Blake Denton is a litigation partner in the New York office of Latham & Watkins and is a member of the Securities Litigation & Professional Liability Practice. Mr. Denton is an accomplished trial lawyer whose practice includes particular emphasis on securities, bankruptcy, and M&A cases.

Mr. Denton’s securities defense engagements include cases for General Electric and its directors/officers, where the plaintiffs allege billions of dollars in damages related GE’s disclosures regarding financing arrangements for purchase of power equipment. Mr. Denton regularly litigates in bankruptcy courts across the country, where he has prevailed in “battles of the experts” on valuation of projects/assets and confirmed debt restructuring over creditors’ objections. Mr. Denton also defends merger disputes, including in the Delaware Court of Chancery. In federal and state cases over issues of first impression, Mr. Denton obtained a series of trial and appellate victories for a financer of purchase orders in a Ponzi scheme, where the plaintiffs collectively sought approximately $1 billion in damages.

Mr. Denton has an active pro bono practice, winning asylum for immigrants and a federal jury trial for an inmate against his warden for unconstitutional conditions. Mr. Denton also helps Holocaust survivors and their spouses obtain compensation from the German government.

Mr. Denton is named an NY Metro Rising Star by Super Lawyers. He has served on the firm’s Associates Committee and Mentoring Committee, and is the staffing partner for the New York Litigation & Trial Department. Prior to joining Latham, Mr. Denton clerked for Judge Phyllis A. Kravitch, US Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit. He graduated summa cum laude from Brooklyn Law School in 2008 and obtained his BA, with highest honors, from Rutgers University in 2005.

  • Following five day trial, obtained complete victory in dispute over valuation of debtors’ assets and confirmed plan of reorganization over the objection of creditors’ committee. In re Emerge Energy Servs. LP, 2019 Bankr. LEXIS 3717 (Bankr. D. Del. 2019)
  • Represent company and individual defendants in shareholder class action suits related to alleged misleading statements about General Electric’s Power business.  Plaintiffs allege tens of billions of dollars in damages.  Obtained complete dismissal in one case (affirmed on appeal) and dismissal of the vast majority of claims in the other (with trial approaching in 2024 on the remaining claims). In re Gen. Elec. Sec. Litig., 2020 WL 2306434 (S.D.N.Y. 2020), aff’d, 844 Fed. Appx. 385 (2d Cir. 2021); Sjunde Ap-Fonden v. Gen. Elec. Co., 417 F. Supp. 3d 379 (S.D.N.Y. 2019); Sjunde Ap-Fonden v. Gen. Elec. Co., 2021 WL 311003 (S.D.N.Y. 2021)
  • Only party to obtain dismissal in $700 M fraud suit over alleged deception in connection with the sale of solar energy company and projects. Pentacon BV v. Vandergaegen, 2024 WL 1255992
  • Obtained dismissal of conspiracy and aiding and abetting fraud claims on novel standing theories in three cases against a party that financed purchase orders for what turned out to be a Ponzi scheme. Two of those decisions were appealed, and both were affirmed – one by the US Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit and the other by the Minnesota Court of Appeals (review denied by the Minnesota Supreme Court). Ritchie Cap. Mgmt. v. Gen. Elec. Cap. Corp., 121 F. Supp. 3d 321 (S.D.N.Y. 2015), aff’d, 821 F.3d 349 (2d Cir. 2016); Greenpond S., LLC v. Gen Elec. Capital Corp., 2016 WL 4128160 (Minn. Dist. Ct.), aff’d, 886 N.W.2d 649 (Minn. Ct. App. 2016), review denied, A16-0350 (Minn. 2017); Gecker v. Gen Elec. Capital Corp., 2015 WL 5086398 (N.D. Ill. 2015)
  • Obtained dismissal of securities fraud claims for company and senior officer related to disclosures leading up to the company’s termination of its CEO. Plaintiff elected not to appeal. Fries v. N. Oil & Gas, Inc., 285 F. Supp. 3d 706 (S.D.N.Y. 2018); 354 F. Supp. 3d 384 (S.D.N.Y. 2018)
  • Obtained trial court dismissal and affirmance by the Delaware Supreme Court in an M&A strike suit regarding controlling stockholder take-private transaction. In re Books-A-Million, Inc. Stockholders Litig., 2016 WL 5874974 (Del. Ch. 2016), aff’d, 164 A.3d 56 (Del. 2017)
  • Defeated motion for preliminary injunction following multi-day fact and expert witness hearing. Access Bus. Group Int’l, LLC v. Restorsea LLC, 16 CV 2130 (S.D.N.Y. 2016)
  • Overcame a fraud defense in confidential arbitration and obtained a $200 million award for seller of a coal mining facility

Bar Qualification

  • New Jersey
  • New York

Education

  • JD, Brooklyn Law School, 2008
    summa cum laude
  • BA, Rutgers University, 2005
    with highest honors