Court

Rich Jacobsen, Paul Rugani and Danny Rubens of Orrick Herrington & Sutcliffe are still very much engrossed in the world of residential mortgage securities, where New York's Court of Appeals made new law that benefits their client Credit Suisse last week and other RMBS sponsors.
9 minute read
Quick Takes

Another Stacked Batch of Litigator of the Week Runners-Up and Shout Outs

Adam Alper and Mike De Vries of Kirkland & Ellis kept their two-plus year trial winning streak alive with their sixth straight jury verdict.
6 minute read
Best Practices

A Key to Training Up New Trial Lawyers: Pass On the Opportunities When You Can

"Jurors, I think, tend to get tired of hearing from the same one or two lawyers all the time," says Kirkland's Jim Hurst. "Their ears and eyes perk up when suddenly some new younger lawyer gets up and he or she is doing a good job."
4 minute read
Q&A

Expanding Out of a Sub-Specialty or Creating One of Your Own: A Career Development Conversation With 2 Latham Litigators

Jamie Wine and Andy Gass say that if you don't see someone with the practice that you want to have, that shouldn't discourage you.
10 minute read
Analysis

Two Days. Two Circuits. Two Arguments. 1,100 Miles.

Kannon Shanmugam, the chair of the Supreme Court and appellate practice group at Paul Weiss, argued a major climate change appeal at the Eighth Circuit in St. Paul, Minnesota, last Tuesday morning and defended a massive antitrust settlement the next morning at the Second Circuit in Manhattan.
5 minute read
Analysis

Note to Class Action Lawyers: Engage with the Objection, Not the Objector

The chief judges of California's four federal district courts agree that it's more effective to address the merits of an objection rather than the motives of an objector.
4 minute read
Q&A

Litigators of the Week: What the End of Sentence for a Terrorist Tortured at CIA Black Sites Could Mean for Guantanamo Bay's Future

Last week the official overseeing military commissions at Guantanamo slashed 16 years off the sentence of the detainee represented by Katya Jestin of Jenner & Block and Wells Dixon of the Center for Constitutional Rights. Seven of the eight military jurors in their client's case wrote a letter calling his torture "a stain on the moral fiber of America."
10 minute read
Quick Takes

Litigator of the Week Runners-Up and Shout Outs

Lawyers at Covington & Burling have been representing Ukraine pro bono at the International Court of Justice challenging Russia's pretext for invasion.
5 minute read
Analysis

A Rare View From Either Side of a Divided Appellate Panel That's Been Flipped by the Supreme Court

Ninth Circuit Judge M. Margaret McKeown and her colleague Senior Circuit Judge William Fletcher on Wednesday discussed the Supreme Court's TransUnion v. Ramirez decision, which reversed a decision where Fletcher was in the majority and McKeown dissented.
4 minute read
Analysis

Is a Gig as an AUSA Still the Likeliest Launchpad to Big Law Trial Practice?

Proskauer Rose partner Bart Williams, who went 11 for 11 on trials as a federal prosecutor, is questioning the tried-and-true route to trial experience. (He has no questions about picking up practice tips from co-counsel though.)
5 minute read
Analysis

Kenneth Feinberg Says Court is Where the Action Is. The Settlement Funds He Tends to Oversee Are the 'Aberration'

Arguably the biggest name in alternative dispute resolution says there's no substitute for doing things the old-fashioned way in the U.S.: "You hire your lawyer. I'll hire my lawyer. Judge and jury will decide."
4 minute read
Analysis

Drilling Down on Greenberg Traurig's Trial Boutique Within a Litigation Department

Lori Cohen and William Michael Jr., the co-chairs of Greenberg's trial practice group, discuss the details of the 100-plus lawyer boutique-within-a-firm.
6 minute read
Q&A

Litigators of the Week: The Zuckerman Spaeder Duo Who Challenged the Use of 'Race-Norming' in the NFL Concussion Settlement

The federal judge overseeing the NFL concussion benefits process gave sign-off last week to a settlement that will eliminate the use of race-based norms, a major win for Black retirees who intervened in the case with counsel from Zuckerman Spaeder's Cy Smith and Aitan Goelman.
7 minute read

Litigator of the Week Runners-Up and Shout Outs

Our first Litigator of the Week runners-up this week at Winston & Strawn scored a major appellate reversal for Cox Communications. You might remember…
6 minute read
Q&A

Miami Litigator Peter Prieto Describes What He Sees on the Horizon in Multidistrict Litigation

Prieto, the head of commercial and class action litigation at Miami boutique Podhurst Orseck, is set to moderate a panel of MDL judges at The Miami Law Class Action and Complex Litigation Forum on Friday.
7 minute read
Best Practices

The 'Go BIG' Method for Closing Arguments

Robert Vaughan of Kim Vaughan Lerner uses the "Go BIG" acronym to describe his way of starting closings with a "grabber" and then incorporating the burden of proof, jury instructions and the grounds for getting a jury to go his way.
5 minute read
Analysis

Miami-Dade Administrative Judge Jennifer Bailey Says More Remote Participation By Unrepresented Litigants 'Means Better Justice'

"The quality of justice, I would propose to you, may be significantly better on remote than it was in the good old days of the cattle calls," said Bailey during a forum sponsored by the Legal Services Corporation.
5 minute read
Q&A

Litigation Leaders: Desmarais LLP Founder John Desmarais on the Firm's Early Focus on Trial Strategy

"While patent cases are complex technically and legally, they must be presented to everyday people on juries in terms that make sense to them."
12 minute read
Q&A

Litigators of the Week: Quinn Emanuel Gets a Vital Win on Gene-Editing Patents at the PTAB

Ray Nimrod, Matt Robson, and Zach Summers of Quinn Emanuel persuaded the Patent Trial and Appeal Board that their client, the Broad Institute, invented the use of the gene-editing technology CRISPR-Cas9 in plants and animals before two scientists who won the Nobel Prize in 2020 for work on it.
9 minute read
Quick Takes

Litigator of the Week Runners-Up and Shout Outs

Our first runners-up this week are the plaintiffs' teams who pursued claims against Allianz Global Investors tied to losses racked up by its Structured…
5 minute read
Analysis

Trial Lawyers Have a Reputation for Being Generalists. What If Going to Trial Is Their Specialty?

"I actually think the act of taking a case to trial, preparing it for trial, and executing a trial is itself a specialty," says Karen Dunn of Paul Weiss.
5 minute read
Analysis

Gibson Dunn Litigation Co-Chair Veronica Moyé: 'You Can't Let the Risk of Losing Drive Your Whole Strategy'

Moyé, who went in-house as the general counsel of a healthcare client for about three years in the mid-2000s, said there are long-term consequences for continuously settling cases for less than defense costs.
5 minute read
Analysis

As Firm Financials for 2021 Start Flowing In, A Couple of Observations on Litigation Micro-Trends

Even though the transactional sides of large law firms seem to be the primary drivers of record profits across the industry, litigation-heavy firms have so far posted strong returns — especially Texas firms busy handling the litigation fallout from Winter Storm Uri.
4 minute read
Best Practices

Director's Cut: Taking Cues from Cinema When Conducting Direct Examinations

Veronica Finkelstein, an assistant U.S. attorney in Philadelphia, says the attorney's role during direct testimony is very much akin to that of a movie director.
5 minute read
Q&A

Litigators of the Week: AIG's Trial Team at Quinn Emanuel and Mayer Brown Get a Defense Verdict in Delaware Insurance Coverage Trial

After just two hours of deliberations, jurors sided with Michael Carlinsky and Maaren Shah of Quinn Emanuel and Robert Harrell of Mayer Brown by denying the policyholder's claim for $27.5 million worth of coverage tied to a settlement with the state of Texas.
8 minute read
Quick Takes

Litigator of the Week Runners-Up and Shout Outs

Runners-up this week include litigators from Wilkinson Stekloff; Wachtell; Arnold & Porter; Cleary; Winston & Strawn; Mayer Brown; Latham and Kirkland.
5 minute read
Analysis

Do Smaller Firms Full of Trial Junkies Have a Better Chance of Attracting and Retaining Future Trial Junkies?

Selendy Gay Elsberg founder Faith Gay and managing partner Maria Ginzburg discuss some of the advantages firms like theirs have in the war for future trial talent.
4 minute read
Analysis

How Pro Bono Lawyers at Paul Weiss Contributed to Sandy Hook Families' Historic Settlement with Remington

"When you get a window into an adversary that has basically operated in complete darkness, without any scrutiny — not even regulatory scrutiny — you can imagine how unguarded people are," says Chris Boehning of Paul Weiss.
6 minute read
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Who Got The Work

Michael G. Bongiorno, Andrew Scott Dulberg and Elizabeth E. Driscoll from Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr have stepped in to represent Symbotic Inc., an A.I.-enabled technology platform that focuses on increasing supply chain efficiency, and other defendants in a pending shareholder derivative lawsuit. The case, filed Oct. 2 in Massachusetts District Court by the Brown Law Firm on behalf of Stephen Austen, accuses certain officers and directors of misleading investors in regard to Symbotic's potential for margin growth by failing to disclose that the company was not equipped to timely deploy its systems or manage expenses through project delays. The case, assigned to U.S. District Judge Nathaniel M. Gorton, is 1:24-cv-12522, Austen v. Cohen et al.

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Who Got The Work

Edmund Polubinski and Marie Killmond of Davis Polk & Wardwell have entered appearances for data platform software development company MongoDB and other defendants in a pending shareholder derivative lawsuit. The action, filed Oct. 7 in New York Southern District Court by the Brown Law Firm, accuses the company's directors and/or officers of falsely expressing confidence in the company’s restructuring of its sales incentive plan and downplaying the severity of decreases in its upfront commitments. The case is 1:24-cv-07594, Roy v. Ittycheria et al.

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Who Got The Work

Amy O. Bruchs and Kurt F. Ellison of Michael Best & Friedrich have entered appearances for Epic Systems Corp. in a pending employment discrimination lawsuit. The suit was filed Sept. 7 in Wisconsin Western District Court by Levine Eisberner LLC and Siri & Glimstad on behalf of a project manager who claims that he was wrongfully terminated after applying for a religious exemption to the defendant's COVID-19 vaccine mandate. The case, assigned to U.S. Magistrate Judge Anita Marie Boor, is 3:24-cv-00630, Secker, Nathan v. Epic Systems Corporation.

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Who Got The Work

David X. Sullivan, Thomas J. Finn and Gregory A. Hall from McCarter & English have entered appearances for Sunrun Installation Services in a pending civil rights lawsuit. The complaint was filed Sept. 4 in Connecticut District Court by attorney Robert M. Berke on behalf of former employee George Edward Steins, who was arrested and charged with employing an unregistered home improvement salesperson. The complaint alleges that had Sunrun informed the Connecticut Department of Consumer Protection that the plaintiff's employment had ended in 2017 and that he no longer held Sunrun's home improvement contractor license, he would not have been hit with charges, which were dismissed in May 2024. The case, assigned to U.S. District Judge Jeffrey A. Meyer, is 3:24-cv-01423, Steins v. Sunrun, Inc. et al.

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Who Got The Work

Greenberg Traurig shareholder Joshua L. Raskin has entered an appearance for boohoo.com UK Ltd. in a pending patent infringement lawsuit. The suit, filed Sept. 3 in Texas Eastern District Court by Rozier Hardt McDonough on behalf of Alto Dynamics, asserts five patents related to an online shopping platform. The case, assigned to U.S. District Judge Rodney Gilstrap, is 2:24-cv-00719, Alto Dynamics, LLC v. boohoo.com UK Limited.

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