Top Litigation Department of the Year Honors Awarded to New York Team

Latham & Watkins has been recognized with the New York Law Journal’s esteemed title of 2023 Litigation Department of the Year winner in the General Litigation category as part of the New York Legal Awards, which are presented annually. The New York Legal Awards honor “those attorneys and judges who have made a remarkable difference in the legal profession in New York – whether in shaping the law, achieving outsized results for their clients, being an outstanding jurist or assisting those in need of legal services.”

As our published profile states, “Latham’s New York litigation department features practices across the board that could be elite law firms in their own right. Our litigators fiercely, creatively, and effectively advocate for clients at every stage of litigation in order to achieve the best business outcome, no matter the dispute, no matter the venue.” This award marks a record year of historic and precedent-setting victories across a variety of complex and cutting-edge legal disciplines including:

• The successful defense of Oracle Chairman, CTO, and cofounder Larry Ellison and CEO Safra Catz in one of the largest acquisitions to face a stockholder challenge
• Securing a headline-making complete acquittal for former Perkins Coie partner Michael Sussmann in a high-profile federal criminal jury trial over an alleged false statement to the FBI during the 2016 presidential election
• Representing Mallinckrodt Pharmaceuticals in a cross-border chapter 11 restructuring at the intersection of mass tort, antitrust, and bankruptcy law
• Successfully extracting an individual from a high-profile criminal antitrust case that alleged 10 poultry executives were involved in price fixing and bid-rigging
• Securing a rare complete defense verdict for Cantor Fitzgerald under Delaware’s exacting entire fairness standard beating a derivative challenge to BGC Partners’ acquisition of Berkeley Point Financial and then later affirming the court’s decision on appeal
• Significant victories on behalf of Peloton in a number of high-profile disputes spanning multiple disciplines, including IP, securities, and putative class actions
• A headline-making global settlement for J&J Surgical Vision in its global patent and copyright infringement dispute against Alcon over competing laser eye-surgery technology
• Successfully defending BitMEX co-founder and former CTO Sam Reed in a high-profile cryptocurrency enforcement matter

As previously announced, Latham’s New York office earned several accolades, including antitrust litigation partner and Co-Chair of Latham’s New York Litigation & Trial Department Katherine Rocco being named a rising star, and banking partner and Global Recruiting Committee Chair Michèle Penzer honored for her leadership on diversity initiatives.