Litigation

Our Litigation Group has a deep roster of talented commercial litigators practicing in federal and state courts and before administrative agencies nationwide. We have handled almost every conceivable intellectual property dispute, and a wide range of commercial, marketing, securities, commodities, white collar defense, insurance and employment matters.

CLIENTS

We represent media, entertainment, marketing, and other companies and individuals, including best-selling authors, publishers, film and television celebrities, athletes, news industry professionals, and top advertising talent. We also represent investors, attorneys, securities professionals, and brokerage, commodities, professional services, and other firms.

CLIENT BENEFITS

We advise clients at every stage of a dispute, staffing cases efficiently and seeking victory at the lowest possible cost:

False Advertising, Trademark and Copyright

We have extensive experience litigating false advertising, trademark, copyright, publicity right, trade secret, domain name, and other intellectual property matters.

Marketing Communications

We review advertising and marketing communications for legal red flags, and we have handled lawsuits and regulatory challenges before the Federal Trade Commission, the National Advertising Division, the National Advertising Review Board, the Children’s Advertising Review Unit, Departments of Consumer Affairs, and other regulatory bodies.

Entertainment Industry Disputes.

We help entertainment industry executives, corporations, and celebrities resolve disputes.

Defamation Defense and Related Matters.

We defend libel and slander suits, and we have special expertise in the defense of false-light, privacy, and newsgathering claims arising from business and investigative reporting, and online and print publication of news and business information and databases.

Newsgathering

We help media companies and journalists respond to subpoenas, protective orders, privacy laws, and other obstacles to protecting sources and obtaining and distributing news and information.

Employment and Executive Compensation

We have won large settlements for executives in compensation disputes; and we prosecute and defend employment discrimination matters, including claims based on age, disability, equal pay, national origin, pregnancy, race, religion, sex, and sexual orientation.

Commercial Dispute Resolution

We litigate contractual disagreements and other commercial disputes involving claims of fraud, RICO, and breach of fiduciary duty, with a particular emphasis on business break-ups and buy-sell disputes.

Insurance Coverage Disputes

We have litigated, arbitrated, and mediated significant insurance coverage and related underlying liability and intellectual property disputes for insurance and media companies. 

Transnational Disputes

We have won transnational disputes in the oil and gas, shipping, computer, and chemical industries.

White Collar Defense

We defend white collar criminal matters, and have special expertise in sentencing guidelines and procedure.

Securities Regulation

We help clients anticipate and avoid regulatory problems, and defend actions brought by federal agencies (SEC, CFTC) and self-regulatory organizations (NASD, NYSE and other securities and commodity exchanges); we contest insider trading, self-dealing, front-running and other civil and criminal trading complaints; and we help clients perform internal investigations.

Estates

We handle estate litigation for celebrities and other high net worth individuals and accomplished persons.

PROFESSIONAL ASSOCIATIONS

Our litigators populate all the major associations, including the Copyright Society of the U.S.A., the International Trademark Association, the American Bar Association, the New York County Lawyers Association, and the New York State Bar Association. We are members of the Communications Law, and Labor and Employment Law Committees of the New York City Bar, the New York Council of Defense Lawyers, and the Media Law Resource Center, Defense Counsel Section. We chair the Media Law and Defamation Torts Committee of the Tort & Insurance Practice Section of the ABA. We teach at Fordham University School of Law and Brooklyn Law School, are frequent speakers on litigation topics, and have published articles on copyright and trademark, libel defense, the federal sentencing guidelines, civil RICO, arbitration, and other topics.