Milbank Litigation partners Thomas Arena, Sean Murphy, and Robert Hora were named “Litigators of the Week” by The American Lawyer for achieving a major victory for their client The Putnam Advisory Company LLC (“Putnam”).
On August 27, 2020, Milbank secured what The American Lawyer described as “a knockout win” for Putnam in a three-and-a-half-week virtual trial before the Honorable Lewis J. Liman in the US District Court for the Southern District of New York. Judge Liman’s 221-page decision and order brings to an end an eight-year litigation arising out of a $1.5 billion collateralized debt obligation known as the Pyxis CDO.
Trial was originally scheduled for April 27, 2020 but was adjourned due to the COVID-19 pandemic and rescheduled for a virtual bench trial that began on July 6, 2020. In the interview with The American Lawyer, the partners discuss pivoting their trial preparation from an in-person format to Zoom without much prior precedent. Additionally, the team discusses why the stakes were particularly high for their client and how they built a case so strong that Judge Liman said, “The evidence was not close.”
The Milbank team representing Putnam was led by Litigation & Arbitration partners Thomas Arena, Sean Murphy, and Robert Hora and included Litigation associates Samantha Lovin, Allison Markowitz, Kingdar Prussien, Lacey Reimer and Brendan Walden.
