Litigation

The Paul, Weiss Litigation Department, with a team of leading trial lawyers based in New York and Washington, D.C., is unparalleled in achieving successful results. Whether we are championing the cause of a Fortune 500 company in financial crisis or assisting the neglected and indigent of our community, the depth of our practice is matched only by our unyielding commitment to our clients and their success and security.

Jump to:  Why Paul, Weiss? | Our Practice | E-Discovery | Clients | Industries | Recognitions | Representative Engagements

Why Paul, Weiss?

We have always believed that what separates us from our peers is that we are trial lawyers, not just litigators. The ability and confidence to go to trial is a key weapon in our arsenal, and our record of success remains unparalleled.

We have handled some of the highest profile and most complex disputes in recent times. In fact, we are the only U.S. law firm that has gone to verdict in jury trials and contested arbitrations four times over the past five years on behalf of financial institutions in multi-billion-dollar cases. We won each time.

We have managed cases in virtually every forum, from state and federal trial and appellate courts to domestic and international arbitrations, and from alternative dispute resolution proceedings to administrative tribunals of all kinds. To each, we bring a sure grasp of the underlying substantive issues and the strategic insights necessary to produce successful results.

In addition, because of our comprehensive knowledge of the business climate and regulatory landscape and our experience representing leading corporations and financial institutions in their most important issues, we are sought out for our sound business counsel and comprehensive strategic advice on managing litigation risk and handling high-stakes, enterprise-threatening suits. We have been at the epicenter of nearly every major financial upheaval of the past decade and on the front lines of many of the major litigations of our time, and we are the go-to firm for unprecedented “bet the company” litigations that defy easy solutions.

We do not merely represent clients in the matter at hand; rather, we carefully balance and weigh our client’s business position, risk and exposure and work with them to develop each case as a part of a comprehensive approach to their business goals. Our strategic approach is resolutely forward-looking; we assess options and manage risks from the moment we are retained. Because we evaluate our client’s position early in every case, we are able to plan expeditious and cost-effective resolutions that other counsel might overlook altogether.

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Our Practice

Although our partners specialize in different areas of the law, we retain and value our flexibility across many disciplines. This quality has earned us a reputation as the premier litigation practice in the U.S. and allows us to create efficient and seamless teams that leverage experience and legal tactics from many different industries and legal practices.

The accumulated experience of our department is the product of years of representations in practically every type of litigation. It is also derived from our partner’s work as prominent public service lawyers in regulatory institutions and the U.S. Department of Justice. Our litigation partners also possess thorough knowledge of a variety of industries from financial services to media and entertainment to apparel to pharmaceuticals, among others. This collective knowledge serves our clients by preventing costly litigations from ever being filed, thereby sidestepping serious problems and maximizing business opportunities.

We handle all types of disputes and representations, including:

Antitrust Bankruptcy & corporate reorganization Derivatives litigation Employment Environmental ERISA, benefits and pension litigation FCPA Insurance IP: Copyright and trademark litigation

IP: Patent and other scientific litigation Internal investigations International arbitration Mergers and acquisitions (M&A) Product liability Professional liability Securities litigation Tax White collar crime and regulatory defense

We work in every legal forum, from state and federal trial and appellate courts to domestic and international arbitrations, from alternative dispute resolution proceedings to administrative tribunals of all kinds.

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E-Discovery

Paul, Weiss was among the first firms to tackle the intensive document processing and other management needs of large-scale, complex disputes. We have invested continuously in both technology and personnel, creating a Practice Support and Discovery Services Department that combines the skills of technology and legal professionals.

As a result we are able to manage the information needs of large litigation matters in-house, adding significant cost benefits for our clients.

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Clients

Some of our representations have included work on behalf of:

Abbott Laboratories ADP AIG Alaska state pension funds Altria Apollo ASCAP Bank of America Bank of New York Mellon BASF Corporation Becton, Dickinson Chubb & Son Inc. Citigroup Credit Suisse Deloitte & Touche Deutsche Bank Edwards Lifesciences Ericsson Exxon Mobil Fitch General Atlantic Harbinger Capital Partners

IBM ING Johnson & Johnson JPMorgan Chase Kohlberg & Company KPS Capital MasterCard Merck Morgan Stanley National Football League National Music Publishers’ Association Nichia Pfizer Repsol Swiss Reinsurance Company The Nielsen Company Time Warner Cable UBS Viacom Wachovia Warner Music Weight Watchers International

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Industries

We have handled high-stakes disputes across a range of industry sectors, including:

Consumer products Energy, power and utilities Financial Services Industrial products and manufacturing Healthcare and pharmaceuticals Media and entertainment

Publishing Real estate Hospitality and gaming Retail and apparel Technology and telecommunications

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Recognitions

Our Litigation Department has earned a reputation for unparalleled excellence. Recent acknowledgments have included:

• The American Lawyer
  • “Litigation Department of the Year” Biennial Survey – honorable mention (2012), finalist (2010), winner (2006).
  • “Big Suits” – Edwards Lifesciences et al. v. CoreValve et al. (2010)
  • Six practitioners named “Litigators of the Week.”(2008-2011)
• Benchmark Litigation
  • “Highly Recommended” firm – “Leading Litigation Firms: New York” and “Recommended” firm - “Local Litigation Firms: District of Columbia.” (2011)
  • Fourteen “Litigation Stars: USA,” Ten “Local Litigation Stars: New York” and four “Future Stars: New York” (2011)
  • Three “Local Litigation Stars: District of Columbia” and a “Future Star: District of Columbia” (2011)
  • “Highly Recommended” firm – “Leading Litigation Firms: New York” and “Local Litigation Firms: District of Columbia.” (2010)
  • Nine “Local Litigation Stars: New York” and four “Future Stars: New York.” (2010)
  • Three “Local Litigation Stars: District of Columbia” and a “Future Star: District of Columbia.” (2010)
• Chambers USA
  • Ten litigators are ranked in New York litigation categories as “top-tier”. (2011)
  • Band 1 firm – “(National) Securities Litigation,” “(NY) Litigation: General Commercial: The Elite,” “(NY) Litigation: Securities,” “(NY) Litigation: White-Collar Crime & Government Investigations.” (2011)
  • “Lawyer of the Year” – “Business Trial Lawyer.” (2010)
  • “Lawyer of the Year” – “White Collar and Government Investigations.” (2010)
• Directorship Magazine
  • Two practitioners in “Directorship 100” – for Merck, Swiss Re, Ericsson and Fannie Mae representations. (2009 and 2010)
• Financial Times
  • One of top three most innovative law firms in the United States (2010)
  • “Stand-out” (top tier) in Litigation (Alaska Retirement Management Board Settles with Mercer Inc.)
  • “Highly Commended” in Litigation (Bank of America Settles with SEC)
  • “Commended” in Litigation (Citigroup Settles with SEC)
• Law360
  • One of the “Securities Defense Firms of the Year.” (2010)
  • “Rising Legal Star” practitioner. (2010)
• Legal 500
  • “Leading Trial Lawyers.” (2011)
  • Tier 1 firm – “White-Collar Criminal Defense,” “Securities: Shareholder Litigation.” (2011)
• National Law Journal
  • Litigator named one of “Most Influential Lawyers of the Decade.” (2010)
  • Three litigators named “Winning” lawyers. (2010, 2009 and 2005)
  • “Defense Hot List.” (2007)
• U.S. News & World Report/Best Lawyers
  • Tier 1 firm – “(National) General Commercial Litigation” and “(NY) General Commercial Litigation.” (2010)
  • Leading firm – “(DC) General Commercial Litigation.” (2010)

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Representative Engagements

The Paul, Weiss Litigation Department continues to be involved in cases that shape financial markets and corporate boardrooms, representing many of the world’s leading corporations in their most sensitive and complex matters. Client matters have included:

• Automatic Data Processing (ADP) in the defense of a major federal False Claims Act case that challenged the three companies’ practice of retaining the interest earned on funds held from their clients that were ultimately due, and timely paid, to the government as tax payments. The court granted in full ADP’s (and the other defendants’) motions to dismiss.
  
  
• Alaska State Pension Funds, in the representation of the Alaska Retirement Management (ARM) Board in a lawsuit brought against the State’s former actuary, Mercer (US) Inc., a unit of insurance conglomerate Marsh & McLennan Companies. The state claimed that Mercer’s mistakes contributed at least $1.8 billion to Alaska’s pension shortfall. The ARM Board alleged that Mercer made fundamental errors in methodology and in basic calculations, thus committing actuarial malpractice and breaching its professional duties and contractual obligations. Because of its errors, the complaint alleged, Mercer miscalculated the contributions needed to fund Alaska’s two largest pension plans, the Public Employees Retirement System and the Teachers Retirement System. On June 11, 2010, Mercer agreed to pay $500 million to Alaska to settle the suit. The settlement is believed to be the largest actuarial settlement that has occurred in the U.S.
  
  
• American International Group (AIG) in its settlement of a securities fraud class action and derivative lawsuits that have been pending since 2004. The lawsuits involved allegations of anticompetitive market division, accounting violations and stock price manipulation when AIG’s former CEO, Maurice R. Greenberg, led the company. The hard-fought litigation has lasted more than five years, and lead plaintiffs were seeking in excess of $20 billion in damages. Under the creative structure of the settlement, AIG will pay an aggregate of $725 million if the settlement is consummated, $175 million of which is to be paid into escrow within ten days of preliminary court approval, and the remainder of which is conditioned on AIG having consummated one or more common stock offerings raising net proceeds of at least $550 million prior to final court approval.
  
  
• ASCAP in licensing negotiations and Rate Court litigations in the radio, television and cable television industries, the principal sources of revenue for its songwriter and music publisher members.
  
  
• Bank of America in litigation and settlement of claims by the SEC in connection with BofA’s acquisition of Merrill Lynch & Co. in 2008. The U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York granted the motion to approve the settlement of claims involving BofA’s alleged misrepresentations and omission in the proxy statement issued in connection with the merger. The settlement required BofA to pay $150 million into a fair fund for distribution to shareholders and to undertake a number of remedial actions.
  
  
• Becton, Dickinson for nearly 30 years in antitrust litigation. We have represented BD in litigations in federal and state courts, as well as congressional, FTC and state attorney general investigations of pricing and contracting practices by group purchasing organizations. We are currently defending BD in direct and indirect purchaser class actions in federal court in New Jersey against claims of monopolization, bundled discounting and exclusive dealing. We are also currently defending BD in an action in the Eastern District of Texas against a competitor's claims of monopolization, bundling, exclusive dealing and Lanham Act violations.
  
  
• Citigroup in achieving a victory in a multibillion dollar lawsuit by the London-based private equity firm Terra Firma. Terra Firma and its Chairman Guy Hands claimed they were defrauded in the purchase of the music company EMI in 2007. The Paul, Weiss team prepared this case for trial in just 10 months and tried it to a New York jury, notwithstanding that Citigroup faced claims of more than $8 billion. After a twelve-day trial, the jury deliberated for less than five hours before returning a verdict vindicating Citigroup in all respects.
  
  We also represented Citigroup against a $2.2 billion claim by Parmalat (reduced from more than $30 billion in damages on our successful summary judgment motion) for aiding and abetting the company’s directors’ breach of fiduciary duty in stealing billions from the company. After a five-month trial, the jury found that Citigroup was not liable and returned a verdict worth more than $430 million (including interest) on Citigroup’s counterclaims. This was one of the highest-value jury verdicts in the U.S. in 2008.
  
  We also represented Citigroup in obtaining dismissal in district court of an ERISA stock drop action alleging that Citigroup 401(k) plan fiduciaries violated their fiduciary duties by failing to limit plan participants’ ability to invest in Citigroup stock. The dismissal was affirmed on appeal—the first time the Second Circuit Court of Appeals addressed a series of important issues raised by ERISA stock drop cases.
  
  We represent Citigroup in a class action litigation relating to disclosure of subprime losses, sales of auction rate securities, failed alternative investments, a municipal public nuisance claim relating to securitization of mortgages, and underwriting of securities of American Home Mortgage and Ambac.
  
  
• Deloitte & Touche in the dismissal of a federal securities action brought against Deloitte and several defendants, including Fannie Mae, relating to disclosures and financial statements of Fannie Mae during the period from 2006 to 2008.
  
  
• Deutsche Bank AG in the resolution of a multi-year government investigation into the execution of tax shelter transactions for high net-worth individuals. The investigation concluded in 2010, when Deutsche Bank and the government agencies signed a settlement for $533 million. The settlement included a non-prosecution agreement — no criminal charges would be filed — and the $533 million figure was considerably less than the government had originally demanded. The settlement resolved pending investigations by the IRS and the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) for Deutsche Bank, representing a global resolution of the federal action against the bank.
  
  
• Edwards Lifesciences in a major battle in its patent war with Medtronic, when a federal court jury in Delaware awarded Edwards $74 million after it found that Medtronic’s CoreValve ReValving system willfully infringed Edwards’ transcatheter heart valve patent. We are currently defending that verdict on appeal in the Federal Circuit. We currently represent Edwards in a separate litigation relating to its SAPIEN transcatheter heart valve recently filed by Medtronic in the Central District of California.
  
  
• Ericsson in a securities class action out of the company’s 2007 financial disclosures, winning complete dismissal of the action in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, a decision that was affirmed by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit.
  
  
• Exxon Mobil in a significant victory, securing dismissal of two cases filed against Exxon Mobil and certain subsidiaries, alleging complicity in human rights violations that took place in Indonesia.
  
  
• Genentech, Inc., as lead counsel in complex litigations involving the Cabilly patents, a patent family that covers one of the fundamental innovations of modern molecular medicine - genetically modified antibodies that can be used to treat human disease. The first series of cases arises from infringement of the Cabilly II patent by GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) and several Lonza entities, due to their making and selling of GSK’s ArzerraTM, a leukemia drug; and a subsequent case involving the related Cabilly III patent before the same court and against the same defendants. The second series of Cabilly cases is split between the District of Delaware and the Central District of California - both Delaware cases arise from allegations by GSK and Human Genome Sciences that the Cabilly II patent is invalid, with one case arising under the patent laws and the other under the antitrust laws; the related case against these two parties in the Central District of California also involves infringement of the Cabilly III patent.
  
  
• ING Group in a threatened $250 million purchase price adjustment claim arising out of the sale of one of its subsidiaries. We are also representing ING and its insurance subsidiaries against a Title VII employee class action complaint that alleges that ING discriminated against African-American workers in promotion practice, pay levels and hiring policies.
  
  
• JPMorgan Chase in numerous civil cases brought by shareholders of Bear Stearns following the near collapse of the investment bank in March 2008. We also represented JPMorgan Chase in matters relating to the Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission, charged by Congress to investigate the financial crisis, in addition to securing the dismissal of J.P. Morgan Investment Management in a multiple actions brought concerning billion-dollar portfolios.
  
  
• MasterCard over the past decade in a series of government and private
  antitrust actions, including:
  • a major federal class action brought by all merchants in the U.S. that accept MasterCard alleging overcharges on every credit and debit transaction in the U.S.
  • state class actions in California and New Mexico brought against MasterCard on behalf of consumers under state antitrust and unfair competition laws.
  • a DOJ investigation into the rules of multiple payment card merchants that resulted in a consent decree requiring only minimal modification of MasterCard’s rules.
    
    
• Merck in SEC and DOJ investigations and shareholder lawsuits arising from the sale and marketing of Vioxx and Vytorin. After four years, the SEC closed its investigation into the company’s public disclosure concerning Vioxx, indicating it has no intent to bring any action against Merck.
  
  We also represented Merck and its former subsidiary Medco Health Solutions in a substantial victory in a shareholder derivative action. Shareholders claimed that Merck and Medco improperly recognized as revenues copayments that Medco plan beneficiaries paid to retail pharmacies instead of Medco. The New Jersey Superior Court, Chancery Division, granted our motion for dismissal and summary judgment of the action.
  
  
• Morgan Stanley, as well as two Morgan Stanley mutual funds and their underwriters, advisers and distributors, in obtaining the dismissal of two class actions alleging that the funds were required to disclose information regarding alleged misconduct by investment banking and broker-dealer affiliates of the funds’ investment adviser.
  
  
• National Music Publishers’ Association (NMPA) in a Copyright Royalty Board rate setting proceeding for reproduction and distribution royalties. The lengthy trial was the first contested mechanical rate proceeding in almost three decades. We also represented NMPA in copyright infringement litigation against Napster and other Internet services, including MP3.com, Aimster, Audiogalaxy, Grokster, KaZaA and Morpheus.
  
  
• The Nielsen Company a case where the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida granted summary judgment to Nielsen on antitrust claims brought by Sunbeam Television Corp. Sunbeam had claimed that Nielsen’s rollout of a new ratings measurement methodology was a violation of Section 2 of the Sherman Act. We also represented Nielsen and other defendants in a multi-jurisdiction monopolization case alleging that Nielsen had monopolized or attempted to monopolize the U.S. retail tracking market and 30 foreign markets through a combination of exclusionary acts, including predatory pricing, bundled discounts and exclusive retailer contracts.
  
  
• Paramount Pictures Corporation in a significant victory in an action brought by investors in a special purpose vehicle, known as Melrose, that in turn invested in a slate of Paramount films. The investors alleged that their investments were induced by a private placement memorandum containing false and misleading statements. Judge Thomas Griesa of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York granted Paramount’s motion to dismiss the complaint.
  
  
• Pfizer in successful product liability litigation relating to the hormone therapy drug Prempro. Prempro was manufactured and sold by Wyeth, which was acquired by Pfizer in 2009. In February 2010, we were successful in persuading a Philadelphia jury that Pfizer was not liable for damages. In August 2010, we successfully persuaded another Philadelphia jury that Prempro was not the cause of two Pennsylvania women’s breast cancer. We achieved our third consecutive victory as lead counsel for Pfizer in December 2010, when a Virginia jury found that Wyeth properly warned a Virginia woman’s doctors about the risks of Prempro, denying the woman’s claim for damages.
  
  
• Philip Morris USA, an Altria company, in the company’s first “Lights” class actions to reach a jury. The plaintiffs claimed they were entitled to billions of dollars of damages for purchasing and smoking Marlboro Lights. Paul, Weiss secured a mistrial and avoided liability for Philip Morris USA.
  
  
• Swiss Reinsurance Company, its chief financial officer and former chief executive officer in obtaining the dismissal, with prejudice, of a securities class action pending against them. The lawsuit was triggered by Swiss Re's write-down of CHF 1.2 billion on two credit default swaps the company had sold, which protected portfolios purportedly consisting largely of mortgage-backed securities, including subprime securities. The opinion adopted, among other arguments, Paul, Weiss’s novel argument on the scope of the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in Morrison v. National Australia Bank. The court’s ruling on the Morrison issue has been cited in numerous other cases.
  
  
• Several Wall Street Underwriting Syndicates before the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan in various putative class action litigations arising out of the issuance of $25 billion of General Motors and GMAC bond offerings. We persuaded plaintiffs to dismiss the underwriters from the case without prejudice.
  
  
• Weight Watchers International in several significant trademark infringement actions, including a false advertising suit against Jenny Craig, Inc. and a trademark infringement lawsuit against Nestlé U.S.A., Inc., the manufacturer of Lean Cuisine products, and Dreyer’s Grand Ice Cream, the manufacturer of Skinny Cow products.