Practice Areas & Industries: Sullivan & Cromwell LLP

Practice/Industry Group Overview

Sullivan & Cromwell is widely recognized as a premier litigation firm with one of the leading litigation practices worldwide. The Firm's exceptional reputation stems from more than 100 years of experience representing clients in a broad range of litigation matters, including cross-border investigations, international disputes and many landmark cases that have shaped the development of U.S. law. S&C's litigation practice has been top ranked in the last four consecutive editions of Chambers USA. In its 2007 edition, Chambers USA praised S&C as "expert in all areas of complex litigation. . . ."

Drawing on S&C's deep experience and leadership position as a corporate, financial and transactional firm, the Firm's lawyers form seamlessly integrated teams across relevant practice areas and are prepared to handle any related or follow-on matters that arise in the course of litigation.

S&C's litigators have up-to-date knowledge of developments in a wide range of practice areas, including antitrust, arbitration, securities, commodities, corporate governance, criminal defense and investigations, banking, intellectual property, environmental law, products liability, and labor and employment law. This knowledge comes as a result of S&C's extensive litigation practice in these areas, as well as our lawyers' extensive contacts with regulators.

The Firm's litigation partners are among the most well respected in the legal profession, and are regularly called upon to serve in prominent government and other leadership roles. Our litigation partnership includes:

• Several former Assistant U.S. Attorneys for the Southern District of New York, including the former Chief of the Criminal Division, the former Chief of the Securities and Commodities Fraud Task Force and the former Deputy Chief Appellate Attorney
• Former Chief Counsel of the U.S. Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs
• Former President of the American College of Trial Lawyers
• Commissioner of the United States Antitrust Modernization Commission
• Member of the New York State Commission on Public Integrity
• President-Elect of the Federal Bar Council
• Primary drafter of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995
• Immediate Past Chairman of the Board of the American Arbitration Association (AAA)
• Numerous former law clerks to the United States Supreme Court and the United States Courts of Appeals

Many of the Firm's younger partners are among the most successful litigators at S&C. They have been recognized as "rising stars" in prominent legal business media, including The Lawdragon 500: New Stars, New World; The National Law Journal's annual "40 Under 40" ranking; and The American Lawyer's "The Young Litigators Fab 50" - 50 litigators under 45 who are expected to be "leading the field for years to come."

Highlights of the Firm's Litigation Work

S&C's litigators act as lead counsel in many of the highest-profile, most complex litigation matters before courts, arbitration panels and regulators worldwide. Recently, the Firm has secured favorable outcomes for its clients in numerous significant securities, corporate, criminal defense and investigations, antitrust, IP, arbitration and environmental litigation matters.

Recent representations include:

• In one of the most complex and long-running corporate and securities litigation matters ever, In re Initial Public Offering Securities Litigation, S&C achieved a landmark ruling in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, reversing the district court's grant of class certification in the IPO "dot-com" securities litigation on behalf of client Goldman Sachs and as liaison counsel to 55 investment banks that were named as defendants. The decision provided important clarifications to the requirements for obtaining class action status, and is expected to be of significance in defending against putative class actions in securities, employment and other areas of complex litigation.
• The Firm has continued successfully to defend Barclays in the Enron securities class action, widely considered to be largest and most complex securities class action ever. Despite settlements by other financial institutions in the action totaling in excess of US$ 6.6 billion, S&C's strategy to litigate aggressively while seeking dismissal of the action and appellate review proved successful when the district court ruled that the plaintiffs' claims against Barclays were deficient and then, while the district court gave plaintiffs a last chance to plead new claims against Barclays and with an April 2007 trial looming, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit reversed the class certification order, effectively ending the case in the absence of a reversal by the U.S. Supreme Court.
• S&C represents UBS in another major Enron-related securities class action and also in class action and derivative litigation in connection with UBS's role as lead investment banker to HealthSouth.
• S&C successfully achieved dismissals of numerous actions against: Morgan Stanley arising out of the AOL-Time Warner merger; JPMorgan Chase and current/former board members related to the Bank One merger; and directors of AmSouth in shareholder derivative litigation in the Delaware courts.
• The Firm achieved a significant victory on behalf of Swedish client TeliaSonera, in which a Tribunal of the International Chamber of Commerce in Geneva held that TeliaSonera was entitled to specific performance - rarely awarded relief - of a US$ 3.1 billion contract to purchase control of Turkey's leading mobile phone services provider, Turkcell.
• Our litigators represented Statoil in its settlement of Foreign Corrupt Practices Act-related investigations by the SEC and DOJ, including a deferred prosecution agreement in the Southern District of New York.
• S&C continues to advise CA (formerly Computer Associates) in connection with the various investigations and litigation arising from its accounting practices, including obtaining the dismissal with prejudice of all pending fraud and obstruction of justice charges against CA.
• Our lawyers represented British Airways and Solvay SA in global criminal antitrust investigations and related litigation.
• S&C secured settlements totaling A$ 280 million for CSR Limited in insurance coverage litigation against more than 60 insurers worldwide.
• We successfully defended Diageo against a series of purported class action complaints alleging alcohol advertising targeted at underage drinkers. These lawsuits, which were filed in courts around the country against virtually the entire alcohol beverage industry, demanded recovery of billions of dollars in "family funds" spent by underage drinkers who were allegedly lured into purchasing alcohol beverage products by the defendants' advertisements. After ten trial and appellate courts uniformly rejected plaintiffs' legal theories, plaintiffs agreed to terminate with prejudice all remaining actions and appeals, in exchange for defendants' agreement to withdraw their application for attorneys' fees in Colorado state court (where a dismissal with prejudice had been affirmed on appeal) and to forgo any other applications for costs or attorneys' fees. This agreement ended four years of litigation around the country with no payments to plaintiffs or their counsel and no concessions concerning defendants' advertising practices.
• For the last seven years, S&C has represented Microsoft in private antitrust litigation brought in numerous jurisdictions by competitors and classes of end-users of Microsoft software, obtaining dismissals on the merits of dozens of cases.

Practice Contacts

David H. Braff
New York
P +1-212-558-4705
F +1-212-558-3588
braffd@sullcrom.com