A partner in the Litigation Department, Jeff Recher focuses his practice on complex financial and commercial litigation. Jeff has substantial experience in restructuring litigation and related disputes, including contested matters in bankruptcy courts as well as in litigating restructuring-related disputes in state and federal courts across the country. Jeff has successfully represented clients in numerous trials and arbitrations relating to restructurings and other complex commercial transactions.
Jeff has been named to Benchmark Litigation’s 40 & Under Hot List (2020-2023), a list comprised of accomplished young lawyers and emerging talent in litigation.
Jeff’s recent representations include:
- An ad hoc group of holders of defaulted bonds issued by the Venezuelan state-owned oil company Petróleos de Venezuela, S.A., (PDVSA) in litigation in the District of Delaware and the Southern District of New York, resulting in a significant court victory granting summary judgment and affirming the validity of $3 billion of notes
- 23andMe, a leading human genetics and biotechnology company, in obtaining bankruptcy court approval of a section 363 sale after a contested hearing against 34 state attorneys general alleging novel violations of state genetic and data privacy laws, and in successfully preserving that victory in appellate proceedings before the district court and Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals
- A group of convertible noteholders of JUUL, an American electronic cigarette company, as lead trial counsel in connection with litigation and trial in the Delaware Court of Chancery over the company’s treatment of its convertible notes
- National CineMedia in a Fifth Circuit bankruptcy case regarding whether joint-venture agreements, requiring amendments to be offered to all JV members, required that parity when one member left and entered a new contract with the JV
- A global technology company in an arbitration victory against a spun-off entity concerning contractual agreements that governed the parties’ ongoing obligations to one another and to their joint clients after the spin-off
- An ad hoc group of holders of secured notes issued by the holding company that owns Toys “R” Us’s international business in litigation matters relating to the cross-border restructuring of Toys “R” Us and certain affiliates
- Mu Sigma, Inc., a global data analytics company, in a complete victory at the Illinois Supreme Court affirming the trial court’s dismissal of a high-stakes fraud and breach of fiduciary duty lawsuit filed by a prominent former investor
- Atos SE, a French IT services provider, in a suit brought in the Delaware Court of Chancery against Bharat Desai, the co-founder and chairman of Syntel, asserting claims related to a fraudulent representation in the merger agreement for Atos’ $3.57 billion acquisition of Syntel
- DST Systems, Inc. and related entities in the defense of a novel matter involving a representative action, a putative class action, and individual actions brought by current and former DST employees, including more than 500 individual arbitrations, alleging breaches of fiduciary duty and other ERISA violations relating to the management of the company’s 401(k) Profit Sharing Plan
- SS&C Technologies, a leading financial technology and services company, in securing summary judgment in a long-running case brought by investors in a defunct hedge fund for which SS&C served as fund administrator alleging that SS&C was liable for a fraud perpetrated by the hedge fund manager
- JPMorgan Chase’s investment management division in the trials, and subsequent favorable resolution, of multiple lawsuits alleging billions of dollars in damages arising out of fiduciary duty and other claims relating to the decline in value of subprime and other debt securities
- A major investment bank in the trial, and favorable resolution, of securities claims alleging misrepresentations of the bank’s financial condition
- The Special Committee of the Board of Directors of Pilgrim’s Pride Corporation in the successful defense of shareholder derivative litigation in Delaware relating to an acquisition, leading to the voluntary dismissal of the plaintiffs’ claims against the Special Committee members
Jeff earned his B.A. from Johns Hopkins University, with honors, and his J.D. from Cornell Law School, cum laude, where he was an editor of the Cornell Law Review.
