Find Lawyers in New York, New York for Commercial Litigation
Practice Area Overview
Litigation increasingly occurs in various venues, from state and federal courts to private arbitrations and administrative hearings. Proceedings can involve business-to-business disputes or any number of government agencies. Understanding the motivations and outlook of each of the litigation participants is important for determining weak points to exploit and strong points that will persuade the audience in question. During the past decade, commercial litigators have seen a dramatic uptick in multidistrict and inter-disciplinary litigation, making the stakes higher, the cases more complex, the parties more numerous and the discovery more complicated and unwieldy. Firms that are able to develop and implement a creative legal approach to each individual problem, efficiently focus on the key legal and factual issues, and master and manage the various aspects of these complex matters will be the busiest in the years to come.
In the current challenging economic climate, commercial litigators are under increasing client pressure to keep costs in check, which has both sides testing the efficacy of alternative fee arrangements and the scope of reasonable discovery. Whether the “death of the billable hour” is ultimately realized, the keys to a commercial litigator’s success will continue to be strong client relationships, thought leadership, practical management skills, deep experience, and personal commitment.
Greg Ballard represents clients in civil litigation including securities, professional liability and commercial matters in federal and state courts, in arbitrations and before regulatory agencies. He has represented issuers, underwriters, auditors, officers and directors in class action securities litigation, including lawsuits relating to Madoff, Enron, WorldCom, Tyco, DVI, Aetna, Sunterra, Sotheby’s, Allou, Bally, Perrigo and Wellcare. He frequently represents U.S. and international a...
In the course of your career, you will likely face at least one legal dispute that you can't afford to lose but can't resolve without expert help. To manage the risk successfully, you will need to partner with someone who has the necessary experience, skill, and resources. Many people in your position seek to engage me to do just that. Read on to see why. Trial counsel People who should know have described me as an "incredibly gifted lawyer" (Chambers and Partners) who is "magic in the courtr...
Charles Barrett joined Neal & Harwell in September 2015. He works as a civil litigator in state and federal courts across the country. His practice focuses on personal injury cases, antitrust and consumer class actions, and False Claims Act claims, but he has also represented large multinational corporations in commercial disputes. Away from the office, Charles spends time with his wife, Elizabeth, and their five children. He also served on the board of directors of the Martha O’Bry...
David Bernick is a partner in the Chicago and New York offices of Kirkland & Ellis LLP. He is a nationally renowned trial lawyer and strategist, having acted as lead trial counsel for major U.S. and international corporations in the chemical, tobacco, technology and life sciences industries for 40 years. His experience spans complex class action and other aggregated litigation, mass torts and product liability, antitrust and competition, business restructuring and reorganization, mergers ...
Susan has been consistently recognized for excellence in the practice of law. Chambers USA cites her "extraordinary ability." According to Chambers USA, she commands respect for her outstanding credentials in defending high-stakes government enforcement, with sources reporting: "She is one of the stars of her generation, hands-down one of the best in the city. She has the ability to take a case through trial, which gives her tremendous leverage and credibility in the pretrial phase." Susan ha...
John J. Calandra represents clients in complex commercial litigation and formerly headed the New York Litigation Practice Group. He represents clients in litigations and arbitrations crossing many industries, including technology, chemicals, satellite, energy, financial products, outsourcing, hotel management, manufacturing and distribution. John litigates a wide variety of cases, including securities and common law fraud, breach of contracts and long-term distributor and supply agreements, b...
Bill Carmody is a nationally recognized trial lawyer who tries bet-the-company cases for plaintiffs and defendants in state and federal courts throughout the country. Bill is a permanent member of Susman Godfrey’s Executive Committee and heads its New York office. Carmody is experienced in a wide- range of complex business and intellectual property litigation and has handled a variety of cases, including antitrust, commercial and securities fraud, structured finance and derivatives liti...
Trent S. Dickey is resident in the Firm’s Newark and New York offices. He has more than 40 years of experience representing major domestic and foreign corporations in all aspects of complex commercial, intellectual property and management-side employment litigation. His clientele span a broad spectrum of industries in both the public and private sectors. Mr. Dickey has successfully litigated hundreds of cases, both jury and bench trials, in federal and state courts throughout the nation...
Marshall Fishman is the practice Head of Goodwin's New York Commercial and Financial Litigation group and serves as a member of the firm’s Executive Committee. For more than 30 years, corporations and global financial institutions have turned to Mr. Fishman for their commercial and complex securities litigation matters. He has successfully tried numerous cases in courts and in arbitrations throughout the country and regularly represents the world’s largest financial institutions i...
A tenacious and talented trial lawyer with decades of experience in commercial litigation, Thomas Fleming has achieved winning results for corporate clients on multimillion-dollar claims and has defeated eight-figure claims asserted against his clients in the state and federal courts throughout the U.S. From single-plaintiff cases to class actions, Tom’s lawsuits have spanned industries and complex issues. As lead counsel in dozens of trials and numerous appeals, Tom has favorably resol...
Sandra Goldstein is a litigation partner in Kirkland’s New York office and a member of the Firm’s Executive Committee. She has a broad litigation practice, with a particular focus on securities, M&A, and commercial disputes. Her clients have included 3G Capital, Barnes & Noble, Grubhub, Honeywell, IBM, J. Crew, Novartis, Pitney Bowes, Qualcomm, Six Flags, Starwood Hotels, United Airlines and Xerox. In recent years, Sandra has represented clients in litigation relating to m...
Mitchell D. Haddad, a Member of the Sills Cummis & Gross Litigation Department, is Chair of New York Real Estate Litigation. He focuses on complex real estate and commercial litigation, creditors’ rights, workouts and corporate litigation. He has first chaired numerous trials, argued appeals and participated in arbitrations and mediations on a wide variety of matters. He works with clients and the Firm’s Real Estate Department on transactions in order to resolve issues and dis...
Jay B. Kasner, Skadden’s national securities litigation practice leader, represents a diverse group of U.S. and international public and private companies and their directors and officers in their most crucial litigation matters. He has been ranked repeatedly in the top tier for nationwide securities litigation in Chambers USA , is one of only three lawyers listed in Chambers as a “star individual” for New York securities litigation, and received its Business Trial Lawyer Aw...
David (Dave) Kiefer focuses his practice on litigation and arbitration matters arising out of construction and engineering disputes over large, international energy and infrastructure projects, including megaprojects valued in the billions of dollars. He is intimately familiar with the technical and commercial aspects of these projects and routinely advises clients as project disputes arise, making him an effective and efficient advocate. Read full biography: https://www.mwe.com/people/david-...
A skilled trial attorney, Jenny represents individuals in complex civil and criminal enforcement matters brought by the Department of Justice. Drawing on her years of experience serving as assistant U.S. attorney in the District of New Jersey, she is exceptional at developing innovative, multifaceted solutions to her clients’ legal problems. Jenny served as an assistant U.S. attorney in the District of New Jersey for more than nine years. She conducted and prosecuted large-scale, comple...
Deborah Lans has divided her practice between complex commercial and marital litigation for more than 40 years. She was a founding partner of Morrison Cohen LLP in 1984 and was the head of its Commercial Litigation Department for 15 years, until she left in 2000 to serve as the Executive Director of Mentoring USA, a non-profit organization founded by Matilda Raffa Cuomo to provide one-to-one mentoring to at-risk youth. In 2003 she co-founded Cohen Lans LLP, where she continued to concentrate ...
Chris Mason is a litigator well known for his extensive experience in class action defense, arbitration, and complex financial disputes. He typically represents consumer products, technology, financial services, private equity or industrial companies in state or federal trial and appellate courts, in domestic arbitration and mediation or in regulatory inquiries. Chris also leads the firm’s Arbitration team of over 150 attorneys. What do you focus on? My primary goal as a lawyer is to he...
Claude M. Millman is a former Assistant United States Attorney (S.D.N.Y.) and New York City government contracting chief who litigates complex commercial disputes; advises clients on government procurement and contracting, land use, and environmental issues; and handles internal investigations and white-collar defense. Formerly a partner at Proskauer Rose LLP, Mr. Millman joined Kostelanetz LLP in 2011. Mr. Millman came to Kostelanetz to lead the firm's commercial civil litigation efforts. He...
Ronald C. Minkoff is a partner in the Litigation Group and chair of the Professional Responsibility Group. Mr. Minkoff is one of New York State’s leading practitioners in the field of attorney ethics and professional responsibility, representing attorneys in a wide variety of matters including law firm partnership agreements, attorney departures and lateral hires, attorney discipline cases, legal fee disputes and legal malpractice and professional liability cases on behalf of both plain...
Scott D. Musoff represents financial institutions, corporations and individuals in federal and state trial and appellate courts, as well as in arbitration proceedings. Mr. Musoff has extensive experience in securities and other complex commercial litigation. He has represented, among others, Merrill Lynch & Co., Inc. and Société Générale in litigation relating to subprime and other matters. He was named Am Law Litigation Daily ’s “Litigator of the W...
Ben Nagin represents clients in their most complex and hard-fought disputes. His engagements span myriad industries and legal claims, including significant antitrust, M&A, consumer finance, securities, license agreement, structured products, restructuring and business tort disputes. Ben also has represented financial institutions, global health and pharmaceutical companies and other corporations as plaintiffs in the enforcement of significant contractual rights. Ben has extensive trial ex...
John O'Sullivan is a leading trial lawyer handling high-stakes business disputes for top global clients. Chambers and Partners describes him as a "strong presence" in the courtroom who is "brilliant at breaking down complex problems so they are easy to understand." Clients praise John’s "brilliantly concise courtroom and written advocacy, and high-level strategic and tactical insight" and describe him as “very thorough, super smart and easy to work with.” He has more than 25...
Anthony is known for handling high-stakes business litigations of all types in an aggressive but practical way. He approaches cases with a goal to avoid nonsense and plot the straightest line to the endgame. With that style, he has compiled a track record of successes including a complete victory for a real estate company in a fast-moving billion-dollar dispute, a dismissal of nine-figure lender-liability claims against a syndicate of lenders and a dismissal of all claims against one of the w...
Partner Steven Paradise is a nationally recognized litigator with nearly three decades of experience representing plaintiffs and defendants in high-stakes trials in state and federal courts in New York and other jurisdictions. He is equally adept at representing companies and individuals in government and internal investigations and regulatory proceedings before the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), FINRA, and other law enforcement and regulatory agencies. He also represents companies...
Mr. Pinnisi is a partner of the law firm Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft LLP. He provides advice and representation regarding corporate governance and transactions, contracting, commercial dispute resolution, and other legal services for sophisticated corporate clients across the country. He draws upon nearly four decades of experience in public, private, and academic work to bring a rounded judgment to his engagements. His professional experience includes service as General Counsel of a bi...
Peter is a trial lawyer with decades of experience in commercial litigation, business valuation and close corporation disputes, the defense of class actions, and healthcare and information law. He holds the New Jersey Supreme Court’s Certified Civil Trial Lawyer designation and the CIPP/US certification. He has handled matters on behalf of corporate clients in a broad array of industries, including healthcare, pharmaceuticals, financial services, information technology, cosmetics, indus...
William Pratt is the senior litigation partner in the New York office of Kirkland & Ellis. He practiced for 13 years in Kirkland's Chicago office before moving to New York in 1990 as one of the founding partners of the Firm's New York office — which now has in excess of 300 lawyers. William is a Fellow of the American College of Trial Lawyers. He has acted as lead trial counsel on cases (both individual and class action) in a wide variety of substantive areas, including antitrust, s...
Michael C. Rakower is a founding member of Rakower Law. His practice focuses on commercial disputes in federal and state courts and arbitral forums. Some of his notable matters include: Representation of hedge fund in $1 billion derivative action arising from alleged scheme to divert corporate assets from New York Stock Exchange-traded Chinese company for benefit of corporate insiders; Representation of real estate financier in multi-party actions in federal and state courts concerning $140 m...
Lee S. Richards III has devoted his 45-year career to the representation of businesses, corporate boards, and individuals in white collar criminal defense, securities enforcement defense, regulatory proceedings, internal investigations, and complex commercial litigations. Lee has amassed extensive trial experience, regularly representing investment banks, hedge funds, public companies, investment advisers, corporate officers and directors, and other professionals in investigations and proceed...
Paul Sarkozi is Chair of Tannenbaum Helpern's Litigation and Dispute Resolution practice and a member of the firm’s Management Committee. Recognized by Super Lawyers in the New York Times since 2012 as one of the Top 100 Lawyers in the New York Metro area, Paul is a savvy litigator and negotiator who focuses on results for his clients. Equally adept in federal and state court, Paul has nonetheless developed a particularly strong reputation in New York's Commercial Division, the branch o...
Our Methodology
Recognition by Best Lawyers is based entirely on peer review. Our methodology is designed to capture, as accurately as possible, the consensus opinion of leading lawyers about the professional abilities of their colleagues within the same geographical area and legal practice area.
The Process
Best Lawyers employs a sophisticated, conscientious, rational, and transparent survey process designed to elicit meaningful and substantive evaluations of the quality of legal services. Our belief has always been that the quality of a peer review survey is directly related to the quality of the voters.