Litigation is the largest and fastest growing practice area at Milbank, Tweed, Hadley & McCloy LLP. With 34 litigation partners and nearly 200 attorneys, Milbank litigators serve as lead counsel in some of the largest, most significant and highest profile disputes in the world. The Firm regularly represents clients in “bet the company” cases ranging from multi-jurisdiction securities litigations to white collar/regulatory investigations to complex disputes involving intellectual property, insurance, mergers and acquisitions, antitrust, and other commercial litigation.
The attorneys in Milbank’s Litigation Department pride themselves on being trial lawyers. We frequently try cases in federal and state courts throughout the country, and before domestic and international arbitral tribunals in many different kinds of matters. Our lawyers have tried prominent cases involving federal securities laws, patent infringement, corporate control contests, accounting fraud, and financial restructuring.
We tailor our strategies to each client’s specific needs, taking into account the client’s goals and risks. Crucial to our firm’s effective representation of clients is our development, at the outset of a case, of an approach that will maximize a client’s likelihood of success and reduce its risk exposure. Our department has the ability to respond to a crisis facing a client by assembling an integrated team of attorneys who have the expertise to explore a wide range of strategic alternatives, from pursuing a consensual resolution to seeking immediate recourse to courts, where appropriate.
We routinely represent major U.S. and non-U.S. corporations. Among our clients are many of the world’s leading financial institutions, such as ABN AMRO, AXA Financial, American Century, Bank of New York, Mellon, Capital Group, Citigroup, Deutsche Bank, Fidelity, Goldman Sachs, ING, JPMorgan Chase, Lehman Brothers, Morgan Stanley, the NYSE Group, Prudential Financial, and UBS.
The broad experience of our attorneys allows the firm to bring to each case a deep understanding of the substantive legal issues along with the tactical skills and the strategic savvy required to achieve superior litigation results. Our partners include five former federal prosecutors, two former SEC attorneys, as well as attorneys who have achieved pre-eminent reputations in the areas of securities litigation, patent infringement, corporate control contests, and reinsurance, among other areas of the law.
The Litigation Department consists of the following practices:
Bankruptcy and Corporate Restructuring -- Milbank’s litigation attorneys have played instrumental roles in several of the largest and most complicated bankruptcy cases in U.S. history. Our attorneys have achieved significant recoveries for debtors, senior creditors, official and ad hoc creditor committees, equity holders, and other parties in interest. Recently, Milbank’s litigators have represented the Official Committee of Unsecured Creditors in the Chapter 11 cases of Enron and Refco in prominent litigation disputes. Our attorneys also have played significant roles in representing senior secured lenders of Global Crossing and Adelphia Corporation in complex litigations arising out of those bankruptcies.
Financial Services – Regulatory -- Milbank has a leading broker-dealer regulatory practice in which the firm provides advisory services to many of Wall Street’s leading financial institutions. The firm’s expertise includes advice to clients on trading, research, clearing and prime brokerage, and syndicate and investment banking practices. As part of this practice, our attorneys represent financial institutions and members of their management before the SEC, the NASD, the NYSE and other securities regulators. Our attorneys also conduct regulatory risk assessments on behalf of clients and assist clients in developing effective and practical supervisory and compliance programs.
General Commercial -- Milbank’s litigators handle a broad range of general commercial litigation cases for corporations, joint ventures, partnerships and other entities and individuals in matters involving claims arising under common law doctrines such as breach of contract, negligence, breach of fiduciary duty, and fraud, as well as matters involving state and federal statutory law, including environmental laws, ERISA, the Internal Revenue Code, banking regulations, labor and employment laws, and RICO.
Intellectual Property -- Milbank’s intellectual property practice group provides comprehensive legal services to the world’s leading electronic, pharmaceutical, chemical and consumer product companies. Recognized as a leading U.S. patent litigation practice by ‘Managing Intellectual Property’ and in Europe by ‘Legal Week’, Milbank has a truly global reach. Milbank has achieved impressive results for an array of international companies such as Fujitsu, Hitachi, Research In Motion, AstraZeneca and Bayer, as well as leading U.S. companies such as Fisher Price, Anheuser Busch, JPMorgan Chase and Lehman Brothers. In the past year, our lawyers successfully represented a major international pharmaceutical corporation in a four-month patent infringement trial involving one of the corporation’s leading products. Approximately 35 Milbank attorneys are registered patent attorneys.
International Arbitration -- Milbank’s international arbitration group has achieved significant successes for corporations, financial institutions and governments in high stakes arbitrations around the world. Members of the group have been recognized by ‘Euromoney Guide’ and other publications as leaders in their field. A key focus of Milbank’s international arbitration group is resolving investor-government disputes pursuant to international investment treaties. Our representations have involved electricity, gas, transportation and mining concessions; joint-venture agreements; satellite and other insurance coverage; construction; and energy distribution.
Mergers, Acquisitions and Corporate Control Contests -- Milbank represents entities and individuals in a wide variety of lawsuits involving allegations that directors and officers of public corporations failed to perform fiduciary duties owed to stockholders. Specifically, the firm has defended directors and officers in actions challenging mergers, going-private transactions and other transactions involving controlling or majority stockholders. Milbank also has represented both acquirers and targets in hostile acquisitions, as well as both companies and insurgents in proxy contests and exchange offers.
Pro Bono -- As an integral component of its business, Milbank attorneys regularly represent non-profit organizations that cannot afford counsel and individuals of limited means in a wide array of pro bono matters. Milbank is a signatory to the ABA Law Firm Pro Bono Challenge pursuant to which the Firm has agreed to devote an amount of time to pro bono legal services equal to at least 3% of the time the Firm devotes to paying clients. The Firm’s pro bono program is coordinated by two full-time attorneys, one of whom is a senior partner in the Litigation Department. The types of pro bono matters on which our attorneys have worked include criminal appeals; political asylum cases; uncontested divorces; cases involving children’s rights; landlord-tenant cases; preparation of life planning documents for low-income persons; representation of low-income persons before the Internal Revenue Service; defense of battered women; community development work; representation of charter schools; and death penalty appellate work.
Reinsurance & Insurance -- Milbank represents both cedants and reinsurers, from trials and appeals to mediation and arbitration, in complex disputes involving property/casualty and life/health insurance. Recently, in separate matters, the Firm defended a Bermuda-based reinsurer in investigations by U.S. and European regulators into the use of finite/nontraditional reinsurance products; won a major victory in the U.S. Supreme Court in favor of insurers challenging California’s purported regulation of European life insurers and reinsurers; and obtained full rescission of a reinsurance treaty for several major reinsurers in a fraud dispute against worker’s compensation insurers.
Securities -- Milbank has one of the leading securities litigation practices in the nation, representing clients in some of the most influential cases ever brought under the federal securities laws. We have represented underwriters, issuers, banks, broker-dealers, investment advisers, accounting firms, and individuals in hundreds of securities class actions and derivative suits, including cases alleging violations of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, the Securities Act of 1933, and the Investment Company Act of 1940. Milbank frequently is involved in high-stakes multi-jurisdictional litigation, including some of the highest-profile securities class actions in the nation.
Trusts & Estates/Fiduciary -- Our litigators work closely with the firm’s nationally-recognized Trusts & Estates Department to represent trustees, executors and estate beneficiaries in proceedings challenging the conduct of fiduciaries. We also represent prominent non-profit organizations in proceedings before government regulators.
White-Collar Crime and Investigations -- Our attorneys regularly defend corporations and their officers and directors in criminal investigations and trials, and in administrative proceedings before the SEC, the NYSE and the NASD. In particular, we have represented clients in many high-profile investigations of the financial industry, including government investigations of tax shelters; revenue-sharing and market-timing practices of mutual funds; soft-dollar and directed brokerage practices of investment advisors and broker-dealers; specialist trading; and revenue-sharing practices of insurance carriers and brokers. The firm also has represented numerous companies and individuals in regulatory proceedings and criminal investigations involving allegations of securities fraud, violations of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, and other forms of business misconduct. In addition, we have conducted internal investigations on behalf of boards of directors, audit committees, and special litigation committees with respect to a variety of corporate governance issues in the aftermath of the enactment of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002.