James Kearney retired from the partnership in March 2012.
Mr. Kearney was a member of the Litigation Department in New York, where his practice centered on complex commercial litigation and active engagement with emerging trends in trial advocacy.
The breadth of Mr. Kearney’s successful complex commercial litigation experience is illustrated by the following engagements: he developed trial strategies for a major multi-national manufacturing company to defend against national product liability litigation. Simultaneously, he consulted on trial strategy development and criminal investigations in white collar matters and conducted three antitrust trials.
Mr. Kearney obtained summary judgment in a contract case over the termination of a US$2.6 billion casino development and also won summary judgment declaring BMW ORACLE Racing the valid challenger for the America’s Cup. In 2011, he was lead counsel in a state court injunctive relief action on behalf of the owners of a Las Vegas hotel and casino, successfully preventing a foreclosure sale.
Mr. Kearney developed and implemented jury research and trial strategy development projects in a variety of substantive areas. For over 25 years he taught trial advocacy as a member of the faculty of the National Institute of Trial Advocacy (Northeast Regional Program) and as the national coordinator of Latham’s trial advocacy training programs.
Mr. Kearney co-authored a chapter on products liability in Commercial Litigation in New York State Courts and authored several articles, lectured on US product liability litigation and appeared on national media outlets.