John Warden was a partner in Sullivan & Cromwell’s Litigation Group from 1973 through 2008 and is now of counsel to the Firm. He now has an active practice as an arbitrator and mediator and continues to practice in the antitrust, banking, contract, corporate governance and securities areas. He served for many years on the Firm’s Executive Committee and as head of the Litigation Group.
Mr. Warden has advised and represented many of the world’s leading business and financial enterprises, including Amax, AT&T, Bank of New York, BP, British Airways, Eastman Kodak, First Boston, Goldman Sachs, Gulf Oil, Kennecott, TW Services and Union Carbide in board-level litigation. Major cases in which Mr. Warden has been involved include Berkey Photo v. Eastman Kodak, the Union Carbide/GAF takeover litigation, the Bank of New York/Irving Trust takeover litigation and FMC v. Goldman Sachs. He represented Goldman Sachs in the antitrust litigation and investigations regarding the NASDAQ Stock Market, British Airways in the antitrust case brought by Virgin Atlantic and Microsoft in United States v. Microsoft.
In addition to civil litigation and arbitration, Mr. Warden represented Amax in United States v. Amax, et al., a criminal antitrust case involving the potash industry, and has represented clients in various antitrust grand jury investigations. He also has had an extensive appellate practice, including constitutional cases and the successful appeal in United States v. D’Amato, and has acted for The Clearing House LLP as amicus curiae in numerous cases in courts of appeals and the Supreme Court.
A leading practitioner in the field of corporate governance, Mr. Warden has advised global clients on issues of corporate structure, board processes and responses to shareholder demands. He also has advised Special Litigation and Audit Committees in internal investigations and defended proxy statement disclosure on executive compensation.
Mr. Warden is a fellow of the American College of Trial Lawyers, a life member of the American Law Institute, a fellow of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators, and served as a commissioner of the U.S. Antitrust Modernization Commission. He is also an honorary trustee and former president of the University of Virginia Law School Foundation and an honorary trustee of American Ballet Theatre.
Mr. Warden has been recognized as one of the United States’ top competition/antitrust lawyers in every edition of Chambers Global: The World’s Leading Lawyers for Business (1999-2009) and Chambers USA: America’s Leading Lawyers for Business (2003-2010). He also has been named a leading litigator in Euromoney’s Benchmark: America’s Leading Litigation Firms and Attorneys (2008-2013), Guide to the World’s Leading Competition and Antitrust Lawyers (2006), Guide to the Leading United States Litigation Lawyers (2005) and Guide to the World’s Leading Litigation Lawyers (2002, 2005); in Law Business Research’s The International Who’s Who of Commercial Litigation (2000, 2004-2005, 2006-2011), The International Who’s Who of Competition Lawyers (2000, 2001, 2004-2007), The International Who’s Who of Corporate Governance Lawyers (2003, 2006, 2010) and The International Who’s Who of Business Lawyers (2002-2006, 2010); in Practical Law Company’s PLC Global Counsel Dispute Resolution Handbook (2002, 2004, 2005), PLC Cross-border Dispute Resolution Handbook (2006-2007, 2007-2008), and Global Counsel 3000 (2001-2002, 2002-2003, 2003-2004) and its successor PLC Which Lawyer? Yearbook (2005-2008); in The Best Lawyers in America (2006-2024); and in New York Super Lawyers (2006-2009).
