Practice Areas

The practice.

Six disciplines, chosen because they reward preparation over volume. Within them we are deliberately narrow; outside them we will tell you, quickly and without charge, who is better suited.

No. 01

Commercial Litigation

Contract and partnership disputes, fraud and business torts, earn-out and indemnification fights — the cases where the company itself, not merely a line item, is at stake. We are usually retained after the demand letter and before the complaint, when the widest range of outcomes is still available.

Because we staff leanly, clients speak to the partner trying the case, not to a rotating cast of associates. Because we price for trial from the first day, our settlement recommendations carry the credibility of a firm that is genuinely prepared to walk into court.

Representative matters

  • — Defense of a family-held manufacturer in a $120M earn-out dispute; resolved on the eve of trial for a fraction of the demand
  • — Prosecution of fraud claims for a regional logistics company against a former joint-venture partner; eight-figure recovery
  • — Emergency relief preserving a distribution network for a consumer-goods client during a contract termination fight

No. 02

Securities & Shareholder Disputes

We defend officers, directors, and boards in shareholder litigation, and we prosecute opt-out and minority-holder claims when the institutional settlement undervalues the harm. Having sat on both sides of the caption, we know precisely which arguments each side fears.

Representative matters

  • — Opt-out securities claims for a consortium of pension funds; recovery of roughly four times the class allocation
  • — Defense of an outside director through parallel derivative and regulatory proceedings; all claims dismissed
  • — Appraisal and minority-oppression litigation arising from a take-private of a family business

No. 03

Trade Secrets & IP Litigation

When a departing executive, a vendor, or a competitor walks off with the thing your business actually runs on, the first two weeks decide the case. We move for emergency relief within days, and we try the cases that injunctions do not resolve.

Representative matters

  • — Temporary restraining order and preliminary injunction, obtained in nine days, halting a competitor's use of a client's process technology
  • — Jury verdict for a software company on misappropriation claims against a former engineering team
  • — Defense of a founder accused of taking customer data to a new venture; case dismissed with prejudice

No. 04

Investigations & White Collar

The best regulatory outcomes are arranged quietly, early, and in writing. We conduct internal investigations that boards can rely on, and we represent companies and individuals when regulators come asking — with a strong preference for resolving matters before they acquire docket numbers.

Representative matters

  • — Independent investigation of financial-reporting concerns for an audit committee; no restatement, no enforcement action
  • — Representation of a senior executive in a regulatory inquiry; closed with no charges and no public record
  • — Corporate defense of procurement-fraud allegations; declination following presentation to the government

No. 05

Professional Liability

Lawyers, accountants, trustees, and other fiduciaries are judged by a standard the jury will be invited to romanticize. We defend professionals in malpractice and breach-of-duty litigation with the discretion the subject matter demands — most of our results in this practice are ones no one ever hears about.

Representative matters

  • — Defense verdict for an accounting firm in a nine-figure audit-negligence claim
  • — Confidential resolution of fiduciary claims against a corporate trustee, with no admission and no publicity
  • — Dismissal of malpractice claims against a law firm arising from a failed acquisition

No. 06

Appeals & Critical Motions

Some cases are won at argument; most are won in the brief. Our appellate practice handles appeals from our own trials and other firms' — and is retained, increasingly often, to write the dispositive motion the trial team will live or die by.

Representative matters

  • — Reversal of an adverse jury verdict on appeal; judgment entered for the client outright
  • — Affirmance of a nine-figure judgment won by the firm at trial
  • — Summary judgment, briefed as special counsel, ending a decade-long partnership dispute

Not sure where your matter fits?

Describe it in a paragraph. We will tell you honestly whether it belongs here — and where to take it if it does not.

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