Nine S&C partners were named to Benchmark Litigation’s “40 & Under List”: Benjamin Beller, Jacob Croke, Dustin Guzior, Samantha Hynes, Julia Malkina, Nicholas Menillo, Beth Newton, Morgan Ratner and Lenny Traps. The list recognizes the most impressive young litigation lawyers in the United States and Canada in their respective fields.
Benjamin is a partner in the Firm’s Bankruptcy and Restructuring Groups. Ben has particular expertise advising creditors in complex restructurings, including recently in the Chapter 11 proceedings of Invitae Corp., Sientra Inc., Nanostring Technologies, Pipeline Health Systems and Mallinkrodt, SiO2 Medical Products, Athenex Inc., Impel Pharmaceuticals, Lannett and Avaya. Ben is also currently playing a key role on the S&C team serving as debtors’ counsel to FTX in its Chapter 11 bankruptcy proceedings in Delaware.
Jake is a partner in Sullivan & Cromwell’s Litigation Group. His practice focuses on advising major companies and boards of directors in complex litigations, regulatory proceedings and internal investigations. Jake is playing a key role in representing the 102 FTX chapter 11 debtors as lead counsel in its bankruptcy proceedings and Hyzon in connection with ongoing securities and derivative litigations and related matters regarding short seller allegations.
Dustin is Co-Head of S&C’s Intellectual Property & Technology Litigation Group. In the last few years, Dustin has secured major trial court wins in five different matters where he was the first-chair or co-lead trial counsel. Those achievements include a complete defense win for Bayer AG in a multibillion euro ICC arbitration in Germany; a major defense judgment for Bayer in talc litigation from the Delaware Court of Chancery, affirmed by the Delaware Supreme Court; a nine-figure jury trial win for Columbia University in a patent case; and a complete defense win after trial in a five-patent case at the International Trade Commission for Ocado, leading to a $250 million settlement payment to Ocado.
Samantha is a partner in S&C’s Antitrust Group. Her practice focuses on antitrust matters, including civil litigation and merger reviews at the U.S. Department of Justice and the Federal Trade Commission, and includes commercial litigation matters. She has played a key role in obtaining antitrust clearance on some of the biggest M&A deals of recent years, including Seagen’s $43 billion acquisition by Pfizer, the largest-ever all-cash acquisition in the biopharmaceutical industry, and Amgen in its $27.8 billion acquisition of Horizon Therapeutics plc, the largest announced healthcare deal of 2022.
Co-Head of S&C’s Securities Litigation Practice, Julia represented Goldman Sachs in its recent victory before 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. Her current representations include Barclays in securities litigation related to internal controls and Rock Holdings, the controlling shareholder of the largest U.S. mortgage lender, in securities and derivative litigation.
Nick serves as a co-head of the Firm’s Insurance Group. His practice includes representing clients in securities, antitrust, intellectual property, contract, bankruptcy and government investigations matters. Last year, Nick represented Amgen in its $27.8 billion acquisition of Horizon Therapeutics and Volkswagen, Audi and Porsche in resolving unprecedented cases seeking billions of dollars in penalties for the automakers’ factory installation and post-sale software updates to certain emissions “defeat devices.”
Beth is a partner in S&C’s Litigation Group and Co-Head of the Firm’s Women’s Initiative Committee. Her practice comprises complex commercial litigation, regulatory and enforcement matters, and internal investigations. Beth’s recent representations include clients in commercial disputes arising out of mergers and acquisitions and FirstEnergy Corp., one of the nation’s largest electricity distributors, in securities litigation and enforcement matters related to corruption allegations.
Morgan is a partner in the Firm’s Supreme Court and Appellate Practice. She is a well-recognized appellate and Supreme Court advocate and has argued before the U.S. Supreme Court nine times. Morgan’s recent accomplishments include playing a leading role in obtaining a unanimous Supreme Court ruling for Great Lakes Insurance in a maritime insurance case; helping Goldman Sachs obtain the reversal of class certification in a long-running securities class action; and arguing cases in various courts of appeals on issues from antitrust to contract law to FOIA.
Lenny is a partner in S&C’s Securities Litigation Practice. He represents clients in a wide range of complex commercial litigation, including securities, shareholder derivative, M&A, antitrust, contract and product liability cases. Lenny played an integral role in obtaining dismissals of several stock-drop actions against AT&T alleging billions of dollars in damages and in successfully getting those dismissals affirmed on appeal, and has defended Citigroup, Discover and Wells Fargo in major securities and derivative litigation.