Hughes Hubbard’s Complex Business Disputes Practice

Since the days when Charles Evans Hughes, Sr. was the most prominent advocate in private practice in the U.S., clients have turned to us for help with their highest-risk business litigation matters.

Our Complex Business Disputes group comprises an interdisciplinary team of attorneys experienced in all phases of bet-the-company conflict, from crisis management and reputational defense through management of disputes fought on multiple judicial, arbitral, regulatory and law enforcement fronts at the same time. We plot dispute avoidance and resolution strategy by understanding our clients’ businesses and appreciating their commercial objectives. The success of our overall approach is demonstrated by the number of high profile disputes our clients entrust to us. These include:

A historic and precedent-setting victory for a financial institution before New York State’s highest court regarding litigation financing.
Earning a favorable outcome as lead trial counsel in the first-ever case to be tried simultaneously in the U.S. and Canada arising from a multi-billion-dollar telecommunications bankruptcy.
Successfully defending a pharmaceutical manufacturer in a $43 million breach of contract action involving Medicaid rebates.
Defending a major investment bank against the largest-ever FINRA arbitration involving unfair competition claims brought by a rival wealth manager.

Collaboration with the client and teamwork shape our approach to litigation. We pick arguments with both our audience and the client’s objectives in mind. Many of our largest commercial litigation clients have remained with us for decades, relying on our deep understanding of their businesses.

Hughes Hubbard’s Complex Business Disputes practice encompasses a broad spectrum of legal areas at the trial and appellate levels, including securities, financial services and banking, corporate governance, LLC disputes, professional liability, bankruptcy-related matters, labor and employment, contract disputes, administrative law, art law, insurance disputes, intellectual property, white-collar crime and corporate compliance and antitrust. The practice dovetails with our market-leading practices in arbitration and other forms of alternative dispute resolution.

To learn more about our Complex Business Disputes practice, please contact:

Derek J.T. Adler

Co-Chair

Daniel H. Weiner

Co-Chair

Representation of Nortel in the unprecedented U.S.-Canada cross-border trial of claims involving $7.3 billion sales proceeds in the Nortel Networks bankruptcy litigation.
Representation of Portigon AG (f/k/a WestLB) in a historic victory where New York State’s highest court dismissed a lawsuit on champerty grounds for the first time in nearly 20 years.
Representation of our partner James Giddens as Trustee in the $40 billion liquidation of MF Global Inc., the eighth-largest bankruptcy in U.S. history.
Representation of our partner James Giddens as Trustee in the $120 billion liquidation of Lehman Brothers Inc., the largest and most complex stock broker liquidation and one of the largest insolvency proceedings in history.
Representation of The Arthur Taubman Trust, Sheika Paula Al-Sabah and others in claims against a prominent New York City art gallery and others arising from a forgery scheme of unprecedented scope and prominence in the New York fine art market.
Representation of Turing Pharmaceuticals in a controversial pricing dispute over Daraprim®, an innovative cancer treatment.
Representation of WorleyParsons, an Australian engineering and construction firm, defending against a multimillion-dollar breach of contract claim in connection with design of a Russian offshore drilling rig; HHR’s team obtained an order compelling arbitration and dismissing action.
Representation of Wyeth Pharmaceuticals (now Pfizer) in a Fen-Phen case alleging failure to warn of primary pulmonary hypertension; HHR’s team obtained a complete victory in a jury trial.
Representation of a New York-based hedge fund adviser, and its principal, in the first Securities and Exchange Commission enforcement proceeding and trial conducted under the Commission’s amended rules of practice.
Representation of Bureau Veritas, a French inspection and testing giant, in connection with litigation alleging that BV’s American and Indian subsidiaries negligently tested tabletop torches that allegedly exploded during their use, injuring plaintiffs.
Representation of the owner of nearly 1,000 U.S. hair salons, including the Hair Cuttery salon chain, in an action alleging theft of trade secrets, and violations of non-compete and non-solicitation agreements.
Representation of Ticofrut S.A., part of the Nicaragua-based Pellas Group, in a tort action filed by Del Monte in federal court alleging that Ticofrut aided and abetted a pineapple grower’s breach of a contract with Del Monte.
Representation of Amdocs in a contract dispute; HHR’s team obtained dismissal from the New York Supreme Court with prejudice and denied the plaintiff’s request for jurisdictional discovery.