The American Lawyer has selected S&C “Litigation Department of the Year – Financial Services.” “Having Sullivan & Cromwell in your corner during a high-profile investigation or bankruptcy proceeding is a bit like having a shutdown pitcher who is going to start in Game 7 of the World Series. The stakes are high and you expect to be put in a position to win,” the article wrote. S&C Co-Chair and Litigation partner Robert Giuffra Jr. told The American Lawyer: “We are a crisis management firm with a track record of handling the most difficult financial issues and getting to the bottom of them so clients can move on. With that, there is no playbook.”
In addition, Morgan Ratner was shortlisted for “Young Lawyer of the Year—Litigation” for the breadth of her experience representing clients in Supreme Court and appellate matters and for promoting the advancement of women in the appellate field. S&C’s ongoing collaboration with Volkswagen was shortlisted for “Best Client-Law Firm Team” for a series of litigation wins and for negotiating an investment transaction for VW’s Electrify America.
In the past year, S&C delivered crucial victories and achievements for financial services clients, including:
- Serving as lead counsel to FTX Trading in its Chapter 11 proceedings and related investigations;
- Resolving one of the largest corporate criminal cases ever for Allianz SE’s U.S. subsidiary, Allianz Global Investors U.S.;
- Obtaining a major victory for Goldman Sachs from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit in a $13 billion securities case, with the court reversing class certification after 13 years of litigation and establishing important guardrails to the “inflation-maintenance” theory of securities fraud;
- Winning an important case for JPMorgan Chase Bank and the trillion-dollar syndicated loan industry, with the Second Circuit ruling that interests in a syndicated loan were not securities under federal securities laws;
- Obtaining a rare summary judgment for Goldman Sachs in a sprawling ERISA class action brought on behalf of Goldman Sachs’ 401(k) plan;
- Securing a dismissal of all claims for Citigroup in a shareholder securities fraud class action claiming $17 billion in stock market value losses;
- Helping Wells Fargo reach an historic global settlement with the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, resolving novel consumer protection issues;
- Winning summary judgment for Barclays in a residential mortgage-backed securities case with a half-billion dollars at stake; and
- Representing Danske Bank in resolving investigations by the DOJ and the SEC concerning past activity at its Estonian branch involving non-resident customers.
Read: “No Playbook for What They Do: Sullivan & Cromwell is the Financial Services Litigation Department of the Year Winner”