Litigation Teams Commended for Innovative Case Strategies

The successful case strategies of Latham & Watkins litigators developed in two landmark cases have been recognized in the Financial Times’ “North America Innovative Lawyers Report,” an annual review of law firms, legal teams and individual lawyers that have demonstrated creative advice to clients and leadership in the legal community.

The Financial Times bestowed “Standout” recognition for the firm’s representation of Fluor Corporation in a groundbreaking insurance coverage case in California (Fluor Corp. v. the Superior Court of Orange County) that successfully challenged a state Supreme Court decision involving whether companies can freely assign their long-tail insurance claims during corporate deals. According to the Financial Times, the Latham team “overturned a previous decision through finding a rarely used statute in the US insurance code” — a ruling that “will potentially safeguard billions of dollars of insurance coverage for policyholders.” The appellate effort was led by partners Brook Roberts, John Wilson and Andrew Lundberg.

The firm also was “highly commended” for securing a complete victory for the University of Texas at Austin (UT) in a “landmark” US Supreme Court case (Fisher v. University of  Texas at Austin) in which the Court issued a closely watched decision upholding the constitutionality of UT’s consideration of race as one of many factors in undergraduate admissions. The coverage highlighted Latham’s creative idea “to argue that student body diversity included not only diversity among races but diversity within races too” — an approach that has been “critical to achieving the university’s educational objectives, including breaking down racial stereotypes.” The Financial Times particularly commended partner Gregory Garre for his efforts in leading the case team.