Litigation

In today’s legal and regulatory environment, litigation can threaten a company’s very existence. Skadden’s lawyers have extensive experience with such complex, “bet-the-company” litigation matters, and we are widely recognized for our ability to handle our clients’ most critical litigation issues. The firm can rapidly assemble a focused, integrated and efficient team to address all important aspects of a client’s problem and to handle numerous cases in multiple jurisdictions and forums. We have handled some of the largest and most high-profile cases in recent years, earning a reputation as a go-to firm for litigation, and we are responsible for numerous decisions, from the trial courts to the U.S. Supreme Court, that have shaped various areas of law.

Our Litigation Group comprises approximately 600 attorneys throughout the firm’s offices worldwide, and Skadden attorneys are admitted to practice throughout the United States as well as in more than 30 other countries and territories. In particular, our New York-based attorneys have extensively litigated in New York state and federal courts, and the group was named the New York Law Journal’s 2021 Litigation Department of the Year and a finalist in the General Litigation category of the publication’s 2022 competition. Moreover, Skadden was the first national law firm to establish a presence in Delaware nearly 40 years ago, and our Delaware litigation attorneys have unparalleled experience in the renowned Court of Chancery. Our California-based offices, in Los Angeles and Palo Alto, as well as our Washington D.C., Chicago and Houston offices, round out our national presence, allowing us to effectively handle complex disputes that may arise in any U.S. jurisdiction, or several jurisdictions at once. Our international experience, through offices in Asia Pacific, Europe and Latin America, and our numerous multilingual attorneys, further enable us to seamlessly represent clients globally and to successfully handle disputes of an international nature.

In addition to our New York Law Journal recognition, we have been widely recognized for our successes on behalf of clients, including being named U.S. News — Best Lawyers 2023 Law Firm of the Year for Mergers and Acquisitions Litigation, 2022 Washington, D.C. Litigation Department of the Year for Product Liability by The National Law Journal and a finalist in both The American Lawyer’s overall 2021 Litigation Department of the Year competition and the 2018 Litigation Department of the Year in the Regulatory/White Collar category. In 2022, Skadden was again named to BTI Consulting Group’s list of top litigation law firms — The Fearsome Foursome. Skadden was selected among Law360’s 2021 Securities and International Arbitration Groups of the Year, as well as one of its 2020 Trials and Product Liability Groups of the Year. We also were ranked in the top tier by Chambers USA for Securities Litigation, Mass Torts and Consumer Class Actions.

We represent clients in all stages of litigation, from applying cutting edge e-discovery capabilities to trials. Indeed, Skadden is recognized as having a leading national trial practice, and our attorneys score groundbreaking precedent-setting trial wins that are highly favorable to our clients’ bottom line. Our trial lawyers often inherit cases from other firms when trial is imminent, and we offer the capabilities to quickly pull together crisis teams to confront challenges wherever our clients face them. Moreover, our attorneys are no strangers to appellate state and federal courts throughout the country. We also frequently appear in arbitral forums, including the American Arbitration Association, JAMS, FINRA, the International Centre for Dispute Resolution and other domestic and international dispute resolution tribunals.

Our team represents clients in proceedings involving numerous government agencies, such as the Securities and Exchange Commission, the U.S. Attorney General’s Office, the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority, the New York Stock Exchange, the U.S. Department of Justice, the Federal Trade Commission, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, the U.S. Department of Labor and the Internal Revenue Service. We also serve in an advisory capacity, striving to achieve results that best align with our clients’ business goals.

Our attorneys have significant experience litigating all types of complex commercial claims, including contract disputes; fraud, breach of fiduciary duty and tortious interference claims; non-compete litigation; merger-related litigation and control disputes; joint venture and partnership disputes; bankruptcy and restructuring-related issues; and statutory claims. Our renowned securities litigation practice frequently handles some of the most challenging, high-stakes securities litigation matters, and we have served as lead counsel in several of the largest securities class actions in U.S. history. Our experience in these and other complex litigation claims spans across numerous industries, including banking, energy, financial services, insurance, health care, manufacturing, mortgage, pharmaceutical, real estate, retail, technology and telecommunications.

In addition to handling some of the largest, most complex litigations, Skadden attorneys represent clients in a wide variety of pro bono matters, from trials to the U.S. Supreme Court.