Financial Services Litigation

Capitalizing on a wealth of financial services industry experience, our litigators and regulatory lawyers have achieved outstanding results for the world’s major financial institutions in their most complex disputes, while also providing compliance counseling to avoid litigation and regulatory risk.

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  Employment Litigation

  Another pillar of our integrated financial services offering is our market-leading Employment practice. Our Employment practice has represented nearly every major financial institution in the world and many mutual funds, private equity funds and hedge funds. And we’re a go-to resource for SIFMA, the industry association, to prepare its amicus submissions on the employment law issues most important to the industry.

  We have been recognized three times as an Employment Practice Group of the Year by Law360 and four times as the California Labor and Employment Department of the Year by The Recorder, and our Employment litigators are consistently top-ranked by Chambers and other peer directories. Our team has won time and again – often setting important precedents for the industry – in whistleblower, class action, high-profile discrimination, wage-and-hour, and other matters. In addition, we have conducted sensitive internal investigations at the highest levels, often involving C-suite executives, and at the direction of boards of directors. We also provide strategic advice to management and boards of directors on the most important employment issues facing financial services firms today. We are a global team, providing employment litigation and compliance advice in the United States and other major financial centers throughout Europe and Asia.

  A few examples:

  • Clinching a total defense verdict for venture capital firm Kleiner Perkins against former partner Ellen Pao after headline-making allegations of gender discrimination in the venture capital technology industry went to a lengthy jury trial.
  • Winning a case of first impression on behalf of a financial institution client, with the court finding that federal securities law pre-empts the enforcement of California's "forced patronage" statute against brokerage firms that forbid their employees from opening outside trading accounts"
  • Convincing the California Court of Appeal to affirm summary judgment in Valdez v. Bank of America, which confirmed the power of the National Bank Act to pre-empt state law claims.
  • Securing an important win in a FINRA arbitration that was brought by the former head of the U.S. Infrastructure Banking group for the Royal Bank of Scotland. After the bank employee was terminated, he filed a claim under various common law theories challenging his failure to receive a discretionary bonus.
  • Nabbing a trial victory for Rabobank, which faced six employment-related claims brought by a current employee. Our team obtained summary judgment on five claims, including claims of age discrimination, misrepresentation and retaliation. The remaining public policy claim was tried by a jury, which returned a complete defense verdict.
  • At the direction of its board of directors, representing a major international financial services firm in a sensitive internal investigation of allegations of potentially criminal wrongdoing by its CEO North America.
  • Counseling several leading financial institutions on their global pay equity strategy, including in responding to an activist shareholder proposal targeted at an alleged gender pay gap at that institution.
  • Acting for a major financial institution in a highly publicized whistleblower retaliation claim growing out of the financial crisis.

  "Brilliant" Appellate Coverage

  As one of the only Chambers-ranked appellate practices chaired out of New York, our Supreme Court & Appellate team is a natural leader in the financial services area. And in recognition of our coverage in this area, our Supreme Court & Appellate team is frequently called upon by other major law firms to handle some of the most complex financial services appeals. Chambers USA has recognized appellate talent at Orrick, describing the "brilliant analysis and judgment" and "perfect combination of persuasiveness, intelligence, wit and deference" that it takes to "mastermind" unlikely victories in cases involving "the most complicated legal or technological issues."

  Our representations include:

  • Persuading the Second Circuit to overturn a jury verdict against a senior executive of Countrywide Financial, who also had been ordered to pay a $1 million civil penalty, in connection with the "Hustle" mortgage program. In an unprecedented enforcement action, the government tried to portray our client as the face of the subprime crisis and had secured crushing, career-ending penalties. But the Second Circuit panel unanimously agreed with our legal position, finding that this case was a massive government overreach.
  • Representing Royal Bank of Scotland in a Second Circuit appeal of an $800 million RMBS litigation decision.
  • Representing JPMorgan in a Second Circuit appeal arising from the erroneous termination of a $1.5 billion loan in the General Motors bankruptcy.
  • Representing Credit Suisse in a $2 billion RMBS matter.
  • Obtaining an industry-sustaining win for Bank of Utah in an appeal that challenged the validity of the secondary market for life insurance policies.
  • Persuading the Second Circuit to dismiss a putative class action filed against UBS by shareholders seeking $800 million in lost "merger premium" value resulting from a failed merger.
  • Representing First Republic in a cert. petition addressing when the statute of limitations for securities fraud claims should begin to run (resulting in the Court’s request for the Solicitor General’s views, followed by a cert. grant in Merck & Co. v. Reynolds).

  Global Reach

  Our practice spans most of the world’s key financial centers, and our lawyers in the U.S. and abroad regularly handle sophisticated matters for international banks and funds. We also help U.S. clients navigate the unfamiliar terrain of foreign tribunals and regulatory schemes.

  In Europe, in particular, we are known for our compliance and dispute resolution teams. In France, our lawyers are counsel to the top French banks and funds in the highest-stakes matters. We recently obtained a "mega win" in a dispute known as L’affaire Tapie, representing Consortium de Realisation, the government-controlled entity liquidating the assets of Crédit Lyonnais, in one of the longest-running and most closely watched financial institution disputes in France’s recent history. Our Litigation team in France is rated among the elite by Chambers Global, which reports that we are an "acclaimed group with respected litigation practice" that "acts on shareholders' litigation, insolvency-related disputes and cases connected to debt refinancing." Our U.K. Litigation team advises on regulatory compliance and assists with internal investigations, including regularly supporting a Fortune 50 company in investigations in Europe and emerging markets. We’ve represented one of the largest creditors of Lehman Europe, and assist a Big 4 accounting firm with disputes arising out of the financial crisis.

  In Italy, we are recognized as one of the top corporate governance advisors and are especially known for our compliance practice. Our Chambers-ranked lawyers are described as a "solid group advising on corporate crime and criminal liability as well as on the structuring and implementation of compliance programmes." Our team has assisted hundreds of Italian and international financial institutions and other clients in complying with Legislative Decree 231, which introduced the direct liability of corporate entities for crimes committed by directors, executives and their subordinates. For this work, we were named Corporate Law Firm of the Year in 2015 by Legalcommunity.