Litigation

Our government disputes lawyers have a proven record of securing favorable outcomes in matters involving both federal and state authorities. Whether before the courts or administrative bodies, we navigate complex regulatory frameworks, influencing agency decisions and safeguarding against governmental overreach.

Litigation involving the government presents distinct challenges, differing significantly from disputes between private parties. Given the substantial authority of regulatory agencies over industries, the implications of government litigation often extend well beyond the immediate issues of a case. When facing an investigation, subpoena, harmful regulation or denial of entitlements, litigation may be the only effective recourse. But litigation is often not the start of the process. Effective advocacy for, or against regulatory decisions involves engagement at the agency, whether in administrative proceedings, comments, informal contacts or more. We strategically leverage those efforts through long-term planning to achieve results as early in the process as possible, all the while setting up our clients for success in litigation, if that proves necessary.

Why Choose Us?

Our team offers seamless collaboration across nearly every jurisdiction, domestically and internationally, drawing on the skills of our renowned trial, appellate, public policy and government investigations lawyers in the US and across the globe.

Many of our lawyers have held prominent positions within regulatory agencies and government entities, providing valuable insider knowledge and strategic insight. This expertise enables us to represent clients across a broad spectrum of regulated industries, including chemicals, energy and natural resources, financial services, healthcare, life sciences and more.

Our comprehensive approach to government litigation includes challenging unlawful actions, establishing critical legal precedents and defending clients in enforcement matters. We have successfully assisted with some of the most complex cases, matters and investigations involving government agencies, underscoring our expertise and ability to navigate this intricate and constantly evolving legal landscape.

Our Capabilities

We combine deep legal knowledge, insider government experience and a proven record of success to help clients navigate complex needs related to government and administrative law, including:

• Government litigation – Representing clients in disputes challenging government actions, regulations or enforcement decisions, often involving complex legal and constitutional issues.

• Rulemaking – Preparing effective comments designed for a client’s long-term strategic goals in a rulemaking.

• Administrative proceedings – Advocating for clients in hearings and disputes before administrative boards, commissions and regulatory agencies.

• Appellate advocacy – Representing clients in appellate matters involving complex administrative, regulatory or constitutional issues.

• Constitutional challenges – Handling cases addressing constitutional rights, federal preemption issues and instances of government overreach.

• Government contracts – Advising on bid protests, contract negotiations, compliance requirements and disputes under procurement laws and regulations.

• Licensing and permits – Guiding clients through the process of obtaining, renewing or defending licenses, permits and other government approvals.

• Enforcement actions – Defending clients against regulatory, civil or criminal enforcement actions brought by government agencies.

• Government investigations – Providing counsel and defense for clients facing subpoenas, audits or investigations conducted by federal, state or local agencies.

• Regulatory compliance – Assisting businesses in navigating intricate regulatory frameworks to ensure full compliance with federal, state and local laws.

• Risk mitigation – Developing proactive strategies to minimize legal exposure and regulatory risks in highly regulated industries.

• Legislative and policy advocacy – Partnering with lawmakers and regulatory bodies to shape policies and legislative outcomes aligned with client interests.

• Crisis management – Advising clients on media and government crisis communication plans related to accident and incident investigations, as well as related scrutiny.

Our Antitrust & Competition Litigation team is global. We have significant knowledge of antitrust and competition laws around the world and the practical trial and litigation experience required to achieve substantive and positive outcomes for our clients. We also bring to bear the invaluable and unique ability to coordinate litigation strategy across multiple jurisdictions – across the US and across the globe.

Antitrust lawsuits tend to be substantial in scope and complexity. In the US, the European Union and other jurisdictions, damages in private civil case are frequently enhanced, such as treble damage awards in the US, or made easier to prove. Government cases are often brought by more than one government or followed by private actions. Moreover, private suits often follow or may generate criminal or civil government investigations. Our depth of experience in representing corporations and individuals in connection with criminal grand jury and civil government investigations makes us particularly well suited to litigate antitrust cases in court. We have experience in all aspects of antitrust litigation, including trials, class action proceedings, multijurisdictional coordination and appellate advocacy.

Why Choose Us?

• Our antitrust litigation capabilities are global, with particular strength in the US and Europe – regions with the most challenging standards related to antitrust awards, criminal violations and emerging regulations

• We have a large presence in Washington DC and Brussels – the two principal seats of antitrust courts and regulatory bodies in the world, as well as deep litigation experience in other jurisdictions, including San Francisco, London, New York, Paris, Houston, Cleveland and Miami

• We regularly appear before investigation and enforcement agencies in not only the US and before the EC, but also in France, Mexico, Brazil, Chile, Canada, Japan and the UK

• Several members of our practice have spent portions of their careers with the US DOJ Antitrust Division, US FTC Bureau of Competition and the Competition Directorate of the European Commission

• Ability to handle simultaneous civil and government lawsuits and investigations practically anywhere in the world, and in the US at both the federal and state level, including State Attorneys General actions in several US states, parens patriae actions on behalf of injured parties under the Sherman Antitrust Act and follow-on lawsuits

• We have significant US class action and multidistrict litigation (MDL) experience related to both consumer and business antitrust lawsuits

• We have significant experience litigating private competition law actions in Europe

• We offer substantial experience with industries that experience unique antitrust issues, including aviation, healthcare, chemicals and telecommunications

• Recognized thought leadership and expertise in antitrust and antitrust litigation, including Guide to the World’s Leading Competition and Antitrust Lawyers, Best Lawyers, Chambers, Legal Experts Europe, Middle East & Africa and Legal 500

Scope of Services

We represent clients with respect to a full range of antitrust counseling, investigations, and civil and criminal litigation, including US class actions and appeals, relating to:

• Civil damages claims based on monopoly, abuse of dominant position or allegations of unlawful collective action

• Price fixing, bid-rigging, including international cartel, and price fixing conspiracies

• Distribution agreements and territorial restriction claims, including price discrimination, exclusive dealing, loyalty programs, dealer terminations and tying

• Mergers, acquisitions and joint venture violations

• Anticompetitive challenges related to joint selling, marketing or R&D agreements and information exchange

• Anticompetitive challenges related to intellectual property, including patents, trademarks, IP licensing and IP acquisition

• Antitrust and competition compliance programs, including dawn raids

• ADR proceedings related to commercial disputes involving antitrust issues

Our Appellate & US Supreme Court Practice includes successful appeals experience before the US Supreme Court, as well as almost every federal circuit and appellate court within the US. Our lawyers handle appeals in every substantive and procedural area of civil and criminal law, serving clients in all aspects of the appellate process. In addition, clients retain us specifically to take over appeals after adverse jury verdicts, as well as to complement their trial team on trials with a high level of risk exposure.

Why Choose Us?

Wealth of experience in appellate courts across the country, winning high-stakes appeals and navigating extraordinary writs and nuanced, but critical, issues, such as stays

A national appellate team of dedicated litigators and former federal and state appellate law clerks, including from the US Supreme Court; we know the courts where we practice

Ability to quickly “parachute in” on the aftermath of a verdict and help design post-verdict strategy in order to maximize appellate prospects

Focused experience on handling appeals that have an international component, such as cross-border disputes and litigation based on treaties, as well as representing foreign nationals sued in the US

ABA Journal commended our Sixth Circuit Appellate blog, the only blog devoted to the Sixth Circuit, as “blog of the week” and as an appellate information resource

Scope of Services

We work with clients across the globe on their US appeals in the following areas:

• Antitrust

• Arbitration, including cases related to international arbitration

• Bankruptcy

• Business torts and personal injury

• Contracts and real property

• Environmental

• Financial services

• Intellectual property

• International

• Labor and employment

• Privilege and litigation issues

• Securities and derivative actions

Areas of Concentration

Overturning/Defending Lower Court Decisions

With the affirmance rate in many courts nearing 90%, knowing how to frame a case to convince an appellate court to overturn a trial court’s ruling takes particular skill and attention to detail. Clients entrust us with this task, especially when the stakes are high. We are also well equipped to defend lower court decisions on appeal.

Extraordinary Writs, Motions and Stays

We are fully experienced with extraordinary writs at the state and federal levels. In addition to knowing when and how to petition appellate courts for extraordinary relief, we understand the strategies related to securing a stay of a lower court’s adverse order in order to preserve the status quo. Our appellate lawyers have obtained and defeated stays in high-profile cases, along with orders staying or expediting the mandate, to further our clients’ interests.

US Supreme Court and Amicus Briefs

Our appellate lawyers are intimately familiar with US Supreme Court practice and procedure, having handled numerous certiorari petitions and briefs in opposition and participated in several merits cases.

On behalf of our clients who have an interest in cases in which they are not a party, we routinely file amicus briefs to help focus the courts’ attention on matters the parties may have overlooked. We have represented the American Bar Association, the National Conference of State Legislatures and the Kingdom of Belgium, among other highly respected clients, in amicus briefs filed at the US Supreme Court.

Pro Bono

Our appellate lawyers devote a substantial amount of time to assisting indigent litigants in appellate proceedings. Courts frequently appoint us to work with such litigants in a pro bono capacity because of our appellate experience. We have won a number of victories for pro bono clients, including a rare win at the Eleventh Circuit in a death penalty case. Regardless of our clients’ issues, we value our clients’ goals, and we emphasize strategy and quality to meet those goals.

Our Class Action & Multidistrict Litigation Practice has successfully represented clients across all industries in hundreds of nationwide, multistate and statewide class actions, mass actions and multidistrict litigation (MDL). We have particularly strong experience in the most aggressive class action states, including California, Florida, Illinois, New Jersey, New York and Ohio.

Our success is the result of our creative, aggressive defense strategies and our familiarity with managing complex class and mass actions. Clients regularly retain us as their national coordinating counsel in their most complex mass actions and MDLs. We have also served as court-approved liaison counsel in a number of MDL proceedings, including appearances before the Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation.

Why Choose Us?

• Extensive class action and mass action experience, including MDLs, in the areas of consumer fraud, false advertising, consumer products, financial services and toxic tort claims

• Bellwether trial wins, including In re: MDL Litigation regarding Texas City Refinery Ultracracker Emission, 56th Judicial District Court of Galveston County, Texas, where US$10 billion was at stake for our client, BP America

• Success in false advertising and consumer products putative class actions around the nation, including:

  • Jarrett v. Panasonic Corporation of North America, Case No. 12-cv-00739, US District Court, Eastern District of Arkansas in which the court struck class allegations prior to discovery and denied plaintiff’s request to amend the class allegations

  • Santos v. Sanyo Manufacturing Corp., Case No. 12-11452, US District Court, District of Massachusetts in which the court granted defendant’s motion to dismiss the complaint

  • Martin Murray v. Sears, Roebuck and Co, et al., Case No. C 09-5744 CW, US District Court, Northern District of California in which we obtained denial of class certification

• Handling complex, high-stakes class actions stemming from financial services transactions, including John Dugan, Aurora Dugan, and Matthew Tapscott v. Lloyds TSB Bank, PLC, Case No. C 12-02549 WHA, US District Court, Northern District of California, which involves mortgage loan products sold in Asia and involving 11 currencies and real property security in 12 jurisdictions around the globe

• Winning defense against highly aggressive and well-funded plaintiffs’ counsel class action tactics, including in Paul Veliz v. Cintas Corporation, Case No. 03-01180 RS (MEJ), US District Court, Northern District of California, a nationwide Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) class action and collective action and nationwide class arbitration, involving at least 18 state sub-classes and the potential for more than 40 state sub-classes, brought on behalf of over 30,000 plaintiffs

Our Clients

We represent clients across all industries, including:

• Chemicals

• Energy and power

• Banking and financial services

• Insurance

• Communications and media

• Retail and entertainment

• Food and beverage

• Pharmaceuticals, medical devices and healthcare

• Technology

• Transportation, including automotive, aerospace and maritime

Our Capabilities

We represent clients in all types of class actions and MDL proceedings, including those related to consumer fraud, unfair competition, unfair business practices, false advertising, the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) Act, and data privacy, as well as:

Antitrust

• Consumer and business lawsuits

• Attorneys General parens patriae actions

Banking and Finance

• ATM fee issues

• Consumer credit issues

• Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA)

• Truth in Lending Act (TILA)

• Equal Credit Opportunity Act (ECOA)

Consumer Products and Retail

• Unfair business practices

• False advertising

• Product failure and safety claims

• Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA)

• Warranty claims

Environmental

• Catastrophic health issues related to toxic exposure allegations

Insurance

• Premium issues

• Reimbursement practices

• Corporate-owned life insurance (COLI) and stranger-owned life insurance (STOLI)

Labor and Employment

• Discrimination claims

• ERISA

• Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA)

• Wage and hour claims under federal and state laws

Securities and Shareholder

• Securities fraud and misrepresentation claims

• Directors and officers (D&O) actions

• Derivative actions

• Shareholder claims regarding mergers and acquisitions, hostile takeovers, going private transactions, and other issues of corporate control or corporate change

• Insider trading

• Backdating-related charges

• Market manipulation

Our Commercial Litigation Practice is recognized by Corporate Counsel as one of the Fortune 500’s “go-to” commercial litigation practices in the US, and our litigators around the globe are recognized in peer-reviewed publications such as Legal 500, Best Lawyers and Chambers for their excellence.

Why Choose Us?

We offer clients across all industries and around the world comprehensive commercial litigation and dispute resolution services, ranging from bet-the-company commercial and corporate fraud litigation to complex insolvency and workout disputes to trade and cross-border disputes.

We see the “big picture.” We work with our clients to ensure that litigation and dispute resolution are always addressed in their business strategies.

We work closely with clients on litigation and dispute avoidance, compliance and training programs, as well as addressing disputes through alternative forms of resolution.

We also realize that litigation can be unavoidable and may be a strategic advantage. In the US, we have successfully litigated and tried thousands of cases in every state and before practically every state, federal and appellate court. In the UK, we offer strong barrister and solicitor advocacy capabilities and relationships with leading litigation chambers in London and in the regions. In Europe and Asia, we offer clients complementary litigation and international arbitration strengths.

Our Capabilities

• Extensive US class and mass action case management experience, including coordinating multidistrict litigation (MDL), nationally

• State-of-the-art e-discovery technology services and deposition best practices

• Lawyers with specific industry and subject matter experience who can quickly “parachute in” on a case anywhere in the world

• Formidable trial lawyers and litigators throughout the US, Europe and Asia and strong barrister and solicitor capabilities in the UK and countries governed by UK law

• Extensive fraud litigation experience, particularly in the banking and finance industries, having acted on virtually all of the major asset-backed lending (ABL) fraud cases in the UK

• Extensive arbitration capabilities, including conducting arbitrations on an ad hoc basis and under formal rules, including UNCITRAL, as well as enforcing arbitration awards around the world in cross-border cases

Globalization of major business sectors goes hand in hand with the need to litigate or resolve disputes that are pending simultaneously in multiple countries and jurisdictions. The complications of cross-border litigation have only expanded with increased worldwide government intervention in the economy, spurred by the Great Recession. No matter where our clients are doing business, they hear the message: “Uncle Sam has you!” Whether in financial services, energy, life sciences, technology and communications, or supply and procurement, US government regulation and policy influence the origin and resolution of disputes worldwide.

Global businesses today need sophisticated cross-border legal services and litigation counsel that recognize the special challenges of government intervention in the global economy. Success in cross-border litigation requires a law firm have more than just a global footprint. Businesses need cross-border counsel, particularly litigation counsel, who integrate litigation and dispute-resolution skills with comprehensive regulatory, government-policy and industry insight, and access to those governing powers across the globe.

Why Choose Us?

• We routinely litigate and advocate on behalf of clients in courts and arbitration forums in their most complex and financially and reputational material cross-border and multijurisdictional disputes.

• Leveraging the expertise and access of our regulatory and public policy colleagues, who include former US Ambassadors and Senators, we also help clients manage exposure to risk and champion their interests before Congress, the European Commission and other regulatory bodies in the Middle East and Asia Pacific.

• We also work closely with our global transactional and industry practices and know the business deals that often underlie these disputes. We also work closely with clients’ crisis management teams to address issues of reputation.

• Sovereign governments throughout Europe, Asia Pacific, Africa, the Middle East and Latin America rely on us to handle their most complex commercial cross-border disputes, and to defend their interests in litigation and arbitrations throughout the world.

Global Industries Exposed to Cross-border Litigation

Banking and Financial Services

We are a formidable litigation force and internationally renowned for representing global banks, state-owned banks, sovereign wealth funds and other financial institutions in their most complex, financially and reputational material cross-border litigation and arbitrations, many of which implicate US financial-sector regulations and government investigations. We represent clients in a range of claims, relating to the extraterritorial application of US law, sophisticated cross-border contracts, securities, derivatives, direct and indirect investments, asset seizures, and consumer protection and unfair business practices laws.

Our team consists of highly respected litigators, trial lawyers, including former DOJ trial lawyers, and international dispute resolutions lawyers, who have been involved in some of the world’s most well-documented multijurisdictional litigation involving US financial regulation, including the liquidation of BCCI, which operated in more than 75 countries. Buoyed by a team of former financial services regulators and policymakers, including the former chairman of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC), we are able counsel clients on cross-border litigation risk exposure and handle virtually all claims anywhere in the world.

Construction and Engineering

Globally, our construction specialists represent private developers, EPC contractors and general contractors, specialty subcontractors, architects and design professionals, and investors in their most significant construction projects around the world, including the US, Middle East, Europe, Africa, and throughout Asia Pacific. We address all phases of clients’ cross-border construction projects and for different types of projects – from oil, gas, chemical, refinery, mining, power, nuclear and alternative energy plants and platforms to public facilities, such as schools, museums and hospitals and state-of-the-art retail, hospitality, sports and entertainment complexes, to the very infrastructure that supports the development of such projects, including roads, railway, ports, pipelines, waste treatment plants and utility projects.

Our global team is composed of highly experienced litigators and dispute resolution lawyers who have extensive backgrounds in construction engineering, project management and contract negotiations. Our team has cultivated strong industry relationships, globally, as well as in their local markets, and have handled all manner of construction claims through adjudication and mediation and before international arbitration tribunals, as well as before local courts.

Infrastructure

In the US, and globally, we are ranked and recognized as one of the leading law firms in infrastructure project financing and development, assisting governments, sovereigns and other project sponsors, developers, contractors and lenders, including the World Bank, to build critical transportation thoroughfares, such as roads, railways, airports and ports; basic infrastructure services, such as water, utility and waste treatment; energy resources infrastructure, including mining and drilling; and public and civic infrastructure, including housing, hospitals, education, government, hospitality and entertainment facilities. Likewise, we represent clients in cross-border disputes and litigation involving territorial issues; bilateral agreements and cross-border investments, involving mergers and acquisitions, public-private partnerships and various types of financing instruments, securities and related obligations; issues related to privatization, trade and insolvency; among other claims.

We have been intimately involved in the infrastructure development and litigation of the world’s most dynamic emerging countries in regions, such as Africa, Middle East, Europe, the Caribbean and Latin America, and Asia Pacific. We are able to quickly address exposure to cross-border disputes before local and/or internal judicial forums most favorable to the parties and the projects being built. Our team is further complemented by the former US Secretary of Transportation and former US senators and ambassadors who are ready to help clients navigate Congress on related policy issues or if disputes involve US governmental inquiries.

Institutional Investors

We represent institutional investors across all asset classes, transaction types and geographies in their litigation and dispute resolution needs as both plaintiff and defense counsel. Our clients include sovereign wealth funds, pension funds, private equity and hedge funds, insurance companies, foundations, family offices and high-net-worth individuals. We aggressively pursue our clients’ goals in a broad range of cross-border litigation relating to their international investments in real estate, infrastructure projects, debt instruments, securities, derivatives and commodities, as well as the management and recovery of assets. Often, these lawsuits are high-exposure and high-profile, and stem from or lead to US litigation and investigations. Reflecting the breadth of our clients’ investments, our Litigation team has broad experience in cross-border investments and includes former senior trial lawyers and division chiefs of the DOJ, who have successfully represented members of Congress, sitting judges, directors and officers of FTSE 100 and Fortune 500 companies and senior members of the White House.

Energy and Natural Resources

We have long been recognized for our participation in many of the world’s major energy projects and disputes. Our experience covers all stages of the energy supply chain and includes significant roles in projects and disputes involving oil and gas, renewables and mining. We have received international recognition for our litigation and arbitration successes, particularly in the area of natural gas and LNG pricing issues. Our clients include sovereign governments, major and independent E&P companies, international mining firms, oil, gas and mineral transportation and marketing companies, power generators, utilities, financial institutions, landowners, investors and buyers of minerals and energy products, petrochemical companies and companies specializing in the manufacture and distribution of related equipment, as well as contractors involved in designing and constructing energy infrastructure facilities.

We regularly handle domestic and cross-border litigation and arbitration of a variety of disputes concerning construction of plants, facilities, pipelines and terminals; oil and gas and mining leases; concession and production sharing agreements; operational issues; transportation, storage and marketing; seismic and geophysical data and services; oilfield and mining equipment and services; long-term commodity supply contracts; and energy industry insurance claims. We also work with other specialists on matters concerning environmental compliance, patent and trade secret issues, labor disputes, Alien Tort Statute and False Claims Act/qui tam claims, and matters before regulatory agencies, including the US Department of Energy (DOE) and Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC). We have been deeply involved in litigation and dispute resolution in key, energy rich regions in the US, Middle East, Africa, Europe and Asia Pacific.

Sovereigns

For more than 50 years, we have served as trusted advisors, litigators and strategists to more than 100 sovereign governments, state-owned entities and sovereign wealth funds in protecting against and confronting litigation in the US and around the world. Our sovereign clients are based in many of the world’s most dynamic and emerging markets in the Middle East, Africa, throughout Europe, Latin America and Asia. We represent our clients in cross-border litigation involving investments, including debt investments and bilateral investment treaties, construction and infrastructure projects, territorial disputes, trade and matters related to human rights, environmental issues and other issues of public international law.

Our Sovereign Litigation team is at the nexus of law, government and business, championing clients’ interests in courts and international tribunals around the world and before Congress on a wide array of jurisdictional and sovereign immunity issues, and the extraterritorial application of US law. Our team includes not only litigators and trial lawyers who are internationally recognized for their work in sovereign-related litigation, but also former US senators and US ambassadors, who have helped sovereigns navigate sensitive international relations directly tied to cross-border disputes and international relations.

Aerospace, Defense and Government Contracts

We represent leading aerospace, defense and government services companies around the world in all areas of litigation, including cross-border litigation and international arbitration. We bring the right mix of industry experience, US Department of Defense (DOD) and Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) access and insight, litigation strategy and global coverage to support clients in their most critical cross-border disputes and investigations. We represent clients in litigation related to manufacturing and supply chain relationships; DOD and other government agency contracts; International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR); customs and export control issues; market access and trade disputes; False Claims Act/qui tam actions; product performance and quality-related issues; patent, intellectual property disputes and licensing matters; and anticorruption issues, as well as litigation related to CFIUS investigations. Our team has extensive knowledge of science and engineering principles related to aerospace and defense technology, such as spacecraft, rocket and jet engines and components, missiles, as well as defense-related software and global supply chain management. We are recognized thought leaders in the aerospace, defense and government services industries, and we are the authors of ITAR Handbook. Our cross-border litigation capabilities are further enhanced by litigators and public policy team members who include former senior ranking members of the US Department of Homeland Security, DOD and FAA and former members of Congress who served on the Senate Committee on Armed Services.

Consumer Products

We work with our consumer products clients, including automotive, food and beverage, and retailers to globalize their brands and product lines. In concert, we help them navigate cross-border regulatory issues and litigate on their behalf to ensure their products, services, intellectual property and reputation remain safe and commercially viable across the globe. We represent clients in all manner of cross-border commercial disputes involving unfair business practices and anticompetitive issues, including counterfeit products and grey market sales; breach of contract, and other cross-border issues such as off-shoring and re-shoring; issues related to human rights violations in third-world product manufacturing, as well consumer class and multijurisdictional mass actions involving claims of false advertising; and fraud and breach of privacy, which, due to social media and worldwide interest in US plaintiff bar activity, are trending globally across first-world countries, as well as claims of personal injury and product liability that necessitate global product recalls, and parallel government investigations and litigation, including criminal charges. More often than not, cross-border and multijurisdictional litigation trends back to litigation in the US, particularly class action litigation involving antitrust, consumer and securities and shareholder claims. In the US, we have a market-leading Class Action & Multidistrict Litigation team, who is resident in each of our US offices and ready to address such claims.

Life Sciences

We represent life sciences companies, including biotechnology, cosmetics, pharmaceutical and medical device companies, around the world as defense and plaintiffs’ counsel to ensure the integrity, development and commercialization of their innovative products, including in commercially critical, but regulatory-challenged emerging markets in Europe and parts of the Middle East and Asia Pacific. We counsel clients in cross-border litigation related to intellectual property infringement, commercial agreements, including clinical trials, manufacturing and distribution and other joint venture or licensing agreements, as well as litigation stemming out of regulatory review, market approvals (and access) and anticompetitive and antitrust-related issues and investigations. Leveraging our close ties with governing regulatory bodies and local judiciary across the globe, we are able to deftly address cross-border disputes, including criminal charges, obtain necessary injunctions to ensure client product distribution is not interrupted, and to address any related government investigations. We also work with clients to swiftly address reputational material multijurisdictional cross-border litigation, particularly in the areas of antitrust, products liability and personal injury litigation, which requires substantial political and cultural acumen and organizational skill. If such litigation metastasizes into US litigation, we have a formidable, national coordinating counsel and trial team experience, acting for some of the world’s largest pharmaceuticals in this capacity.

Shipping, Transportation and Logistics

Global by nature, transportation, shipping and logistics law presents difficult, unique and culturally sensitive issues. We are a market-leader in this specialized area of law and seamlessly integrate the required legal disciplines and our deep and broad experience with diverse locations, languages and cultures. We represent transportation companies, ocean carriers, charterers, non-vessel operating common carriers (NVOCCs), ocean terminals, transit systems, port authorities, cargo owners and their insurers. We advise on casualties and contracts involving cargoes such as crude and refined oil, petrochemicals, liquid natural gas (LNG) and liquefied petroleum gas (LPG), containers, ore, grain and break bulk cargo. We also handle issues involving submarine cables and intermodal transportation and terminals. With deep expertise in marine casualties from vessel sinkings and groundings to major ocean pollution and piracy, we have long been recognized as the “go to” team for seasoned and rapid advice and action around the world. We are well-known for our quick actions and ability to achieve results under the most difficult conditions. In a similar vein, we have years of experience in charter party, contract of affreightment and bills of lading disputes, commodity trading and other maritime contracts. Our expertise extends to the US Supreme Court, federal appellate and district courts, and arbitrations before a wide range of arbitration forums including the Society of Maritime Arbitrators (SMA) in New York, the London Maritime Arbitrators Association (LMAA), together with arbitral bodies and commodity associations in many countries, as well as ad hoc arbitrations and mediations.

Communications and Technology

We are an internationally recognized leader in communications law, regulation and legislation, helping connect all regions of the globe via telecommunications, intranet and other emerging communication technologies. Because we regularly appear before the US Federal Communications Commission (FCC), Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and other communications agencies worldwide, we are at the forefront of advising countries, particularly developing countries, in the funding and development of such technologies and underlying infrastructure, including satellites, cross-border infrastructure and transmission and transoceanic submarine cables. We are also at the forefront of assisting in the intellectual property development of such innovations, including haptic and voice-recognition communications, digital display and imaging systems, and other telecommunications, publishing, gaming and internet technologies and related software and hardware. Because of this industry insight and extensive global access, we represent communications and technology companies, sovereigns, investors and other parties in their most complex cross-border disputes and litigation. We address all types of commercial disputes involving investment default, bankruptcy, breach of contract, technology and licensing, outsourcing, construction, maritime, territorial issues and bilateral agreements; intellectual property disputes, including patent, intellectual property rights and antitrust issues, including challenges before the International Trade Commission (ITC), US and European Patent and Trademark Offices and other specialized intellectual property courts and tribunals, world-wide; as well as cross-border consumer-related issues and regulation discrepancies involving rates, automated texting and calling, privacy, third-party fee “cramming” and other issues. Our Cross-Border Litigation team is further complemented by former high-ranking FCC lawyers and more than 20 registered patent lawyers who have worked extensively in a variety of technology disciplines and have advanced degrees in such disciplines.

Our Capabilities

Our capabilities of particularly high value in cross-border and multijurisdictional litigation and dispute resolution include:

• Asset seizures

• Challenging or establishing jurisdiction and venue

• Choice of forum and governing law

• Challenging claims by or against foreign nationals under country-specific laws, such as Alien Tort Statute and Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act

• Compelling or staying arbitral proceedings

• Enforcing or challenging arbitral awards

• Government investigations and directed disclosures

• Obtaining or opposing provisional remedies, including emergency restraining orders, preliminary injunctions, attachments and other temporary measures of protection

• Obtaining evidence using the Hague Evidence Convention or diplomatic channels; 28 USC § 1782; and Norwich Pharmacal in the UK

We handle numerous types of cross-border and multijurisdictional disputes, including:

• Antitrust and unfair competition

• Anticorruption and anti-money laundering claims related to Anti-Terrorism Act (ATA), False Claims Act/qui tam, Foreign Corrupt Practices Act and UK Bribery Act

• Commercial, contract and trade disputes, including licensing/manufacturing, supply and distribution agreements/joint ventures and other partnership agreements

• Consumer class and action litigation

• Environmental compliance and catastrophe

• Export controls, sanctions and customs

Our eDiscovery & Data Management team has the resources to assist our clients in effectively addressing the important role that electronically stored information plays in litigation and their businesses. Our team of experienced eDiscovery professionals, composed of lawyers and technology professionals, represents and advises clients on all aspects of the eDiscovery process, providing guidance in areas including data preservation, data collection, effective review strategies, cost control and vendor selection. We understand eDiscovery as a business process and can offer our clients effective and reasonable solutions.

Why Choose Us?

Businesses around the world turn to us for guidance on both the technology and legal issues involved in eDiscovery. We believe our experience is unmatched in these areas. Highlights of our experience include:

• Serving as national eDiscovery counsel to some of the world’s largest companies

• Winner of Law Technology News 2012 Most Innovative Use of Technology in a Large Law Firm Award

• Ranked in the 2013 InformationWeek 500 – a list of the top technology innovators in the US

• Employing an “Intelligent Discovery” approach that uses technology and project management strategies to reduce discovery costs and pinpoint relevant data, resulting in more focused and efficient human review

• Selecting and managing eDiscovery vendors and contract service providers to provide optimal client benefit and to reduce costs

• Focusing and reporting on global eDiscovery trends and their impact on our clients, such as predictive coding, cloud computing, data privacy law and the tension with discovery, social media and other emerging issues

• Providing thought leadership in the eDiscovery field, including by speaking and publishing on eDiscovery issues and through our active involvement in The Sedona Conference, the Georgetown Advanced eDiscovery Institute, the Association of Litigation Support Professionals and other leading organizations

Our Capabilities

• Managing the collection, review and production of electronically stored information in litigation matters

• Developing legally defensible document and data retention, backup, archiving and destruction policies

• Data mapping

• Developing and refining eDiscovery systems and procedures and policies to ensure consistency of application and to manage risk

• Preparing responses to pre-litigation preservation letters and implementing litigation holds

• Implementing defensible and cost-effective review and production methods, including the appropriate use of predictive coding

• Assisting other counsel with discovery plans, Rule 26(f) conferences, form(s) of production and other eDiscovery issues

• Crafting responses to written discovery requests concerning eDiscovery issues

• Handling motions to compel and motions for protective orders

• Taking and defending eDiscovery-related depositions

• Retaining and managing outside vendors

Our False & Misleading Advertising Litigation & Protection team is at the forefront of unfair advertising issues on a global basis. In the US, we have substantial experience handling some of the country’s most high-profile claims of false or misleading advertising and unfair competition litigation under the Lanham Act, which addresses claims between competitive enterprises, and sometimes entire industries – both for plaintiffs and defendants. We also regularly represent clients in this space defending against consumer claims, frequently brought as putative class actions. Additionally, we advocate for our clients on important compliance and legislative issues before the National Advertising Division of the Better Business Bureau, Federal Trade Commission, Food and Drug Administration, Consumer Product Safety Commission, Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, and Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation.

In other markets, such as the EU and the UK, we advise clients on some of the issues most prominent in the public discourse under the Trade Marks Act, Unfair Commercial Practices Directive, Comparative and Misleading Marketing Directive, the local implementing legislation and regulatory codes. Importantly, for clients with cross-border businesses, we also regularly provide advice and counsel, including pre-launch advertising clearance reviews and advertising-related investigations, to minimize the potential risks of future litigation. Our opinions about related laws and legislation are regularly sought and quoted by the media.

Our team brings a comprehensive perspective to false and misleading advertising issues. Our team is multidisciplinary and includes intellectual property and technology (IP&T) lawyers; litigators who focus primarily on false advertising and unfair business practices claims; legislative policy and regulatory lawyers who routinely advocate on behalf of our clients before Congress, national parliaments and regulatory agencies; and colleagues advising on media and advertising counseling and transactions.

By leveraging this multidisciplinary and transnational depth, we provide clients a comprehensive suite of marketing, false advertising and advocacy services:

• Developing successful and compliant marketing campaigns – on a global basis

• Defending the fairness and accuracy of those campaigns

• Preventing or stopping competitors from engaging in unfair competition, including false or misleading advertising

• Defending against similar charges brought by competitors or by consumers, whether as individuals, advocacy groups or putative class actions

• Enforcing and defending the use of trademarks, copyrights and trade dress rights

• Engaging with regulators such as advertising standards and trading standards

Our Capabilities

Litigation Counsel

We represent clients in all manner of individual, consumer class action and parallel government litigation (e.g., actions brought by state attorneys general), including:

• Prosecuting and defending all claims under the Lanham Act

  • False advertising

  • Anticounterfeiting issues

  • Trade-dress and trademark infringement

  • Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA) claims

• Other false advertising claims, including unfair business practices, competition, business and trade practices

• Social media and internet advertising

• Failure to warn-related litigation

• Antitrust-related claims

• Defense of NAD and FTC challenges

• Privacy and publicity claims

• Endorsements and testimonials

• Defamation lawsuits

Advisory Counsel

We also review and assess all areas of potential exposure and commercial viability of our clients’ marketing programs at the state, federal, country-by-country and global level, including:

• Advertising, marketing, product assertion and warranty portfolio

• Trademark and brand portfolio

• Sweepstakes and promotions

• Green marketing claims under the FTC’s Guidelines for the Use of Environmental Marketing Claims

• Market risk evaluation

• Crisis management

• CPSC’s warning label requirements, including state-specific requirements, such as California’s Proposition 65

• Regulatory counsel

• Congressional investigation counsel

• Compliance programs

• Corrective action programs

• Product recalls

Our Financial Services Litigation Practice represents banks and financial services companies around the world in all aspects of advocacy and dispute resolution, including trial and appellate litigation and alternative dispute resolution. We handle all types of financial services disputes – acting on behalf of financial institutions against individuals, groups of individuals, companies and, in appropriate circumstances, other financial institutions. We also work with our clients to address regulatory concerns, investigations and risk mitigation.

Why Choose Us?

In the US, we are recognized not only for our wide coverage of all types of banks and financial services companies in all areas of litigation, but also for our ability to quickly represent clients’ interests in practically every state. We have a particularly strong focus on representing banks and financial services companies in class actions, mass actions, multidistrict litigation (MDL) and arbitrations.

In the UK, we are recognized for our depth of practice, particularly in the areas of asset-based lending (ABL) litigation, professional negligence, insurance and investment mis-selling and fraud, being voted No. 1 Asset-Based Lending Firm in Business Money magazine (2011 and 2012). Furthermore, we are recognized for our thought leadership in the area of consumer credit regulation, having authored the book Consumer Credit: Law, Practice & Precedents, published by the Law Society, January 2012.

Our Clients

We serve as primary or preferred litigation counsel to several leading global and national financial institutions in the US, as well as most of the major UK banks. The full range of our clients includes:

• Banks – global, national, super-regional, regional and community; investment; commercial; and chartered

• Asset managers

• Credit card issuers

• Credit unions

• Insurance companies

• Lenders – mortgage, auto and nontraditional, including payday

• Private equity and hedge funds

• Building societies

Our Capabilities

Our scope of services includes all types of lender/financial institution-related litigation, including litigation related to:

• Commercial lending

• Asset-based lending

• Consumer finance, including the US Fair Debt Collection Practices Act, Truth in Lending Act and Equal Credit Opportunity Act, as well as the UK Consumer Credit Act

• Various states’ and the US Uniform Commercial Code

• Enforcement of loan obligations

• Fraud

• Commercial foreclosure and other real estate matters

• Professional negligence

• Director and officer liability

• Federal and state antitrust and Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) Act

• Usury and fraud

• Alleged violations of various state and federal unfair trade practices statutes

• Insurance and investment mis-selling claims

Our Food & Beverage Litigation team handles some of the industry’s most critical commercial and consumer disputes arising from alleged false claims and anticompetitive practices, food and beverage technology, product safety and regulatory oversight.

In these controversies, which arise all over the globe, we represent clients as:

• Defense counsel – in individual civil, commercial and criminal matters, in class actions, and multidistrict and multijurisdictional litigation, as well as in the role of coordinating counsel in national, regional and cross-border consumer actions.

• Plaintiffs’ counsel – prosecuting commercial claims on behalf of food and beverage clients – as well as entire industries – to enforce their rights and to obtain relief against competitors.

• Advisory counsel – assisting clients with regulatory and customs petitions, investigations, and subsequent civil and criminal litigation.

This diverse experience gives us broad insight and perspective into winning strategies. Moreover, our familiarity before many regulatory agencies around the world that govern food and beverage products, as well as relationships we have developed with other counsel on both the plaintiff and defense side, give us an added edge in courts of law. We also partner with public advocacy groups and industry experts to creatively mitigate or enhance client exposure in the court of public opinion.

Why Choose Us?

• Representing clients in high-profile lawsuits, such as the now pending Western Sugar Cooperative, et al. v. Archer Daniels Midland Company, et al., Case No. 2:2011cv03473, US District Court for the Central District of California; we represent a consortium of sugar farmers and other producers and their trade association against corn processors and their trade group in a Lanham Act case alleging false advertising of high fructose corn syrup as a natural product equivalent to sugar

• Significant experience representing global food and beverage companies in cross-border litigation, particularly non-US companies in the US – the most litigious country for the industry

• Successful class action and MDL experience representing food and beverage companies throughout the US and in aggressive, plaintiff-friendly states, such as California and Florida

• Experience handling highly publicized litigation and working with the press and public advocacy groups

• Ability to promptly address disputes and investigations as they arise around the world, including investigations by the US Food & Drug Administration (FDA), European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) and other similar regulatory agencies

• Appreciation of the fine line that often separates regulation from litigation and the strategic perspective to have a matter decided in the forum that is best suited to the issue at hand, or to handle related litigation and regulatory matters on coordinated, parallel tracks

Our Capabilities

We defend and prosecute claims presenting a range of commercial and consumer products controversies, including class actions, mass actions and MDL proceedings, such as:

• False claims, misleading advertising and deceptive marketing

• Trademark, trade dress and labeling issues

• City-, state- and country-specific laws related to food prohibitions and failure to notify or warn, including European regulatory challenges and California Prop. 65 disputes

• Food science and technology challenges and disputes, including patent disputes

• Food safety and food security claims, including contaminated food, tainted food, food terrorism and food poisoning

• Wrongful death and other criminal charges

• Price-fixing, anticompetition and antitrust issues

• Market risk evaluation

• Regulatory enforcement actions, Federal Trade Commission (FTC) actions and assertions by the National Advertising Division of the Council of Better Business Bureaus

• Regulatory and government investigations, including Food Safety Modernization Act-related investigations

• Food recalls, market withdrawals and corrective action programs

• Import, export customs challenges and litigation

• Theft of trade secrets and other proprietary intellectual property

• Indemnity and insurance issues

• US Foreign Corrupt Practices Act and UK Bribery Act investigations and litigation

• Related shareholder litigation

We also work closely with clients’ public relations and crisis communications teams.

Our Fraud Investigations & Asset Recovery team is market leading. We act for governments, sovereign funds, banks and other financial institutions, including asset-based lenders, trade financiers and hedge funds, as well as private companies and individuals.

We have a global presence, with offices throughout Asia Pacific, Europe, Latin and North America and the Middle East. This means we can pursue tracing actions worldwide in virtually every major jurisdiction, utilizing our local lawyers who are fluent in a country’s native language and familiar with the local law, judges and court procedure.

We actively protect the interests of sovereign governments, international businesses and private entities in complex, cross-border disputes involving international law and adjudicating bodies. As one of the world’s leading public policy law firms, we are widely acknowledged for our understanding of the complex, ever-changing global political landscape.

Our team works closely with our Financial Services, Public Policy, Government Investigations & White Collar, UK Bribery and Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) groups around the world to advise on possible sanctions, avoidance techniques and the criminal implications for non-compliance. We work to protect our clients’ interests within the guidelines of local regulations and the scope of their global compliance objectives.

In any fraud claim, time is critical. We specialize in obtaining urgent ancillary relief, including freezing injunctions, search and seizure orders, disclosure orders and passport seizure orders before the relevant court. Our global reach, local knowledge and influential contacts mean we can implement the best remedy available in virtually any given jurisdiction.

Why Choose Us?

• We have recovered hundreds of millions of pounds/US dollars of misappropriated assets on behalf of clients

• Huge successes in major cases, including the Bank of Credit and Commerce International (BCCI) scandal

• Recognized and well respected in global banking circles and by certain governments for our expertise

• Named as best Asset-Based Lending Firm in Business Money Magazine (2011, 2012 and 2013) – we represent up to 90% of the asset-based lenders in the UK and have acted on virtually all of their major fraud claims

• Global fraud counsel and member of the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) FraudNet, with local, native-speaking lawyers in practically every major country across the world

• Expertise in coordinating multijurisdictional efforts and working with the best global forensic investigation teams

• Invaluable connections with forensic accountants and investigators who are crucial to the success of any action

Our Capabilities

• Identifying, tracing, preserving and recovering assets using all relevant ancillary orders, including freezing injunctions, search and seizure orders, passport confiscation and disclosure applications

• Pursing wrongdoers in cases of deceit, fraudulent misrepresentation, breach of trust, breach of fiduciary duty, dishonest assistance and bribery

• Advising on and conducting litigation under the FCPA, UK Bribery Act, Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act and the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act

Our civil fraud litigation and asset recovery services are complemented by our comprehensive knowledge of regulatory and statutory regimes to provide worldwide insight and assistance, including:

• Public policy

• White collar

• FCPA/UK Bribery Act and anticorruption practices

Our Healthcare Litigation team is at the forefront of the US healthcare industry. We counsel and defend healthcare clients faced with pending and threatened litigation and governmental investigations stemming from sweeping regulatory reform and significant advancements in science and technologies focused on patient care and services.

We offer clients a powerful mix of litigation and healthcare capabilities throughout the US to resolve multifaceted legal matters with a deep understanding of the healthcare business. Our healthcare litigators are an integral part of our nationally renowned (Top 10) Healthcare Group. We represent clients in state and federal courts through jury and bench trials, in administrative procedures and hearings, and through the appellate process. These cases include a wide variety of lawsuits, including complex, bet-the-company litigation. We advise clients on liability and risk mitigation options related to corporate agreements, such as mergers, acquisitions and affiliations of all kinds, and on precedent-setting issues and rules shaping the industry, such as the establishment of, and guidelines for, accountable care organizations (ACOs), clinically integrated networks (CINs) and direct contracting with self-insured business. We also counsel and defend clients against allegations of fraud and abuse and antitrust price-fixing, and assist clients as they navigate healthcare regulatory and licensure challenges at both the federal and state levels.

Our Clients

We represent both for-profit and nonprofit clients:

• Hospitals

• Mental health and substance abuse, rehabilitation and skilled nursing facilities

• Health systems

• Physician hospital organizations, ACOs and CINs

• Physician organizations

• Pharmaceutical companies, pharmacies and pharmacists

• Senior and assisted living facilities

• Health insurers

• Third-party administrators

• Managed care networks

• Self-insured and insured companies offering health benefits to their employees

Why Choose Us?

• Deep understanding and involvement in the healthcare industry, healthcare reform and healthcare agencies at both the federal and state levels

• Healthcare litigators, trial and regulatory lawyers who are:

  • Former senior members of the Department of Justice (DOJ), including the Antitrust Division, and the US Attorneys’ offices, including the former healthcare fraud coordinator for the US Attorney's Office for the District of Columbia

  • A core part of our Healthcare Group, which is ranked as one of the top 10 US healthcare law practices by American Health Lawyers Association (AHLA)

  • Thought leaders and active members in the AHLA, including the AHLA’s incoming president

• National and regional coordinating counsel to some of the largest healthcare companies in the US in multidistrict (MDL) and class action litigation

• Highly coordinated representation of clients’ litigation and dispute resolution interests through our matrix of healthcare-related practices, allowing for more seamless and efficient client service

Our Capabilities

Our Healthcare Litigation Practice involves several core components:

Healthcare Provider Counseling

• Managed care payor disputes

• Medicaid and Medicare reimbursement appeals

• M&A issues, including fraud and abuse

• Bankruptcy and restructuring litigation

• Corporate and corporate finance disputes

• Real estate-related litigation

• Labor and employment litigation

• Medical staff and credentialing

• Intellectual property litigation, including theft of trade secrets, patent disputes and licensing litigation

• State Department of Health, Internal Revenue Service, Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, Drug Enforcement Administration, Federal Bureau of Investigation, and Health & Human Services investigations

• Administrative counseling, including certificate of need hearings

• Compliance investigations

Managed Care Counseling

• Reimbursement and insurance litigation, including prompt pay and out-of-network rate disputes

• Employee health insurance and coverage disputes

• Managed care litigation

• Agent/broker compensation disputes

• Credentialing and termination of providers from managed care organizations and other network disputes

• Most favored nations clause audit and enforcement

• Department of Insurance and Department of Labor investigations and hearings

False Claims Act and Qui Tam

• Federal and state anti-kickback law

• Stark law and false claims matters

• Qui tam actions

• Department of Justice and state attorneys general investigations and litigation

Healthcare-related Antitrust Issues

• Antitrust allegations, investigations and litigation

• Price-fixing

• Anticompetitive contracts

• Boycotts

• Messenger model antitrust enforcement

• Mergers and acquisitions

• Allegations of market monopoly

• DOJ and state attorneys general investigations and litigation

• Shareholder lawsuits, including class actions

We also represent our healthcare clients in litigation related to additional issues such as:

• Challenges to IRS nonprofit status

• State and federal regulatory filings

• Risk assessment counseling, including issues related to changing state and federal rules

• State licensure proceedings, disputes and appeals

• Product liability disputes

International by nature, maritime law presents difficult, unique issues that must be met with creative and broadminded counsel. Our team of lawyers recognizes the need for solid representation in the diverse litigation matters facing transportation companies, ocean carriers, charterers, non-vessel operating common carriers, ocean terminals, transit systems, port authorities, and warehouses and their insurers. As the pre-eminent legal adviser in maritime-related issues, our clients count on us to seamlessly integrate the required disciplines, locations, languages and cultures.

With deep expertise in all types of marine casualties, from vessel sinkings and groundings to major ocean pollution, we have long been recognized as the “go to” team for seasoned and rapid advice and action. Our response team is well-known for its quick actions and ability to achieve results under the most difficult conditions. In a similar vein, our team has years of experience in charter party, contract of affreightment and bills of lading disputes, commodity trading and other maritime contracts.

The scope of the practice is comprehensive. We advise on casualties and contracts involving cargoes such as crude and refined oil, petrochemicals, liquid natural gas (LNG) and liquefied petroleum gas (LPG), ore, grain and break bulk cargo. We handle issues involving submarine cables and intermodal transportation and terminals. We regularly negotiate and review maritime and logistics contracts and are experienced in marine transport regulatory issues and government and maritime security. In cases involving maritime casualties or oil/chemical spills, we deal with casualty, pollution and salvage issues on behalf of ship owners, charterers, protection and indemnity insurers, and hull underwriters. We also consult and advise on financial issues, ranging from tax-exempt financings for transportation facilities and vessel financing to maritime bankruptcies and workouts including lien resolution.

Through our multiple offices in key areas worldwide and our vast network of industry authorities, we are able to represent clients anywhere in the world in complex transportation, shipping and logistics matters on a single representation basis.

Why Choose Us?

• Because we understand your industry and locality, we tailor our advice to meet your situation and requirements. Our clients count on us to seamlessly integrate disciplines, locations, languages and cultures. You will benefit from:

• Through our multiple offices (over 40 offices across four continents – including principal shipping markets) and vast network of industry authorities, we can represent clients anywhere in the world in complex matters on a single representation basis

• With deep expertise in maritime casualties, from vessel sinkings and groundings to major ocean pollution, we have long been recognized as the “go to” team for rapid advice and action, with a broader offering and greater international reach than any other firm

• With this global footprint, we are able to represent clients anywhere in the world in complex matters on a single representation basis

• With market-leading expertise and experience across a range of disciplines, our shipping group is a full-service, “cradle to grave” practice with years of experience in charterparty, contract of affreightment and bills of lading disputes, commodity trading, and other maritime contracts

• This expertise extends to litigation in the High Court in England and Wales, the US Supreme Court, federal appellate and district courts, and many arbitration bodies worldwide including, among others:

  • American Arbitration Association (AAA)

  • Hong Kong International Arbitration Centre (HKIAC)

  • International Chamber of Commerce (ICC)

  • International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea (ITLOS)

  • London Maritime Arbitrators' Association (LMAA)

  • London Court of International Arbitration (LCIA )

  • Singapore Chamber of Maritime Arbitration (SCMA)

  • Singapore International Arbitration Centre (SIAC)

  • Society of Maritime Arbitrators (SMA)

  • United Nations Commission on International Trade Law (UNCITRAL)

  • Commodity associations such as NAEGA, GAFTA and FOSFA

  • Other ad hoc arbitrations and mediations

We provide the level of service expected from a firm that has won the client satisfaction award from Legal Week in four of the last five years.

Our Capabilities

We are the pre-eminent legal adviser in maritime-related issues, acting in maritime casualties or oil/chemical spills cases, we deal with casualty, pollution and salvage issues on behalf of ship owners, charterers, protection and indemnity insurers, and hull underwriters.

Our response team is well-known for its quick actions and ability to achieve results under the most difficult conditions.

We regularly advise on arbitration, litigation and mediation matters involving:

• Antitrust and competition

• Antisuit injunctions

• Arbitration and mediation

• Bills of lading, charterparties and contracts of affreightment

• Casualties

• Collisions, groundings, general average, salvage and pollution

• Customs and sanctions freezing orders and Rule B and Rule E attachments

• Energy industry-related issues

• Insurance and re-insurance

• Insolvency and restructuring

• Maritime boundary disputes

• Memoranda of agreement and shipbuilding

• New building and second-hand ship finance

• Piracy and sanctions

• Regulatory compliance

• Ship arrest/maritime attachments

• Ship building and ship repair

• Ship finance

• Ship mortgages

• Ship sales and purchases

• Submarine cables and pipelines

Our global network ensures that you can access the best practitioners for your needs – anytime and anywhere. We tailor our advice to suit your specific purposes – because we understand the industry and locality of where your business operates.

Our Privacy & Data Breach Litigation team focuses specifically on risk mitigation solutions to client data breaches, particularly customer and employee data and privacy breaches, and subsequent investigations and litigation as a direct or indirect result of cyberterrorism, phishing scams, disgruntled employees, natural disasters or in potential non-compliance or violations of the Federal Trade Commission’s requirements for safeguarding data in the US, as well as consumer or commercial law suits in violation of the data privacy regulations set forth by the European Data Privacy Directive (EDPD) and the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC). We aggressively respond to breaches through the use of the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act to obtain injunctive and other relief.

Our team is a core part of our Data Privacy, Cybersecurity & Digital Assets Practice, which addresses global regulatory requirements to safeguard corporate and customer data, and consists of litigators from our Commercial Litigation, Government Investigations & White Collar, Labor & Employment, Intellectual Property & Technology, Healthcare and Financial Services Litigation practices. This diverse litigation perspective, combined with deep regulatory insight, allows us to proactively protect and respond to the four pillars of our clients’ data protection and privacy concerns:

• Preparedness – Safeguarding physical and electronic data to any kind of threat

• Response – To any real or threatened data breach

• Litigation – Quickly addressing all types of litigation, including consumer class actions, government law suits and derivative shareholder litigation

• Notification – Ensuring customers and regulators are notified in compliance with consumer privacy laws

Why Choose Us?

• Ranked one of the top 20 global law firm platforms in the world by Law360 – a global presence enabling us to quickly address client data and privacy breach investigations and litigation, anywhere

• Diverse team of litigation and regulatory expertise worldwide, allowing us to comprehensively assess the diverse points of exposure to data and customer privacy breaches and deftly handle any subsequent investigation or ligation

• Public relations, crisis management and “damage control” experience in high-profile matters

• Extensive experience in the defense and resolution of class and mass actions throughout the US

• Authoritative voice on consumer credit and consumer payment laws in the UK, including authoring Consumer Credit: Law, Practice & Precedent, published by Law Society Publishing in January 2012

• Globally respected participants in data privacy and protection thought leadership:

  • Member of the Board of Directors of the International Institute of Communications (IIC)

  • Special adviser on data protection matters to the Board of the Storage Networking Industry Association – Europe

  • Member of the International Association of Privacy Professionals and the American, International, Federal Communications and District of Columbia Bar Associations, and a lecturer on legal issues in Modern Spectrum Policy Management

• Commercial litigation and international dispute resolution lawyers internationally recognized by the American College of Trial Lawyers, Centre for Effective Dispute Resolution, the International Academy of Trial Lawyers, the International Society for Barristers, as well as by Best Lawyers, Chambers, Global Arbitration Review 100 and Legal 500

• Award-winning, state-of-the-art extranet and eDiscovery technology, including winner of Law Technology News 2012 Most Innovative Use of Technology in a Large Law Firm Award, and ranked in the 2013 InformationWeek 500 – a list of the top technology innovators in the US

Our Capabilities

Advisory Counsel

Across the globe, we assist clients in their data and customer privacy compliance needs at every point of their business operations and business strategy:

• Cyber-risk insurance

• Data privacy safeguards, internal and external, consumer-focused policies and internal training

• Due diligence involving joint ventures, mergers, acquisitions and other business collaborations

• Design, implementation and management of global compliance programs in accordance with the EDPD, APEC and emerging regulations in other countries, including the US

• E-commerce and cloud computing

• Government regulations related to breach of customer or patient data

• Rolling out and managing global payment card industry standards

• Public relations and crisis communications

Litigation Counsel

We have extensive experience in data and privacy breach-related investigations and individual, business-to-business and consumer class action litigation, including US-related issues:

• Consumer identify theft and privacy violations relating to cloud computing, e-commerce transactions, including industry-specific applications, such as telehealth and mobile health applications

• Electronic Fund Transfer (EFT) or Automated Clearing House (ACH) fraud

• Fair and Accurate Credit Transactions Act (FACTA)

• Fair Debt Collection Practices (FDCPA)

• Federal Computer Fraud and Abuse Act

• False Advertising, Unfair Business Practices, and Defamation

• FTC violations, including Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA), Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA), CAN-SPAM Act, and Gramm-Leach-Bliley and Red Flags Rule

• HIPAA Privacy and Security Rules

• Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA)

• Labor and employment issues, including use of company technology, email retention

• Theft of trade secrets and other intellectual property

• Cross-border, US federal and State Attorneys General investigations and related litigation

Our Products Liability Litigation Practice is internationally renowned for its successful defense of many of the world’s largest companies in cases involving catastrophic bodily injury, property damage or economic loss allegedly caused by defective products, devices or exposure to toxic substances.

We regularly represent clients as global, national and regional coordinating counsel on mass action, multidistrict litigation (MDL), cross-border and individual lawsuits. Our extensive experience and broad footprint allow us to provide clients with a unified defense and thorough insight into theories of liability, scientific and medical experts, the national plaintiffs’ bar in the US and claimants’ counsel in Europe, as well as judges and courtroom procedure in jurisdictions across the globe. In Europe, we represent clients in criminal proceedings related to products liability matters, and in Asia, we advise clients on China’s 2010 Tort Liability Law.

Why Choose Us?

• Ability to work as lead counsel in all areas of products liability defense, including trials, MDL coordination, experts, eDiscovery, and settlement strategies and implementation

• Experienced, successful products liability trial counsel

• In-depth technical knowledge of products and related medical, scientific, engineering and design principles

• False advertising, marketing and deceptive trade practice claims representation

• Comprehensive defense of all aspects of whistleblower, qui tam and False Claims Act allegations

• International reach, representing clients’ products liability matters globally, including the US, Europe, Latin America and Asia Pacific

• Representation before US, EU and UK regulatory and certification authorities that oversee consumer health and protection and product quality control

• Extensive criminal proceeding experience in Europe in products liability matters

• Product recalls and preventative liability advice on warranties, warning labels and issues related to corporate transactions and mergers

• Internationally recognized expertise, including trial lawyers who are Fellows in the American College of Trial Lawyers, and lawyers recognized in legal guides such as Best Lawyers, U.S. News & World Report’s Best Law Firms survey, Legal 500, Lawdragon 500, Leading Lawyers in America and the Guide to Product Liability Lawyers

Our Capabilities

We represent clients as both trial lawyers and advisory counsel on their products liability needs:

Litigation Counsel

• Trial counsel

• Subject matter counsel, including experts, sales and marketing issues, and crisis management

• Global, national (including MDL) and regional coordinating counsel

• Regulatory counsel

• Settlement counsel

• Appellate counsel

Advisory Counsel

• Regulatory counsel

• Transactional due diligence

• Product recalls

• Adverse event claims

• Corrective action programs

• Product licensing, acquisitions and sales

• Indemnity and insurance issues

• Disclaimers, instructions, warnings and warranties

• Market risk evaluation

• Clinical trials

• Compliance programs, investigations and Corporate Integrity Agreements

• US Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) and UK Bribery Act

Regulatory Insight

We collaborate with our regulatory lawyers around the world to keep apprised of new regulations that may impact our clients’ product portfolios. If our clients are subject to litigation, our regulatory lawyers help us assess our clients’ exposure before regulatory agencies, including:

• US Food and Drug Administration (FDA)

• US Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC)

• US Department of Justice (DOJ)

• European Chemicals Agency (ECHA)

• European Medicines Agency (EMA)

• UK Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency (MHRA)

• European Notified Bodies, including TÜV Rheinland

• Japan’s Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare (MHLW)

We pride ourselves in our ability to follow our clients’ lead. Whether the facts demand an immediate settlement strategy or an aggressive defense, we provide practical and effective legal counsel. We develop a coordinated litigation, regulatory and public relations strategy designed to achieve clients’ desired goals on all fronts.

Our Real Estate Litigation Practice represents developers, owners, investors, lenders, landlords and large commercial tenants – across all industries – around the world. We have particularly strong experience in the most dynamic real estate markets in each major region of the world, including the US, the UK, Europe, Asia Pacific and the Middle East. We are well connected and understand the highly nuanced local markets. We listen to our clients and aggressively pursue their goals. As a result, many of our real estate clients look to us as litigation counsel to oversee their regional, national and global real estate litigation needs.

Why Choose Us?

We are also able to quickly complement our litigation services to include members of our global environmental, bankruptcy, tax, real estate transactional and construction teams, depending on the needs of each case.

Our Clients

We serve as primary or preferred real estate litigation counsel to many companies and individuals with real estate interests, including:

• Commercial developers, including developers of hotels, office buildings, office parks and shopping centers

• Commercial tenants, including tenants of office, industrial and retail buildings

• Residential developers, including developers of apartment complexes, condominiums and subdivisions

• Mixed-use, community and urban-renewal developers

• Local, state and national public authorities

• Banks, commercial lenders and title companies

• Institutional investors and real estate investment trusts (REITs)

• Energy and utility companies and suppliers

• Healthcare developers

• Hotels, resorts, golf courses and casinos

• Debtor estates

• Transportation developers and tenants

Our Capabilities

• In the UK, our Real Estate Litigation Practice includes a specialist property barrister with more than 30 years of experience. This unique resource enables us to provide full advisory and advocacy services, including, where necessary, representation before all UK courts and tribunals.

• In the US, we have a highly leveraged network of more than 50 real estate litigators located in the most dynamic real estate markets, including Arizona, California, Florida, New York and Ohio.

• With offices throughout Europe, we are able to effectively represent real estate investors, developers, landlords and other clients in all manner of property and cross-border real estate disputes before all courts and arbitrational forums, including in Eastern European countries where laws are still evolving.

• Our lawyers in key countries throughout Asia Pacific, including China, Australia, Singapore, Hong Kong, Korea and Tokyo, are able to address clients’ litigation and dispute resolution needs related to real estate transactions, investments, project management, land use and regulatory challenges.

• Leveraging our office in the Dominican Republic and our strong working relationships with several independent firms throughout Latin America, we are able to effectively address clients’ real estate disputes or business challenges in this important emerging market.

• We offer sophisticated, complementary legal services in the areas of real estate transactions, environmental, bankruptcy and tax law.

Our Securities & Shareholder Litigation Practice has extensive experience handling all facets of securities and shareholder litigation and related proceedings on behalf of all types of companies, from partnerships to closely held companies to multinational Fortune 500 corporations and their officers and directors.

Whether the specific matter involves a derivative or shareholder class action lawsuit, civil or criminal enforcement activity, merger and acquisition litigation, initial public offering challenges, proxy and annual meeting contests or Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) proceedings, our premier litigators and accomplished trial lawyers are ready to meet our clients’ litigation needs, so that our clients can remain focused on managing their businesses.

Why Choose Us?

Clients turn to us for counsel in securities and shareholder litigation for a host of reasons, including:

• Successfully represented hundreds of companies and their officers and directors in complex and high-stakes securities, derivative, financial and corporate litigation and interrelated corporate governance matters across all industries, across the globe

• Recognized by respected national publications including Legal 500, Chambers USA, The Best Lawyers in America, The International Who’s Who of Business Lawyers, Benchmark: Litigation and Guide to the World’s Leading Litigation Lawyers

• Involved in major, precedent-setting cases that have helped shape derivative shareholder law in certain states, including the Sixth Circuit’s first decision to interpret Ohio demand futility law; our successes continue to be cited by national media, including Law360

• Approved by insurers to represent their clients nationwide; approved as insurance carrier panel counsel for director and officer litigation in certain states

Our Capabilities

We represent corporations, management, officers, inside and outside directors, special litigation committees, investment banks, financial advisers, and majority and dissenting shareholders in class actions and individual lawsuits, involving:

• Securities fraud and misrepresentation claims

• Shareholder derivative claims

• Mergers, acquisitions and takeover litigation

• Improper disclosure litigation

• Breach of fiduciary duty and related torts

• Accounting irregularities

• Insider trading

• Financial fraud

• Failed company claims

• FDIC litigation

• Broker-dealer/market regulation

• Market manipulation

• Anti-money laundering

• Anticorruption and US Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) laws

• Anti-terrorist financing laws

• Insurance company liquidation

We regularly represent companies and individuals before the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA), FDIC and in federal and state civil and criminal investigations and proceedings.

For more than 50 years, we have served as trusted advisors, litigators and strategists to more than 100 sovereign governments, state-owned entities and sovereign wealth funds in protecting against and confronting litigation in the US and around the world. Our sovereign clients embrace many of the world’s most dynamic and emerging markets in the Middle East, Africa, throughout Europe, Latin America and Asia. We represent our clients in litigation and disputes involving investment and bilateral investment treaty disputes, construction and infrastructure projects, territorial disputes, trade, and matters related to human rights, environmental issues and other issues of public international law and domestic statutes, including in the US, the ATA and FSIA.

Our Sovereign Litigation team is at the nexus of law, government and business, championing clients’ interests in courts and international tribunals around the world, as well as before the European Commission and Congress on a wide array of jurisdictional and sovereign immunity issues and the extraterritorial application of domestic law. Our team includes not only trial lawyers who are internationally recognized for their work in sovereign-related litigation, but also former US senators, ambassadors and members of US Department of State and European Commission, who have helped sovereigns navigate sensitive international relations directly tied to US and other domestic litigation, cross-border disputes and international relations.

We actively track policy and case law as it pertains to our clients’ commercial interests globally, and because of the strength of our legislative and diplomacy teams, we are able to advocate on our clients’ behalf in the halls of power – in the US, EU and many countries across the globe. For instance, we serve as the outside general counsel for many embassies in the US, providing day-to-day support on legal matters and local regulatory issues that may arise, including those that relate to the application of sovereign and diplomatic immunity.

Why Choose Us?

• Decades of experience successfully defending sovereign clients in the US courts against Alien Tort Statute (ATS) and FSIA lawsuits

• Deep relationships and qualifications with the US Department of State and other government agencies to secure immunity determinations and other governmental support for defenses

• Representing sovereign governments and their leaders in the International Criminal Court, the International Court of Justice and various other international tribunals

• Representing governments around the world on boundary disputes in some of the most important and challenging cases of the last four decades, including in the Middle East, Africa, Asia, North America, Latin America and the Arctic

• Leader in bilateral investment treaty arbitration involving banking and monetary regulation, the oil and gas industry, electrical generation and gold mining

• Extensive experience in cross-border issues involving jurisdiction, choice-of-law, extraterritorial application of US and other countries’ laws, cross-border discovery under multilateral conventions and forum selection

• Distinctive experience and insight on developing legal systems emerging countries and regions

• Strong local presence and connections, enabling us to obtain timely judicial assistance, such as injunctions and emergency stays, allowing clients’ global business to continue unfettered by legal proceedings

• Membership in the international Chamber of Commerce FraudNet and other European anticorruption asset-tracing organizations

• Listed in the 2015 Global Arbitration Review Top 30 of international arbitration practices and nominated for Large International Arbitration Practice that Impressed in the Past Year

• Complementary diplomatic support and insight from former US senators and several former ministers of foreign affairs and ambassadors to more than a dozen countries, including the United Nations

We offer our supply chain clients a diverse team of legal expertise and industry perspective – from across all points of the globe – to ensure clients’ supply chain business objectives are on track, while regulatory compliance needs are being met and litigation is deftly handled. We have deep experience with all manner of commercial contracts – including licenses, non-disclosure agreements and outsourcing agreements – ranging from small distributorship relationships to US$100 million supply agreements, and we offer clients experienced sourcing and procurement practitioners in most of all the major financial and administrative centers of the world.

Why Choose Us?

Actively monitor and advise clients on new legislation, regulation and case law trends, globally, related to supply chains, outsourcing, procurement, false advertising and product safety, among other issues, including recent class actions brought under the California Supply Chain Transparency Act and the UK Modern Slavery Act 2015

Recognized around the globe for our International Trade & Foreign Investment Practice by publications such as The Best Lawyers in America, Chambers Global and Legal 500 EMEA

Recognized by Legal 500 for our advice in structuring and negotiating complex sourcing relationships and leading a number of the largest and most complicated global business process outsourcing and information technology outsourcing projects

Internationally recognized commercial litigation and international dispute resolution lawyers – recognized by the American College of Trial Lawyers, Centre for Effective Dispute Resolution, International Academy of Trial Lawyers and International Society for Barristers, as well as by numerous peer-review publications, including Best Lawyers, Chambers, Global Arbitration Review 100 and Legal 500

Award-winning state-of-the-art extranet and eDiscovery technology, including winner of Law Technology News 2012 Most Innovative Use of Technology in a Large Law Firm Award, and ranked in the 2013 InformationWeek 500 – a list of the top technology innovators in the US

Client Industries

• Aerospace and defense

• Automotive

• Aviation

• Banking and financial services

• Chemicals

• Communications, media and entertainment

• Consumer products, including:

  • Apparel and cosmetics

  • Food and beverage

  • Household appliances

  • Retailers

• Diversified industrials

• Energy and utilities

• Electronics and high technology

• Transportation, shipping and logistics

• Healthcare

• Industrial equipment

• Insurance

• Life sciences, including:

  • Pharmaceutical – medical device

  • Medical suppliers

• Mining and metals

• Government and sovereign entities

Our Capabilities

• Commercial contracts and distribution agreements

• Sourcing and procurement

• International trade compliance solutions

• Conflict minerals regulation

• US Foreign Corrupt Practices Act and UK Bribery Act

• Labor and employment

• Intellectual property and technology

• International tax planning

• Litigation and dispute resolution

Supply Chain Reaction Podcast

Listen to our Supply Chain Reaction podcast series for practical guidance on navigating supply chain challenges facing businesses in a rapidly changing trade landscape.

We have the critical combination of class action litigation, Federal Communication Commission (FCC), regulatory and compliance expertise to assist clients with all aspects of mitigating risk under the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA).

Counseling

In order to assess potential TCPA litigation exposure, we work with clients to review:

• Third-party vendor agreements, including indemnification provisions, and auditing and record-keeping practices to ensure compliance under the TCPA and other applicable laws and regulations

• Dialing protocol

• Communication software and technology systems

• Customer file systems

• Call center transcripts and website disclosures

• Insurance coverage for TCPA or customer privacy violations

• Customer arbitration agreements

• Customer agreements and best practices regarding revocation of consent

• Market solutions to mitigate the risks of violating the TCPA, including verifying wireless and reassigned numbers

Litigation-related Capabilities

• Class action and multijurisdictional defense

• Parallel advocacy before the FCC – a strategic consideration that has gained additional importance after the DC Circuit’s ruling and the early indications from the FCC that it will take a fresh look at some of the more salient issues in the TCPA arena

• Parallel state attorneys general investigations and litigation

• Third-party actions

• Crisis management

• National settlement programs

We also work with clients to respond to regulatory and government investigations, including investigations by the CFPB and FCC or congressional inquiries. Our US Public Policy, Communications and Government Investigations & White Collar teams include several former government investigators.

Why Choose Us?

• We have seasoned litigators with experience defending class action, multiparty and single-plaintiff TCPA cases across the US, including in California, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Arizona and Ohio, where TCPA class actions are frequently filed.

• We have experienced FCC practitioners involved in TCPA rulemaking and enforcement matters.

• We regularly conduct compliance audits, review internal policies and practices, and make practical recommendations to assist clients with reducing exposure and potential liability under the TCPA.

• We have unrivaled legislative insight into the regulatory bodies and agencies that focus on TCPA-related issues, including the FCC, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and the Department of Justice (DOJ), among others.

Our Capabilities

Our recent experience highlights our TCPA capabilities:

• Represented one of the petitioners in the DC Circuit’s March 16, 2018, landmark decision in ACA Int’l v. FCC, Case No. 15-1211, vacating two FCC rulings that had significantly broadened TCPA liability and exposure.

• Insurance company – Currently leading a putative nationwide TCPA class action in the US District Court for the Northern District of Georgia involving Do Not Call allegations, filed by serial plaintiff Kenneth Johansen and represented by Alex Burke, Anthony Paronich and Lieff Cabraser.

• Automobile company – Currently representing in a putative nationwide TCPA class action in Florida federal court involving text messaging.

• Telecommunications company – Currently leading a putative nationwide TCPA class action in Arizona federal court involving reassigned numbers.

• Telecommunications company – Currently defending in an arbitration with its vendor involving contractual indemnity claims arising under the TCPA.

• National auto finance lender – Successfully opposed class certification in a “wrong number” TCPA class action.

• Earned a protective order quashing burdensome class data demands pre-certification on the basis of failsafe class definition in the complaint.

• Helped to shut down two particularly questionable lawsuits – one by a plaintiff who collected 85 cell phones in a bid to collect wrong number calls and another by a lawyer referral service that was deemed illegal and posing as a call block app – resulting in a reduction of nuisance TCPA lawsuits nationwide.

• National bank – Repeatedly met with staff for all five commissioners of the FCC and the FCC’s general counsel to advocate for common-sense changes to TCPA regulation.

• Large financial services industry client – Represented in earning the nation’s first post-Spokeo dismissal of a TCPA action for lack of Article III jurisdiction.

• Earned Ninth Circuit Court of Appeal’s first ruling that providing a number to a caller constitutes consent to receive transactional text messages – even if they may contain some telemarketing materials – and not just calls.

• Defeated a TCPA certification motion in US District Court, Northern District of Texas.

• Earned a stay of proceedings in favor of a large international bank in a class action based upon the FCC’s primary jurisdiction to determine the meaning of the phrase “called party” for purposes of the TCPA’s express consent exemption.

• Clients sued under the TCPA – Earned summary judgment rulings on behalf of clients sued under the TCPA on the grounds that the device they used to place the calls at issue was not an automatic telephone dialing system (ATDS) as defined by the statute.

• Favorably settled, on an individual basis, a TCPA class action filed against the nation’s largest retail jewelry chain in the US District Court for the Northern District of Georgia based on allegations of “wrong number” calls.

• Mobile technology company – Represented in a putative TCPA class action in Illinois seeking US$80 million in damages, which we settled for a nominal amount after filing a summary judgment motion.

• Obtained dismissal of a putative TCPA class action against a prepaid card company pending in Ohio federal court.

• Secured a voluntary dismissal with prejudice in a putative nationwide TCPA class action brought in Georgia state court for alleged violations of the TCPA against a nonprime credit provider. We removed the action to federal court and negotiated a voluntary dismissal with prejudice based on the inadequacy of the plaintiff under Rule 23.

• World’s largest airline – Represented against alleged violations of the TCPA through unsolicited text messages in Minnesota federal court.

• Secured a voluntary dismissal with prejudice in an action under the TCPA and the Electronic Funds Transfer Act against a nonprime credit provider in Missouri state court.

• National apparel chain – Represented in a putative nationwide TCPA class action for alleged violations of the TCPA for autodialed calls in Indiana federal court.

• Several financial service providers – Represented in successfully compelling TCPA class actions to individual arbitration.

• Handled dozens of individual TCPA actions in state and federal courts across the country.

• Provide ongoing strategic compliance counseling related to TCPA compliance and other consumer privacy laws.

Our Experience

We have achieved excellent results in a variety of TCPA lawsuits around the US:

• Non-US bank – Represented in US District Court, Southern District of California in a nationwide putative TCPA class action, alleging hundreds of millions of dollars in damages. We were retained to replace original counsel after the plaintiff dismissed his individual TCPA claim in state court and re-filed it as a TCPA putative class action in federal court. We determined the best strategy was to settle the state court action and move to compel arbitration of the federal lawsuit. Our motion to compel arbitration was granted, and the claims were settled for nominal amount.

• US mobile technology company – Represented in US District Court, Northern District of Illinois in a putative class action seeking nearly US$80 million in damages for alleged violations of the TCPA. Plaintiff alleged that our client sent unsolicited text messages to thousands of putative class members using an automatic telephone dialing system, in violation of the TCPA. After securing limited discovery and filing a motion for summary judgment, the class action was dismissed for a nominal settlement.

• Pizza delivery chain – Represented in US District Court, Northern District of Illinois, Eastern Division in a purported class action relating to defendant’s allegedly sending unsolicited advertisements to telephone facsimile machines, in violation of the TCPA and Illinois Consumer Fraud Act (ICFA). Case was resolved via a settlement of the class representative’s claim for a nominal amount.

• US prepaid card company – Represented in US District Court, Northern District of Ohio in a putative class action. The lead plaintiff asserted that our client violated the TCPA by using an automatic telephone dialing system to place calls to plaintiffs’ mobile and home telephone numbers using an auto dialer system and recorded message. The case was dismissed in its entirety.

• US bank and credit card company – Represented in US District Court, Southern District of Ohio, Eastern Division relating to allegedly unlawful telemarketing calls made by the defendant to the plaintiff’s residence, in violation of the TCPA and Ohio Consumer Sales Practices Act (OCSPA). Favorably settled the claims after successfully limiting the plaintiff’s claims and damages in motion practice, and recovered costs associated with defense in indemnity claim against client’s telemarketing vendor.

Notable successes in parallel FCC defenses include:

• Health information conveyor – Represented in successfully obtaining carve out from certain Federal Trade Commission (FTC) Telemarketing Sales Rule and FCC TCPA requirements.

• Major financial institution – Represented in FCC proceedings to successfully support a litigation stay.

• Platform provider – Represented in successfully obtaining a clarification of the TCPA from the FCC, negating the underlying litigation theory.

Our Toxic & Mass Tort Litigation Practice represents clients around the world facing individual lawsuits, as well as class and mass action claims relating to not only traditional products and operations, but also emerging technologies and businesses. Our clients span a broad range of industries, from manufacturing and mining to pharmaceutical and medical device companies, and from specialty chemicals to food and consumer products.

We defend these companies against a range of toxic and mass tort claims involving:

• Exposure to allegedly harmful finished goods

• Exposure to allegedly toxic contaminants in the workplace and the environment

• Industrial, production and research, and development processes

• Regulatory compliance related to clients’ facilities and operations

We bring a creative and aggressive approach to each of our engagements. We also have a deep bench of toxic and mass tort litigators, including trial lawyers with proven track records in complex jury cases, allowing us to litigate cases from start to finish in jurisdictions across the US and in most parts of the world.

Why Choose Us?

• Deep experience with cases involving novel products, science and technologies, from cellulosic ethanol and patented products in the food industry to pharmaceutical drugs and medical devices and emerging science involving imaging technologies, respiratory exposures, subsurface hydrocarbons and everything in between

• A history of successfully addressing complex issues of scientific proof, causation and damages in new and emerging causes of action in some of the most challenging jurisdictions around the country

• Successful results as trial counsel and national and regional coordinating counsel, as well as virtual law firm participation on hundreds of toxic and mass tort multidistrict litigations (MDLs) across the US

Our global footprint across Asia Pacific, Europe, Latin America, the Middle East and the US, enables our lawyers to provide:

• Quick, on-the-ground support to clients’ global operations and business partners during government investigations and discovery requests

• Experience with foreign legal and regulatory requirements, which play an increasingly important role in US toxic tort litigation

Our Capabilities

We offer a complete range of services to clients facing toxic and mass tort litigation:

• Pre-litigation counseling

• Defense of individual cases, class actions and multidistrict cases

• Management of entire toxic tort portfolios

• Analysis of medical and environmental issues

• National counsel experience and strategies

• Identification and development of experts, particularly true industry experts

• Maintenance of libraries on commonly used plaintiff and defense experts

• Trial strategy and first-chair trial representation in jury and bench trials

• Settlement strategy and negotiations

• Appeals

• Crisis management

Regulatory Insight

Our toxic and mass tort lawyers work closely with our regulatory lawyers to monitor changes in case law and regulations around the world, thereby enabling us to provide clients with more comprehensive counsel on mitigating risk or aggressively pursuing litigation. For example, we closely follow rulings by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), and the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) in the US, as well their Europe and Asia counterparts, such as the European Medicines Agency (EMA) and the European Chemicals Agency (ECHA).

We pride ourselves in our ability to understand and anticipate our clients’ needs – whether the facts demand an immediate settlement strategy or an aggressive defense – we provide practical and effective legal counsel.