Page 54 - NYLJ Professional Excellence 2021

LITIGATION DEPARTMENT OF THE YEAR:
PROFESSIONAL LIABILITY

LATHAM & WATKINS

Q&A What are some of the department’s most sat-
isfying successes of the past year and why? In
the past year, we continued to secure precedent-setting and WHEN FACING THEIR MOST HIGH-STAKES DISPUTES—
business critical victories for our clients including: Facebook, AND BILLIONS OF DOLLARS IN POTENTIAL EXPOSURE
in a decision marking the first ruling on any dismissal motion —COMPANIES RELY ON LATHAM FOR OUR FERVENT
in the many diversity-related securities derivative actions WILLINGNESS TO PARTNER WITH OUR CLIENTS AND
filed across the country; Twitter, with a win so decisive and DEVELOP CREATIVE STRATEGIES THAT WIN. WE
an opinion so thorough that plaintiffs did not attempt an CULTIVATE AND DEPLOY AGGRESSIVE YET SAVVY
amended complaint and instead filed an appeal, marking a LITIGATION APPROACHES THAT ENABLE US TO
rare first-round victory in a securities case; GE in two securi- RESOLVE MOST MATTERS WELL SHORT OF TRIAL,
ties class actions, both resulting in the dismissal of billions WHETHER THROUGH A DISPOSITIVE MOTION OR
of dollars in claimed damages, and in securing a favorable SETTLEMENT. HOWEVER, WHILE SECURITIES CASES
settlement for GE in a complex SEC-led accounting investiga- RARELY GO TO TRIAL, LATHAM IS ONE OF THE FEW
tion related to one of the largest stock drops in US history; FIRMS TO HAVE ACHIEVED SUCCESSFUL JURY
Funko in the first Washington state court dismissal of federal VERDICTS IN SECURITIES LITIGATION.
securities law claims with prejudice since the Supreme Court’s
Cyan decision; DXC Technology, obtaining multibillion wins,
securing dismissal with prejudice in a securities class action
alleging more than $2 billion in damages; twice knocking operators and mobile network providers in the world, securing
out a §11 federal class action and defeating more than $1 a plaintiff-side M&A litigation win in New York State Supreme
billion in claims brought in recent arbitration and winning Court where we are pursuing claims for breach of contract
the full $69 million on counterclaims; Mobile TeleSystems, against a party that improperly refused to close on a deal
Russia’s largest mobile network operator, hanging up a huge worth more than half a billion dollars; UBS Securities, in
securities class action—with prejudice—on the heels of the which we won a massive plaintiff-side bench trial and secured
company’s record-breaking $850 million settlement with the a more than $1 billion judgement for our client; Goldman
DOJ and SEC; Telefónica, S.A, one of the largest telephone Sachs, Citibank, and Morgan Stanley, among other underwrit-

52 October 2021 |