Lawyers
Litigation partner Dan Toal spoke with The American Lawyer about the successful representation of ExxonMobil in a rare securities class action trial. In the two-part profile, published on May 26 and 27, Dan, alongside co-counsel from King & Spalding and Latham & Watkins, discussed the formation of the all-star, three-firm team that represented the energy giant in federal court in Texas; ExxonMobil’s determination to clear its reputation by choosing a jury trial instead of a settlement; and the winning strategy that delivered a complete defense victory.
Dan, alongside litigation partner Ted Wells, has co-led the representation of ExxonMobil in a series of high-stakes legal challenges for more than a decade. Among them was a high-profile lawsuit brought by the New York Attorney General, which resulted in a complete bench trial victory for our client in 2019, earning the Paul, Weiss team Litigator of the Week honors. Involving closely related claims, that case informed defense strategy in the Texas lawsuit. Among other things, the Paul, Weiss team brought deep familiarity with the disclosures at issue and the key witnesses. At the same time, Dan observed that it is “helpful to get people who have not been living the case … to see how different responses and different facts resonate.” Co-counsel joined the trial team last year, bringing fresh eyes to the litigation.
The lawyers from the three firms operated as a “virtual firm” by the time trial rolled around. “You might have seen a Paul Weiss partner working with a Latham partner and a King & Spalding associate,” Dan said. “We were just trying to figure out together the best way to communicate these concepts.”
Beyond the strong rapport among the trial team in the courtroom, the credibility of the witnesses played a crucial role in swaying the jury in our client’s favor. “We wanted the jury to take the measure of the men and the women that they were going to hear from,” Dan noted. Though jurors may not have mastered all the esoteric accounting issues and other nuances of the energy business, “I think they certainly knew that people who came before them were working hard, trying to follow the rules, trying to get to the right answer.”
» read part 1
» read part 2
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