Litigation

Integrated and efficient, our attorneys have handled major litigation for both global Fortune 50 companies and small businesses, managed multi-district matters spanning years, and have acted as litigation counsel to businesses and investors focusing on finance, art, information security, and privacy.

We have an impeccable track record and experience with sensitive and complex litigation. With particular expertise in matters that involve technology, multi-party mass tort defense coordination, and regulatory frameworks, we work as a multi-disciplinary team to creatively analyze and develop the most effective strategies for our clients.

Having been on the in-house side of the fence, we understand all too well how expensive litigation can be. With this in mind, we aim to control costs for our clients using specialized risk-assessment methodologies and proven litigation-avoidance strategies whenever possible.

 

Appeals

Having served as counsel and amici before the US Supreme Court, and both federal and state courts of appeal, we have deep roots and passion for appellate matters. Our approach to appeals is to combine strategy, philosophy, and efficiency, informing and strengthening all of our practice areas.

Our appellate attorneys have briefed and argued a number of successful appeals in both state and federal courts of appeal. We strive to distill complex legal arguments into clean, concise presentations that are easily digested by appellate bodies. In addition, our appellate experience strengthens us as litigators: we brief and argue constitutional and other complex legal issues in trial courts and assist in ensuring that legal arguments are well developed and preserved for appeal.

On appeal, our attorneys have successfully represented D. E. Shaw, MetLife, and Kroll Associates, as well as POWs held captive during the First Gulf War and a Nigerian immigrant who was facing deportation. Published appellate opinions include:

      • Parietti v. Wal-Mart Stores, Inc., 140 A.D.3d 1039 (2d Dep't 2016) (granting Wal-Mart's motion for summary judgment against plaintiff in a matter involving a slip-and-fall in a Wal-Mart store) 
      • Blumenstein v. Waspit Group, Inc., 2016 N.Y. App. Div. Lexis 4925 (1st Dep't 2016) (unanimous reversal of lower court entitling client to immediate judgment under CPLR 3213 on a valuable promissory note used to secure loan to a technology company) 
      • Castiglione v. Kruse, 130 A.D.3d 957, 15 N.Y.S.3d 360 (2d Dep’t 2015) (reversing lower court’s ruling that pedestrian was not entitled to summary judgment on the issue of liability) 
      • Jones v. Attorney General of U.S., 397 Fed.Appx. 831 (3d Cir. 2010) (reversing the Board of Immigration Appeals because the board did not apply the proper level of deference to the decision of alien’s Immigration Judge) 
      • Estate of Lois Mancini v. American International Group, Inc., A-3180-08T1 (N.J. Super. Ct. App. Div., Mar 30, 2010) (affirming grant of summary judgment based on appellants’ repeated failure to comply with discovery order and appellants’ failure to demonstrate that “exceptional circumstances” existed in support of their motion to extend discovery) 
      • Boccardi Capital Systems, Inc. v. D.E. Shaw Laminar Portfolios, L.L.C., 355 Fed.Appx. 516 (2d Cir. 2009) (affirming dismissal of complaint seeking $68 million for breach of contract in failing to pay appellant his share of profits gained in purchase of stock in casino because confidentiality agreement did not bar respondent’s purchase and sale of stock) 
      • Republic of Iraq v. Beaty, 556 U.S. 848, 129 S.Ct. 2183, 173 L.Ed.2d 1193 (2009) (representing US servicemembers and civilians captured and tortured by Saddam Hussein and Iraqi Intelligence during the first Gulf War in opposition to the Republic of Iraq and the US Dep’t of Justice) 
      • Simon v. Republic of Iraq, 529 F.3d 1187 (D.C.Cir. 2008) ­(reversing lower court on grounds that neither § 1083 of the National Defense Authorization Act nor President Bush’s waiver under § 1083(d) thereof deprives the courts of jurisdiction over cases brought by former POWs for the torture they endured in captivity at the hands of the Iraqi regime during the 1990–91 Gulf War) 

 

Our attorneys have also acted as counsel to Former District Attorneys Robert Morgenthau, Gil Garcetti, and E. Michael McCann on an amicus brief to the Supreme Court of the United States seeking certiorari on the appeal of an inmate on Alabama’s death row whose conviction rested on testimony that was at odds with evidence never shared with the defense.