Muhammad Faridi is a Partner in Patterson Belknap’s Litigation department. He is a go-to litigator on complex commercial matters involving claims relating to breaches of contract and commercial torts. He has represented clients—as both plaintiffs and defendants—in several industries, including financial services, pharmaceuticals and medical devices, software, and manufacturing. In 2022 alone, he tried three cases—in the first, securing a directed verdict on a statute-of-limitations defense; in the second, securing a $2 billion jury verdict; and, in the third, securing a $1.84 billion settlement for his client mid-way through trial. He was selected as The American Lawyer’s ‘Litigator of the Week’ in connection with the $2 billion jury verdict.
In February 2023, Mr. Faridi was appointed by New York City Mayor Eric Adams as the independent civil representative to the New York City Police Department’s (NYPD) Handschu Committee, in which he is charged with ensuring the NYPD’s compliance with the terms of a consent decree that regulates the NYPD’s policies and practices regarding investigations of political activity. In April 2022, he was appointed to serve on the New York City Mayor’s Advisory Committee on the Judiciary. In 2021, he was elected to the American Law Institute. He has also served as the Chair of the Executive Committee of the New York City Bar Association, as well as the Chair of its Committee on Capital Punishment and Co-Chair of the Committee on the Recruitment and Retention of Lawyers.
In March 2023, Mr. Faridi was named to City & State’s “2023 Law Power 100” List. He was named a “2018 Rising Star” by the New York Law Journal. In 2022, Mr. Faridi was one of the seven litigators selected by Bloomberg Law in its publication “They’ve Got Next: The 40 Under 40” list.
Mr. Faridi teaches commercial litigation as an Adjunct Professor at Fordham University School of Law, and is co-editor of the Commercial Division Practice Guide. He is a contributor to the American Bar Association Section of Business Law’s annual review of business courts and to the firm’s New York Commercial Division Blog.
Mr. Faridi previously served as a Law Clerk to the Hon. Jack B. Weinstein of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of New York. He received his J.D. from the City University of New York School of Law, where he served as an Editor of the New York City Law Review, and his B.A. from John Jay College of Criminal Justice, summa cum laude.
Updated Aug 2023
