KAPLAN HECKER & FINK
Roberta "Robbie" Kaplan
is the founding partner of her own trial-centric New York litigation boutique Kaplan Hecker & Fink. Kaplan has quickly etched herself a coveted position as one of the country's most unflinching trial lawyers, with a zeal for public interest cases that have grabbed national headlines. A client testifies, "She's a relentless advocate who is afraid of no one. She adopts her client's causes and does an excellent job at messaging."
KOBRE & KIM
Danielle Rose in the New York office of global shop Kobre & Kim manages a broad portfolio of commercial litigation matters on which she also appears as lead counsel. "She is very talented," commends a peer. "She is a rare breed of lawyer who generates business and also tries the cases."
KRAMER LEVIN
Dani James
is co-head of Kramer Levin's white-collar crime group in its New York office. James represents individuals and institutions in cases rergarding bribery, insider trading and corruption. She is revered by peers for "bringing some real heft to that group, which was already among the strongest. The cases they have are some of the toughest white-collar cases out there."
Dr. Irena Royzman has spearheaded a "hard-IP" patent practice at Kramer Levin from its New York office. Royzman, who is noted by peers to “occupy a definite presence in the pharma patent space,” represented Janssen, who sued eight generic manufacturers under the Hatch-Waxman Act for infringement of patents protecting Imbruvica capsules, a breakthrough treatment for certain B-cell cancers and chronic graft-versus-host-disease.
MENDES & MOUNT
Eileen McCabe operates from the New York office of Mendes & Mount, where she attends to an insurance-focused practice defending insurers. An effusive peer calls McCabe "a big personality and just a nice person - and FUNNY! - with good litigation instincts and judgment."
PAUL WEISS RIFKIND WHARTON & GARRISON
In New York, Susanna Buergel is the co-chair of Paul Weiss's securities department, largely considered a cornerstone of the firm. Buergel has been called "[Paul Weiss's securities leader] Brad Karp's secret weapon." One peer asserts, "Some of the biggest financial institutions keep Susanna on speed-dial."
Katherine Forrest, a former judge and an established senior trailblazer at the firm, comes equipped with a keen level of experience and savvy in the tech and AI sectors as well as a broad fluency in antitrust work.
Claudia Hammerman is a key component of the firm's blue-ribbon securities litigation team. A peer marvels, "Claudia was #1 in the law school class that graduated Barack Obama! She's really expanded the talent of that [Paul Weiss] team."
Michele Hirshman is a star of Paul Weiss's white-collar and investigations team. Her client appointments, many of which are sensitive and/or confidential, run the gamut from banks (and their executives and directors), pharmaceutical entities and educational institutions. Loretta Lynch comes equipped with private-practice experience as well as government credentials; she was the Attorney General at the Department of Justice from 2015-2017. Known primarily for her white-collar acumen, Lynch has recently been at the forefront of the firm's racial justice and equality initiatives, which, according to peers, "Paul Weiss has made a commitment to in a big way. They have three of the top black trial lawyers in New York, and Loretta is one of them." One peer testifes, "I had the opportunity to work closely with Loretta over the last few months, and she's fantastic. Her reputation precedes her."
Karen Dunn, based in the DC office, has made a name for herself at the firm as one of its nationally recognized trial lawyers. Over the past several years, Dunn has been at the forefront of several landmark cases that have made headlines. "She has definitely made a name and a brand for herself," confirms a peer. "She has a big tech followng especially."
Jeannie Rhee is a former prosecutor who primarily concentrates on white-collar crime, with an additional niche emphasis on cyber-security and data protection. Rhee landed a star appointment in the Special Counsel office alongside Robert Mueller, where she led the team investigating Russian cyber, social media and intelligence efforts to influence the 2016 presidential election.
POMERANTZ
Emma Gilmore operates from the New York office of top plaintiff securities class-action shop Pomerantz. Gilmore logged a substantial, newsworthy and, for her, personally satisfying win in October 2022 when she scored a 50% recovery for investors in a class action against Deutsche Bank alleging that between 2018 and 2020, the bank made materially false and misleading statements about its anti-money-laundering deficiencies and didn’t properly monitor or give exemptions to customers it considered high risk, such as financier and accused sex offender Jeffrey Epstein as well as oligarchs and/or alleged terrorists and, to quote a peer, “highly unsavory figures that were kept on as clients because they generated millions in revenue.” Murielle Steven Walsh scored a newsworthy corporate governance-related win in July 2021 when the District of Nevada court denied, in part, the defendants’ motions to dismiss the Second Amended Complaint in a securities fraud class-action arising from Wynn Resorts Limited’s concealment of a long-running pattern of alleged sexual misconduct by CEO and founder Steve Wynn against female employees of the company, which was confirmed by gaming regulators after a lightning-rod exposé via 2018 Wall Street Journal article. Steven Walsh also scored a win in January 2021 when she secured a nearly $4 million settlement on behalf of defrauded investors in Ormat, a US- and Israeli-based renewable energy entity.
PROSKAUER
Nationally recognized as a renowned force in employment litigation, Elise Bloom has extensive experience with taking employment cases to trial. Last year, representing Rockefeller University, she led the client in a four-week trial. In addition to succeeding on all but one claim, she secured a reduced verdict from $2.25 million to $450,000, and additionally, succeeded in blocking the plaintiff from obtaining attorneys’ fees and costs of the trial. Bloom currently defends Major League Soccer in a lawsuit filed by former professional soccer player and coach Ricky Hill who alleges discrimination claims under Title VII. The case is in ongoing litigation with pending motions to dismiss and motion to transfer to the Southern District of New York. A luminary in commercial litigation Margaret Dale maintains a diverse practice that covers all types of cases. She serves as head of the data privacy and cybersecurity practice group. Her casework has included bankruptcy litigation and she has been involved in handling the PROMESA case representing the Financial Oversight Management Board. The long-running case has developed numerous related disputes. Most recently, Dale and the team prevailed against the Governor and Legislature of Puerto Rico and bondholders of the Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority in separate cases. The lawsuit filed by the Governor and Legislature sought to nullify employment laws that violated the certified Fiscal Plan. In regard to the bondholders, the court agreed with the Oversight Board’s arguments and found the plaintiffs’ claims to be unsecured.
SAUL EWING
Cathleen Devlin of Saul Ewing’s Philadelphia office emphasizes in her practice complex environmental, commercial contract, and business tort litigation. Devlin served as lead counsel to Cyprus Amax Minerals Company in environmental litigation against TCI Pacific Communications regarding Cyprus’s pursuit of more than $14 million of recovery from TCI.
SIMPSON THACHER & BARTLETT
Lynn Neuner in the New York office of Simpson Thacher maintains a practice that balances securities, insurance and a false advertising niche. She is a peer and client favorite, unanimously championed by contemporaries. A client praises her as “straightforward and transparent, extremely intelligent and knowledgeable.” Consistently recognized as one of Benchmark’s “Top 250 Women in Litigation” and one of the “Top 100 Trial Lawyers,” Neuner was also made Simpson’s co-chair of litigation in December 2021, the first woman to claim this role.
Lori Lesser also operates from the New York office of Simpson Thacher, where she attends to a niche intellectual property practice that also encompasses entertainment, cyber-security and data protection."Lori is great, one of the few people at Simpson doing what she does," testifies a peer. "I worked with her on a licensing dispute regarding fragrances." In the DC office,
Sara Razi is an antitrust-focused lawyer known for attending to deals for private equity clients in strategic transactions, many of which are outside the US, as well as clients in industries ranging from energy to healthcare. Razi recently displayed her trial acumen in a challenge to the government on behalf of Change Healthcare. A peer exclaims, "I love Sara! That Change Healthcare trial was really hard; Sara took three witnesses in one day. Yes, she mostly works on the advisory side but she can and does try cases as well, as evidenced by this!"
WACHTELL LIPTON ROSEN & KATZ
Elaine Golin is considered "a fantastic general litigator" at Wachtell and is someone who conducts a good deal of her practice outside of the M&A space for which the firm is so celebrated. Golin is part of a team acting as overarching strategic counsel, as well as resolution and corporate governance counsel, to Cardinal Health in connection with matters related to the broad and sweeping opioid epidemic.
Rachelle Silverberg is known as a go-to for Delaware corporate litiagtion. "Rachelle practically
lives in the Delaware Chancery Court," exclaims a peer. "She is very strong and active in a lot of cases."
WILKINSON STEKLOFF
Beth Wilkinson, leader of her own DC-headquartered but nationally recognized litigation boutique Wilkinson Stekloff, is unanimously revered as an ace all-purpose generalist trial lawyer. Wilkinson has played, and continues to play, a lead counsel role in some of the country's biggest headline-grabbing matters over the years, across a spectrum of different practices. "Beth just continues to kill it," raves a peer, summing up the general consensus. "She is my role model of what a trial lawyer should be." Wilkinson's firm has apparently wasted no time in grooming other female trial lawyers as well, several of whom debut on the Top 250 list this year.
Cali Arat has gained considerable traction for her trial acument. "Cali is one of my favorite people," raves a peer. Another testifies, "She did an individual voir dire, and also led her own Roundup case. Bayer was so confident in her from the job she did in a previous Roundup trial that they started giving her more of a first-chair role."
Keri Arnold joined in September 2022 from the DC stronghold of a major "Big Law" firm and since then has hit the ground running. "She is set to try a case for Monsanto regarding Roundup," testifies a peer. Arnold is a member of the prestigious American College of Trial Lawyers. Moira Penza is a relatively new partner but has quickly made considerable strides and established her self as a trial force. Penza served as lead trial counsel for Altria in an adversarial administrative proceeding before the FTC, who alleged that Altria and e-cigarette giant JUUL violated the antitrust laws through Altria’s purchase of a minority interest in JLI and sought to require Altria to divest its interest in JLI.
WILLIAMS & CONNOLLY
Lisa Blatt is a nationally revered "superstar" of the appellate bar. "Lisa has a 'win-at-all-costs' mentality. Appellate courts don't 'split the baby.' They never settle. Lisa is ready for that, and she can do any kind of appeal - antitrust, pharmaceutical work, she even did the [DC-based NFL team] Redskins case!" While Blatt is considered to be "in her prime and nowhere near retirement," she is also "doing an exceptional job of building out the practice and grooming the next generation of Williams & Connolly appellate superstars."
Heidi Hubbard is one of the firm's most revered and popular true trial lawyers. "We just love her," cheers a fellow universally beloved DC-based trial lawyer, who goes on to confirm, "She just had a reverse-payment win, which are so complicated and don’t go to trial very often. She has Amazon, just a ton of great work. [She is] Lovely to work with and super smart."
Enu Mainigi is a trial lawyer with a particular focus on the health care industry. As lead counsel for Cardinal Health, Mainigi scored a huge July 2022 win for the company in a federal bellwether trial in West Virginia in the massive litigation concerning opioids. This landmark win comes hot on the heels of a June 2021 trial victory for CVS in a hard-fought class-action litigation related to the company’s Health Savings Pass generic discount drug program.
Katherine Turner is the co-chair of Williams & Connolly's accountant liability and congressional investigations practice. Turner led a plum appointment representing Hillary Clinton before the House Select Committee on Benghazi. "This was a great experience for her," observes a peer, "and she put on a stellar performance."
WILMERHALE
Based in New York,
Hallie Levin is co-chair of WilmerHale's trial practice and comes equipped with credentials from her membership of the American College of Trial Lawyers. A peer states, "Hallie is doing a great job and generating a lot of energy in the commercial space. She is considered a big shot in this space."
