Paul Schmidt of Covington & Burling. October 21, 2015. Photo by Diego M. Radzinschi/THE NATIONAL LAW JOURNAL.

In a string of victories In 2018, Covington & Burling litigators solidified the firm's reputation as an inside-the-Beltway litigation powerhouse.

Lawyers from Covington were frequently involved in challenges to various Trump administration policies. The firm successfully fought a suit against the Census Bureau over the addition of a citizenship question in the 2020 Census. And the firm won a victory in the Ninth Circuit in a challenge brought by University of California president Janet Napolitano to the Department of Homeland Security's efforts to end the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program.

Alexander Berengaut, a lead partner on the DACA case, says Covington frequently litigates against the federal government in administrative law contests on behalf of public interest clients. "In a sense, this case was a particularly acute need, but it was part of a long tradition the firm has had during both Republican and Democratic administrations," he said.

Covington's lawyers prevailed in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit over claims that Deutsche Bank was liable for deaths and injuries sustained by American troops in Iraq. Plaintiffs claimed that a consent agreement that Deutsche Bank reached with the State of New York relating to services it provided to Iranian banks made it liable under the Anti-Terrorism Act for providing support terrorists.

In the Deutsche Bank case, the ruling obtained by Covington's John Hall, Mark Gimbel and David Zionts says the bank did not cause the attacks, conspire to support terrorism, or demonstrate the intent required to be held liable.

Covington also won a major case before the International Trade Commission on behalf of Canadian aerospace company Bombardier Inc. Boeing accused Bombardier of receiving government subsidiaries in violation of trade laws. Covington's team, led by Shara Aranoff and Peter Lichtenbaum, ultimately convinced the ITC to reject Boeing's complaint, sending Bombardier's stock price to a three-year high.

Covington also found success in New Jersey, where Paul Schmidt and Michael Imbroscio ended thousands of suits over side effects from Hoffmann-La Roche's acne drug Accutane. Covington's lawyers convinced the state Supreme Court to align its expert testimony standards with the more rigorous national Daubert standard.

Schmidt says Covington lawyers' approach to products liability cases includes being ready to litigate at every stage of the case. "A lot of lawyers come in these cases never thinking about trying the case. We are always thinking, what evidence are we going to need? What stories are we going to tell? Having that focus affects every stage of the case," he said.

Firm Facts:

Name of Firm Covington & Burling
Founded 1919
Total number of attorneys 1,019
Litigators as percentage of firm 62%
Litigators as percentage in D.C. 67%
Litigation partners firmwide 166
Litigation associates firmwide 387
D.C. litigation partners 97
D.C. litigation associates 245

 

Keys to Success:

"The largest litigation practice in D.C., with high-energy, diverse talent in their 30s and 40s.  Market-leading practices in areas critical to today's global businesses. The ability to staff litigation with multidisciplinary teams leveraging the firm's regulatory and government expertise." — John Hall, chair, Covington's global litigation practice

Charles Toutant is a litigation writer for the New Jersey Law Journal. Contact him at [email protected].