In this episode of S&C Sidebar, Annie Ostrager, Co-Head of S&C’s Employment Law Group, is joined by Litigation Partner Arturo Carlos Schultz to discuss how his experience working on complex commercial disputes, including obtaining a historic reversal of an $18 billion judgment against The Republic of Argentina, helps him advise clients in an increasingly globalized world.
Arturo emphasizes that for companies operating globally, decisions about where and how a dispute is litigated can be nearly as consequential as the underlying merits. He also notes how S&C’s generalist training has helped him understand clients’ business objectives and achieve the best overall outcome.
Full transcript below.
Annie: Welcome to S&C Sidebar, where we talk with our partners about the most interesting legal issues they’ve seen in their careers and what they’re seeing on the horizon, among other topics. I’m Annie Ostrager, Co-Head of our Employment Law Group and a member of our Workplace Investigations, Criminal Defense & Investigations and Trade Secrets Groups.
I’m joined today by Arturo Carlos Schultz, who’s a partner in our Litigation Group. Arturo’s practice spans a range of complex civil litigation matters in both federal and state court and arbitrations, including securities, shareholder derivatives, class actions, antitrust and other commercial matters. Arturo is a newly minted partner since July of this year, and I’m looking forward to speaking with him about some of the things he’s seeing in his practice. Nice to be with you today, Arturo.
Arturo: Nice to be here as well. Thanks, Annie.
Annie: Great. So let’s start off by talking about some of the most interesting issues you’ve worked on in cases through your career.
Arturo: Well one of the things I enjoy most about my practice is that, as you described there, my practice really spans a broad range of issues, but to put it more succinctly, we can call it complex commercial disputes. One of the things I enjoy most about complex commercial disputes is that they rarely involve only one area of the law. I’ve worked on matters involving securities anti-trust, corporate governance, and international arbitration often with significant cross-border dimensions, and some of the most interesting issues have arisen in the matters in which I represented The Republic of Argentina. Those cases have required us to analyze the interaction between New York contract law, Argentine law, sovereign interests and principals governing the treatment of foreign states in U.S. courts, among other things.
And most recently our team obtained the reversal of an $18 billion judgment arising from Argentina’s expropriation of YPF, a formerly state-owned oil company that was privatized and then partially expropriated again which was an unusually high stakes matter with significant legal, economic and foreign relations implications, not only for Argentina, but also for the U.S.
Annie: Yes. That was a significant victory, so congratulations on that. Maybe you can talk a little bit about how your generalist upbringing at the Firm, which led you to that very diverse practice, has strengthened the way you work on cases, approach your legal issues, your thinking and how you serve your clients.
Arturo: Well, the generalist approach is central to my practice but also to the lawyer that I am today. As an S&C litigator, my matters often touch on multiple substantive areas as I was describing in my earlier answer. And being trained as a generalist makes it easy to see how those different pieces fit together and to work seamlessly with our colleagues across the Firm in order to obtain the right result for our clients. It also encourages us to think beyond what the immediate question is. The technically sound legal answer is of course the starting point. But it’s also necessary to account for the client’s business objectives, reputational considerations or relationships with regulators, investors and other stakeholders. The goal here is not simply to win a particular motion or case, it’s to help the client achieve the best overall outcome. And S&C’s generalist model prepares us to approach matters from that broader perspective.
Annie: I agree and it also allows us to be advisors to our clients across a wide range of areas and to see issues that you might not spot if you were only in a narrow, siloed area of the law. But, of course, within your generalist practice, you are also developing deep expertise in specific areas, so perhaps you could also talk a little bit about some legal developments that you are seeing on the horizon you think clients should be watching.
Arturo: In an increasingly globalized world, courts are increasingly being asked to address how U.S. legal principles interact with foreign law, foreign sovereign interests and parallel proceedings or enforcement efforts in multiple jurisdictions. Basically, the bottom line is that for companies operating globally, which many of them are in this day and age, decisions about where and how a dispute is litigated can be nearly as consequential as the underlying merits. So I think taking into consideration that if you’re a company that operates globally, your litigation risk isn’t just focused on a particular jurisdiction, and so bringing in outside counsel early in a process, even before a dispute has arisen, can help you plan out that risk and prepare for potential scenarios that are critical to ultimately achieving the best outcome.
Annie: I agree. And certainly our global reach helps us in addressing those increasingly complicated global or cross-border problems that you see in your practice all the time. What would you say is the most important part of working with clients to foster a strong and productive relationship?
Arturo: For me, the most important thing is developing a genuine understanding of the client’s business. You can’t give truly useful advice if you understand only the legal issue or question that’s presented to you in isolation. You need to know how the client operates, what pressures its decision-makers are facing, what a successful outcome would actually look like from their perspective. As lawyers, especially as litigators, sometimes it’s easy to look at the outcome as winning the case or winning the motion. But the story is much more complicated from the client’s perspective, and so I think it’s really imperative to always have that in consideration. That understanding also builds trust with your clients. Clients should know that you are listening, that you will communicate candidly, and that you’re thinking ahead rather than simply reacting to the latest development. In high stakes litigation particularly, the strongest relationships are those in which the lawyer becomes, as you mentioned earlier, Annie, a trusted advisor. Someone who provides practical judgment as well as sound legal analysis.
Annie: I agree. I think that’s really core to our practice and the way we approach all of our relationships with our clients and to our long-term investments in those relationships. Another important relationship that we have beyond our client relationships is our relationships with our associates. So maybe you can give a little advice for associates and talk a little bit about how you think about development and how you approached your career over time here.
Arturo: I think the starting point is, of course, doing excellent work. There really is no substitute for careful analysis, sound judgment, attention to detail and learning from those around you. But that really is just the starting point.
I think that associates should also look for opportunities to take ownership of particular projects or of their matters. And that means understanding the immediate task that’s before you, but also the larger strategy. Anticipating the next question or the next issue, identifying what the team or the client will need before they even ask it. Being proactive is really a critical skill, not only as a lawyer, but I’d say at S&C. The best associates do not view these tasks, as I said in isolation, but really understand how it fits into the broader matter, not only in terms of the immediate litigation or the case or the investigation, but as I was touching on earlier, how it fits into the broader context of the client’s needs. Finally, related to that last point, learn your client’s businesses. The more you understand their industry, objectives and constraints, the more valuable your advice will become. I would encourage associates to focus not only on checking particular boxes, but also on becoming the person whom colleagues and clients trust with their hardest problems. You want people to come to you and feel confident that you will give them sound advice, taking into consideration the unique circumstances of their case, of their businesses, of their needs. Partnership tends to follow from building that kind of judgment, reliability and trust, at least from my perspective.
Annie: I think that’s excellent advice, and we always tell our clients we want you to pick up the phone and call us. We don’t want this to be a transactional relationship. We want you to feel that we’re here for you in small moments and big. So with that, thank you very much Arturo and thank you everyone for listening to S&C Sidebar. For more information about our practice, please visit us on the web at www.sullcrom.com.