News

January 2022: Patterson Belknap Webb & Tyler announced Douglas L. Tang, Amy N. Vegari, and Timothy A. Waters have become Partners of the firm. Douglas practices in the Employee Benefits and Executive Compensation practice group, where he advises clients on a wide variety of employee benefits, employment, and executive compensation matters, both in the course of clients’ day-to-day business dealings and in connection with corporate transactions. Amy practices in the Litigation department, where she focuses on complex commercial litigation and antitrust law. Her practice includes class action defense, white collar defense and investigations, and pharmaceutical litigation. Timothy practices in the Litigation department, where he represents clients in a range of complex commercial litigation matters in federal and state courts and in international arbitrations. He is an active member of the firm’s Anti-Counterfeiting practice and routinely represents major corporations, including pharmaceutical and medical device manufacturers, in large-scale litigations involving counterfeit and gray-market products.

November 2021: Patterson Belknap Webb & Tyler announced that H. Gregory Baker has joined the firm as a Partner in its Litigation department. Mr. Baker will serve as Chair of the firm’s Securities Litigation practice and will be a member of the White-Collar Defense and Investigations group. A former Senior Counsel for the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) with extensive experience investigating and litigating securities laws violations, Mr. Baker provides strategic advice to individuals and businesses in financial services and other industries. He serves as a key advisor on investigations and litigation strategy and applies his firsthand knowledge of the SEC to help clients.

June 2021: Patterson Belknap Webb & Tyler LLP announced that Lauren Schorr Potter, a former Assistant United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, has joined the firm as a partner in the Litigation department. Ms. Potter will focus her practice on white-collar defense and investigations and complex civil litigation. Prior to joining Patterson, Ms. Potter served for more than six years as an Assistant U.S. Attorney in the Southern District of New York, where she was most recently co-chief of the Violent and Organized Crime Unit. Patterson Belknap has been recognized by Benchmark Litigation as the 2021 “New York Firm of the Year” and “Pro Bono Firm of the Year.” The awards recognize the firms and litigators who have performed exceptionally at both local and national levels. The firm was also recognized as “Pro Bono Firm of the Year” for their work in Trump v. Hawaii, where they represented a union of federal asylum and refugee officers employed by the Department of Homeland Security who have opposed various restrictions the United States has placed on refugees seeking entry into our country.

March 2021: Patterson Belknap Webb & Tyler LLP launched its Commercial Real Estate Workouts and Litigation group. The group draws on its vast experience across multiple disciplines in advising clients on navigating their options in complex deal structures, including workouts, bankruptcies, receiverships, and UCC dispositions, and, if necessary, exercising or defending their rights in the litigation arena. The group is comprised of members from Patterson Belknap’s elite Real Estate, Litigation, Business Reorganization and Creditors’ Rights, and Corporate practices. Also, Patterson Belknap’s Structured Finance Litigation and Real Estate practices have been recognized in the Chambers USA guide of leading law firms and based on comments from clients and peers, the guide notes: “They have a superlative record in the RMBS space.” The firm also announced that, Andrew P. Beame, Barbara L. Mullin, and Hope K. Plasha have become partners of the firm, and Jacqueline L. Bonneau, Andrew D. Cohen, Diana M. Conner, David Kleban, and George A. LoBiondo have become counsel. Andrew P. Beame practices in the firm’s Corporate Department, where he represents a wide variety of clients in transactional matters and as outside general counsel. Barbara L. Mullin practices in the firm’s Litigation department, focusing on patent litigation and regularly tries patent cases in federal courts and before arbitration panels and has argued before the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit. Hope K. Plasha practices in the firm’s Real Estate department and has a broad-based national and international practice. Jacqueline L. Bonneau practices in the firm’s Litigation department, where her practice focuses on complex commercial litigation, employment law, structured finance litigation, white collar defense and internal investigations, and class action defense. Andrew D. Cohen, Ph.D. practices in the firm’s Litigation department, where he focuses on patent litigation with an emphasis on the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industries. Diana M. Conner practices in the firm’s Litigation department, where her practice focuses on complex commercial litigation and white-collar defense. David Kleban practices in the firm’s Litigation department, where he represents clients in a variety of litigation contexts from pre-suit investigation through appeal and judgment collection; and has assisted major media entities in the enforcement of their intellectual property rights in news content. George A. LoBiondo practices in the firm’s Litigation department, where his practice focuses on complex commercial disputes, as well as internal investigations and matters adverse to government entities. Also, attorneys Daniel Ruzumna, Henry Bubel, Jenny Longman, and Tiffany Tam published an article in Think Advisor on the IRS’ updates to the Voluntary Disclosure Program. Finally, Benchmark Litigation has shortlisted Patterson Belknap in the New York category of its U.S. 2021 Benchmark Litigation U.S. Awards. The annual awards recognize law firms for their excellence and innovation in the most impactful disputes across the United States.

June 2020: The United States Senate passed S. 945, the “Holding Foreign Companies Accountable Act” (the HFCAA), by unanimous consent on May 20, 2020.  The HFCAA was first introduced in the Senate on March 28, 2019 by Senator John Kennedy (R-LA) and co-sponsored by Senator Chris Van Hollen (D-MD).  On the same day of the HFCAA’s passage in the Senate, Representative Bradley Sherman (D-CA) introduced companion legislation in the United States House of Representatives that is identical to the HFCAA. The HFCAA, which amends the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002, (i) imposes potential trading prohibitions for non-compliance with certain audit-related requirements, and (ii) mandates additional reporting and disclosure requirements on reporting issuers whose securities are listed for trading on any U.S. securities exchange or are traded “over-the-counter” in the U.S., in each case effectively limiting access to U.S. capital markets for non-compliant reporting issuers. Click here to read the full alert by Patterson Belknap‘s Jean-Claude Lanza, Herman Raspe and Gerald DeSantis

March 2020: New York City member firm Patterson Belknap Webb & Tyler has filed a lawsuit on behalf of the watchdog group American Oversight, alleging that an informal task force advising President Trump on presidential pardons is running afoul of the law. The lawsuit claims the group violated the Federal Advisory Committee Act because it did not file a charter and did not share its meetings and documents with the public. In February, President Trump granted several pardons, including to former Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich, businessman Michael Milken and former San Francisco 49ers owner Eddie DeBartolo. Also at Patterson Belknap Webb & Tyler, the firm has released the second edition of its New York Commercial Division Practice Guide. As with the first edition, the guide contains useful information about litigating in the commercial division of the New York State Supreme Court. The second edition has been updated to reflect rule changes and noteworthy decisions by the commercial division as well as appellate court decisions reviewing commercial division cases. The second edition also has a new foreword by former New York County Commercial Division Justice Eileen Bransten. Co-edited by Stephen Younger and Muhammad Faridi and published by Bloomberg Law, the practice guide is available to Bloomberg Law subscribers here. For a print version of the guide, please contact Stephen Younger or Muhammad Faridi.

September 2019: New York City member firm Patterson Belknap Webb & Tyler has hired Sally King as its new chief operating officer. In her new role, she will be responsible for leading and directing operations at the firm, including overseeing finance, information services, and business development. Ms. King previously was COO at Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld. She said she was attracted to Patterson Belknap because the firm maintains a “high caliber” of lawyers but operates out of just one office in New York. Before joining Akin Gump, Ms. King served as COO of Dentons, Clifford Chance, and Cooley. She also has extensive in-house experience, having served as General Electric’s senior manager of legal operations, the first non-lawyer to manage GE’s legal department.

June 2019: New York City member firm Patterson Belknap Webb & Tyler has released a new publication on cybersecurity governance entitled Cybersecurity Governance: A Guide for Corporate Officers, Directors and General Counsel, an excerpt of which is available for download here. Part of Bloomberg Law’s Privacy & Data Security Practice Portfolio Series and authored by Patterson Belknap partner Craig Newman and counsel Peter Nelson, the guide takes a “deep dive” into the complexities and nuances of key cybersecurity oversight issues, including the responsibility and liability of directors, what a board of directors needs to know, a board’s role in response to a data security incident, the key legal concepts that every corporate leader should understand, applicable laws and regulations, public company disclosure requirements, the importance of privilege, cybersecurity insurance, and cyber governance for tax-exempt organizations.

March 2019: With the Supreme Court’s ruling last year allowing states to introduce sports betting, teams must be vigilant about hackers who try to capitalize on lucrative sports data, wrote Patterson Belknap Webb & Tyler partner Craig Newman in Bloomberg Law’s Big Law Business. Mr. Newman, who chairs the firm’s privacy and data security group warns that a hacker can avail himself of sensitive information, such as strategic team data, or even personal player data, and gamble away. To read the article in its entirety, click here.

February 2019: New York City member firm Patterson Belknap partner Craig Newman, who chairs the firm’s privacy and data security practice, recently penned an article for The New York Times regarding the implications for shareholders following Yahoo’s data breach settlement. In “Lessons for Corporate Boardrooms from Yahoo’s Cybersecurity Settlement,” he points out that the company’s January 2019 settlement “marked the first time that shareholders have been awarded monetary damages in a derivative lawsuit related to a data breach. “Mr. Newman posits that “the settlement signals that director and officer liability for cybersecurity oversight is entering new and potentially perilous territory.” To read the article in its entirety, click here.

January 2019: New York City member firm Patterson Belknap Webb & Tyler has named Michelle Cohen its first chief people, diversity and professional development officer. She will remain of counsel at the firm, her most recent role after joining in 2006 and being named partner in 2013. In her new role, Ms. Cohen will have responsibility for overseeing the firm’s diversity training programs, its evaluation and check-in process for associates, and its resource groups aimed at supporting attorneys of color, female attorneys and LGBT attorneys. She is a graduate of the Benjamin Cardozo School of Law. Also at Patterson Belknap, Craig Newman, Alejandro Cruz, and Joshua Stein have published an article in The National Law Journal entitled, “MGM’s Fight for SAFETY Act Protection Paused,” describing MGM’s recent decision to recant its original plan to seek declaratory relief barring the claims of the 58 victims of the October 2017 Mandalay Bay shooting and their families and seek private mediation instead. To read the article, click here.

October 2018: Craig Newman of New York City member firm Patterson Belknap Webb & Tyler recently authored an op-ed for The New York Times regarding the Securities and Exchange Commission’s first-ever use of a cybersecurity enforcement tool to punish a financial firm for its “failures” to protect client information against a cyber-attack. In “The S.E.C. Dusts Off a Never-Used Cyber Enforcement Tool,” Mr. Newman notes that the agency used its “Identity Theft Red Flags Rule” to censure a financial firm for allowing hackers to access social security numbers, account balances and even details of client investment accounts. “The S.E.C.’s action should set off alarm bells for every financial firm and board of directors under the agency’s watch. Most companies are probably not in compliance with the rule and, given the agency’s increased focus on cybersecurity, they should move quickly to address any issues.” Mr. Newman chairs the firm’s privacy and data security practice. To read the article, click here. Also at Patterson Belknap, Stephen Younger and Michael Farinacci have authored an article in Law360 regarding a recent decision by the New York Supreme Court Appellate Division’s First Department in Daesang v. NutraSweet, finding that New York County’s Commercial Division erred when it partially vacated an arbitration award on the ground that the arbitrators manifestly disregarded the law. As a result, the Appellate Division confirmed the arbitration award, reaffirming New York’s pro-arbitration attitude. To read the article, click here.

August 2018: The New York Times on July 24^th featured an article written by New York City member firm Patterson Belknap Webb & Tyler partner Craig Newman entitled, “Suing Las Vegas Victims Got Headlines. Outcome Could Be Big News, Too.” In the article, Mr. Newman discusses MGM’s legal strategy of suing the victims of last year’s Las Vegas mass shooting at the Mandalay Bay Hotel, owned by MGM, to claim immunity from liability under a federal law passed after the September 11^th terrorist attacks. The lawsuits are the first-ever test of the Support Antiterrorism by Fostering Effective Technologies Act of 2002 or Safety Act, which was enacted by Congress to protect companies from lawsuits after terrorist acts and cyberattacks. To read the article in its entirety, click here.

July 2018: Craig Newman, who chairs New York City member firm Patterson Belknap Webb & Tyler’s privacy and data security group,recently wrote an article published in The New York Times, entitled “Cybercrime Meets Insider Trading in Sports.” In the article, Mr. Newman discusses the increased value of confidential sports data due to the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling in Murphy v. National Collegiate Athletic Association, which makes “inside information about teams and their players more valuable . . . and that’s an opportunity for sophisticated cybercriminals.” To read the article, click here. Also at Patterson Belknap Webb & Tyler, Mr. Newman and his colleagues Alejandro Cruz, Maren Messing, Kade Olsen and Simone Silva-Arrindell recently published an alert on California’s new digital privacy law. To read the alert, click here.

April 2018: The April 11, 2018, edition of The New York Times featured an article written by New York City member firm Patterson Belknap Webb & Tyler privacy and data security practice chairman Craig Newman, entitled “A Simple Proposal to Help Fix Corporate America’s Cybersecurity Problem.” Mr. Newman proposes a cybersecurity grading system as a next step to help solve the lack of information about the data security practices of businesses. A new grading system should answer basic questions such as, “Are companies on top of data security, and if hacked, do they know how to reduce the impact?” To read the article in its entirety, click here.

March 2018:  The National Law Journal has named David Weslow of District of Columbia member firm Wiley Rein and Geoffrey Potter of New York City member firm Patterson Belknap Webb & Tyler to its 2018 list of Intellectual Property Trailblazers. Mr. Weslow’s cases have all involved copyright trademark and computer law claims, helping clients get control of stolen IP or shut down infringement. In one, he represented 411mania.com after its URL was stolen and held for ransom. He also filed a lawsuit to assert trademark and copyright claims against John Does who were running an Internet-based counterfeit operation, importing fake Montblanc products into the U.S. Mr. Potter chairs his firm’s anti-counterfeiting practice. He recently obtained preliminary injunctions for global healthcare company Abbott against dozens of distributors who were importing and then selling domestically hundreds of thousands of boxes of Abbott’s blood glucose test strips that the company had sold outside the U.S. for a low price. He then successfully defended the injunctions in the Second Circuit, which upheld the lower court’s finding that the imported strips’ packaging was materially different from what Abbott sold domestically and, therefore, violated its trademarks. Also at Patterson Belknap, partner Dan Lowenthal recently published an article in the Journal of Corporate Renewal entitled, “Venezuelan Debt Crisis Intensifies as Its Leaders Ponder Responses.” The article can be found here. Finally, Patterson Belknap partners Steve Younger and Muhammad Faridi will present a Bloomberg BNA webinar on Monday, March 26th, entitled “Cost-Effective Commercial Litigation in New York’s Commercial Division.” Registration is complimentary. A full description of the webinar, along with registration information, is available online.  

February 2018: The city of Bayonne, New Jersey, has agreed to a $400,000 settlement of a suit claiming it denied a zoning variance for construction of a mosque based on anti-Muslim bias. Adeel Mangi and Muhammad Faridi of New York City member firm Patterson Belknap Webb & Tyler represented the plaintiff group, which went by the name Bayonne Muslims. The suit claimed that city officials turned down the group’s variance application after a series of public meetings on the application where objectors waved signs saying “Stop the Mosque” and told residents to go back where they came from. The settlement calls for city officials to cooperate with Bayonne Muslims as it obtains approvals for the mosque and prohibits retaliation against members of the plaintiff group. The court will retain jurisdiction in the case until a certificate of occupancy is granted.

December 2017: New York City firm Patterson Belknap Webb & Tyler has just published a guide to the New York Commercial Division with Bloomberg BNA. This new publication is part of Bloomberg Law’s Litigation Practice Portfolio Series. It is organized into various chapters written by the firm’s lawyers, containing useful information about litigating in the Commercial Division of the New York State Supreme Court. More information can be found here.

September 2017: New York City member firm Patterson Belknap Webb & Tyler has launched Bankruptcy Update Blog, a source of current news and analysis of key bankruptcy cases and developments in U.S. and international matters. Daniel Lowenthal, who chairs the firm’s business reorganization and creditors’ rights practice, administers the blog. Patterson Belknap’s business reorganization and creditors’ rights attorneys represent creditors’ committees, trade creditors, indenture trustees, and bankruptcy trustees and examiners in some of today’s most complex bankruptcy cases. It is part of the firm’s litigation practice, which is known for its experience in federal courts nationally.

July 2017: If you’re planning to attend the 2017 American Bar Association annual meeting August 10^th to 15^th in New York City, please consider attending the CLE in the City Series, which the ABA is hosting in conjunction with the annual meeting. The CLE in the City Series will offer first-rate CLE programs in twelve practice area tracks at law firms across midtown Manhattan. New York City member firm Patterson Belknap Webb & Tyler will be sponsoring the Legal Profession track of the series at the New York City Bar Association. On Thursday, August 10^th, Patterson Belknap Partner Craig Newman will be moderating a panel on “Cybersecurity for Law Firms: Does Size Matter?” The program will feature a discussion of current cybersecurity threats facing law firms of all sizes, and will include perspectives from a forensics firm, the government, and in-house counsel at a professional liability insurer. For more information on Craig Newman’s panel or to register for the CLE in the City Series, click here.

June 2017: The Weinberg Center for Elder Abuse Prevention held its 6th annual awards of distinction breakfast May 17th at the offices of Conde Nast at One World Trade Center in New York. Stephen Younger, a partner at New York City member firm Patterson Belknap Webb & Tyler, received the Champion for Change Award in recognition of his commitment to victim advocacy and protecting the rights and dignity of older adults. The Weinberg Center for Elder Abuse Prevention is the nation’s first elder-abuse shelter, serving eligible individuals 60 years and older. The Weinberg Center provides emergency short-term housing, healthcare services, legal advocacy, and support services to victims of elder abuse.

May 2017: Craig Newman, Alejandro Cruz, Kade Olsen, Simone Silva-Arrindell and Leigh Barnwell of New York City member firm Patterson Belknap Webb Tyler recently authored a mini-treatise entitled, “New York’s Cybersecurity Regulations for Financial Institutions & Health Care,” published by and available on Bloomberg Law. The publication provides a general overview of the sweeping new cybersecurity regulation issued by the New York State Department of Financial Services, the state’s top banking and insurance regulator, focusing on its core rules and requirements. It also provides practical guidance regarding issues that affected institutions might want to consider as they implement the requirements of the regulation. To access the document, please click here. Also from Patterson Belknap is a client alert it released earlier this month entitled, “Puerto Rico Files for Bankruptcy: New York Judge to Hear Case.” To read the alert in its entirety, please click here.

February 2017: Daniel Lowenthal of New York City member firm Patterson Belknap Webb & Tyler has been named chair of the firm’s business reorganization and creditors’ rights practice. Mr. Lowenthal regularly represents U.S. and non-U.S. business entities in a wide range of complex litigation issues arising out of bankruptcy, including creditors’ rights disputes, purchases of intellectual property assets, and distressed debt acquisitions and restructuring. Mr. Lowenthal has achieved numerous favorable results for clients in trial and appellate courts as well as commercial arbitration. Recently, he successfully defended former executives of a failed European bank against allegations they had defrauded investors. A regular speaker on bankruptcy law topics, Mr. Lowenthal recently presented for the American Bankruptcy Institute, the Practising Law Institute, INSOL International, INSOL Europe, and the Association of Corporate Counsel. He is a graduate of George Washington University Law School.