District of Columbia

With six locations, Cohen Milstein (formerly Cohen Milstein Sellers & Toll) is one of the country’s most geographically diverse plaintiff shops; the firm hosts offices in New York, DC, Denver, Chicago, Raleigh, Palm Beach Gardens and Philadelphia. Noted as being “zealous advocates for justice,” the firm boasts a fierce and loyal client base. One insists, “The firm’s attorneys that we have worked with have without exception been outstanding litigators, efficient, timely, aggressive, intelligent, strategic, and client-centered. They are all exceptional litigators, though at varying experience levels. They deliver complex systems analysis in addition to deep strategic thinking in litigation planning, as well as top-flight legal analysis, writing, and oral advocacy. Their level of preparation, combined with efficiency and organization, is the best I’ve seen in a law firm.” Peers voice the observation that “Cohen Milstein is strong in securities but, unlike a lot of other plaintiff firms, they haven’t just limited themselves to that area. They have particularly strong antitrust and consumer protection practices as well, which makes them diverse and also more immune to swings in the financial markets.”

DC figurehead Steven Toll and New York future star Michael Eisenkraft scored on behalf of lead plaintiff New Jersey Carpenters Health Fund and class representative Iowa Public Employees’ Retirement System in March 2019, securing final approval of a $165 million settlement in connection with losses from securities issued by NovaStar Mortgage, a subprime lender prior to the housing crisis, and several top Wall Street banks. The settlement, which was initially announced in March 2017, brings over 12 years of litigation to a close. DC’s Julie Reiser represents court-appointed lead plaintiffs, the New York State Common Retirement Fund and the New York City Pension Funds, in a derivative action against certain officers and directors of Wynn Resorts, including embattled former CEO Stephen Wynn, arising out of allegations that Steve Wynn engaged in a longstanding pattern of sexually harassing and assaulting Wynn employees on Company property. Reiser also leads the firm’s co-lead counsel appointment, implemented by a California judge in May 2019, to oversee a shareholder derivative lawsuit on behalf of Alphabet shareholders against the Company’s Board of Directors. The lawsuit, originally filed in January is filed by current Alphabet stockholders who allege that the tech giant violated state and federal law through its secretive practices regarding both issues of workplace sexual harassment and a serious data breach. New York-based future star Sharon Robertson triumphed in September 2018 when a judge granted final approval to a $104.75 million settlement reached just a week before jury selection in a high-profile multidistrict antitrust litigation involving claims of “pay-for-delay” arrangements in violation of competition law. The plaintiffs are purchasers of anesthetic Lidoderm who claim that Teikoku Pharma USA and Endo International reached an improper $266 million deal with Watson Pharmaceuticals (now owned by Allergan) in underlying patent litigation to delay the launch of generic versions of the anesthetic.

A litigation boutique that opened in 2016 with the unwavering mission to dedicate itself to high-stakes trial work, Wilkinson Walsh + Eskovitz has seen an astonishing rise in profile since its beginnings by fully making good on its ambitions. Washington, DC-based national celebrity trial lawyer Beth Wilkinson, who forged this firm upon decamping from her former post at Paul Weiss, has been at the forefront of precedent-setting jury trials of any stripe.

Of most recent note, in January 2018 Wilkinson and fellow name partner Alexandra Walsh, triumphed for Bayer and Johnson & Johnson subsidiary Janssen Pharmaceuticals in the first state-court bellwether trial over the blood-thinner Xarelto. Plaintiffs alleged that the Xarelto label did not adequately instruct doctors on the risks of bleeding associated with the anticoagulant. Brian Stekloff, won the second state-court bellwether trial over Xarelto, and, in August 2018, Walsh led the team that won the third. Walsh and Los Angeles partner Sean Eskovitz won a decisive victory for Bayer in a $600 million certified consumer class-action lawsuit brought on behalf of One A Day multivitamin consumers. The class-action suit, filed on behalf of purchasers of One A Day multivitamins in California, New York, and Florida, challenged as false and misleading Bayer's claims that One A Day multivitamins support heart health, immunity, and physical energy. The plaintiffs originally sought over $4 billion in damages, which Eskovitz and Walsh successfully reduced to $600 million before trial. Brant Bishop and fast-rising future star Kosta Stojilkovic won complete dismissal of a securities fraud class action case in the Eastern District of Virginia for client MAXIMUS The pair was successful in securing a dismissal of the claims with respect to all of the alleged misstatements and omissions claimed by the plaintiffs. Stojilkovic and another DC-based future star, Rakesh Kilaru, won a verdict at trial for the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) in a lawsuit brought by former University of Southern California assistant football coach Todd McNair seven years ago, alleging that the NCAA defamed him in a Committee on Infractions report issued in 2010 and affirmed by a separate appeals committee. Apart from many other findings against USC, the Committee found that McNair knew about the improper benefits that star running back Reggie Bush had received while at USC, and that McNair failed to provide truthful information about them. In his lawsuit, McNair alleged that the statements about him in the report were false and defamatory, and he sought over $27 million in damages for that claim. He also brought claims for breach of contract and negligence. McNair dismissed the contract and negligence claims shortly before the case went to the jury, and the jury subsequently issued a verdict for the NCAA, concluding that none of the challenged statements were false.

As a purely litigation-based shop, Washington DC’s Williams & Connolly is routinely engaged in a position on the front lines of virtually any litigation matter. An appreciative client cheers the firm’s “outstanding work and success record,” addressing the firm as being “brilliant both strategically and in terms of technical/scientific work-up and understanding of the cases.”

While the firm’s individual and collective trial prowess extends well beyond the life sciences industry, Williams & Connolly has seen some particularly noteworthy successes in this arena. In the product liability capacity, widely championed trial lawyers Heidi Hubbard and Joseph Petrosinelli continue to garner nearly unanimous plaudits from their peers in the pharmaceutical and medical device arena. The firm also got a significant augmentation in the appellate capacity when Lisa Blatt rejoined the firm after the lengthy stint at Arnold & Porter. “Lisa Blatt really has a ‘hot hand’ in those appeals for pharma industry players,” observes a peer, “and she brought clients back with her, such as Bayer and GSK, back to Williams & Connolly with her. She actually won a big case in the Seventh Circuit regarding Paxil.” Enu Mainigi, a noted white-collar and enforcement and antitrust partner, has doubled down on her dedication to the life sciences field through her representation of Cardinal Health and CVS in the massive and unprecedented opioid litigation. Swiftly risen intellectual property star Adam Perlman leads a multi-prong representation of Eli Lilly in matters against several generic drug manufacturers who challenged a patent protecting Lilly's blockbuster anti-cancer drug Alimta. Perlman scored on behalf of this client in several matters throughout the course of 2018 and 2019. Dane Butswinkas, an all-purpose trial lawyer but one who is particularly noted for his deft handling of white-collar criminal matters, handled the only criminal case against an individual in connection with the TARP government bailout program implemented in the wake of the financial crisis, that of Jesse Litvak, a bond trader with Jefferies & Co., who was convicted on all 15 counts of securities fraud and other offenses that he faced in a 2014 trial. Butswinkas steered Litvak through a series of hard-fought motions, eventually scoring a July 2018 dismissal of the last remaining one of the 15 charges. Another comprehensive commercial trial lawyer, Robert Van Kirk, along with firm antitrust chair Jonathan Pitt, led a team that was retained by Danaher Corporation and certain of its dental manufacturing subsidiaries in antitrust litigation against one of its former distributors. The case ultimately wound up at the Supreme Court, which, in January 2019, unanimously ruled in favor of the client.

Business litigation boutique Ifrah Law operates out of four locations across the east coast in Washington, DC; Alexandria, VA; Baltimore, MD; and Atlantic City, NJ. One client praises the firm's litigation expertise stating, "The firm’s litigation strength is outstanding in every respect. You will not find attorneys who will work harder or be more creative. They will leave no stone unturned on behalf of their clients” adding, “These attorneys are all outstanding and can be trusted to handle the most serious of cases.”  

Founding partner Jeff Ifrah is a renowned authority on white-collar crime defense matters. His experience before the Justice Department, the FTC, CFTC, SEC OD, and US Treasury has propelled him to be considered as a leading lawyer in matters relating to government investigations. One client testifies, “I’ve worked with Jeff Ifrah for years. He is very much considered a thought leader in his field. Whenever I have a white-collar crime question I ask Jeff.” Additionally, his practice is focused on cryptocurrency and blockchain, suspension and debarment proceedings, federal agency litigation, and online gaming law. 

Kellogg Hansen is a DC-based law firm that specializes in complex trial and appellate litigation. The team is equipped with skilled trial lawyers who have extensive experience in trials across the U.S.  

Steven Benz is a recognized for his work in the antitrust and unfair competition space. His experience in federal and state courts has resulted in cutting-edge verdicts on price-fixing and monopolization matters. He represents Veeva Systems in antitrust claims against software services companies in a suit that alleges the software company is abusing its monopoly power as the dominant provider of data products for life sciences companies. The abuse is allegedly aimed to suppress competition and prevent life sciences companies from using Veeva’s competing data and software products. Fellow partner Reid Figel manages a practice dedicated to securities, banking, and antitrust law enforcement, as well as internal corporate investigations and civil litigation.  

Founding and managing partner Michael Kellogg is focused on appellate, regulatory, and antitrust disputes. He argued successfully for the trustee for the Renco bankruptcy estate to affirm the approximately $213 million verdict against the Renco Group and Ira Rennert. Partner David Frederick argued a case for the Fosamax plaintiffs before the US Supreme Court, in a case that clarifies the legal standard for "clear evidence" preemption. The court determined that pharmaceutical manufacturers can no longer try to establish preemption based on speculation about what the FDA would have done in hypothetical situations. Frederick has argued more than 100 appeals, including 55 in the Supreme Court, in every U.S. Court of Appeals, and in five state supreme courts.