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Nicholas Poli

Partner

New York

Nicholas Poli is a partner in Orrick's Complex Litigation and Dispute Resolution Group.  Based in New York, Nick is an experienced trial lawyer with a successful track record representing sophisticated financial institutions in their most important matters in state, federal, and bankruptcy courts across the country.  Nick's practice focuses on the financial services sector, including bankruptcy litigation on behalf of creditors and Trustees, as well securities litigation, and residential mortgage-backed securities defense.  Nick also helps guide clients through business-critical issues, including trade secrets disputes.  

Nick is an experienced bankruptcy litigator, representing financial institutions, pharmaceutical companies, and trustees in all stages of the bankruptcy process. Most recently, Nick served as co-lead trial counsel to the private credit arm of a global financial company and secured a $100 million trial victory in connection with multiple defaulted loans.

Nicholas also has extensive experience in issues arising out of the financial crisis, including a range of issues relating to residential mortgage backed securities (“RMBS”) and lending practices. He has represented issuers and sponsors of RMBS in fraud and breach of contract cases, as well as federal and state securities actions. Nicholas has defended a global financial institution in connection with two separate trials in the New York Supreme Court.

Nicholas is a key member of the Orrick team that represents Goldman Sachs and Credit Suisse, multinational investment banks and financial services companies, in connection with more than a dozen cases. This includes defending the clients against claims brought by investors, trustees, and monoline insurance companies in connection with the purchase and sale of RMBS. Nicholas also completed a secondment at Credit Suisse, where he was in the litigation and investigations group. During this time, he worked on regulatory matters involving FINRA, the SEC, the DOJ, the CFTC, and the NY Department of Financial Services. Additionally, he handled internal investigations addressing issues such as insider trading.

Nicholas has also represented one of the nation’s largest mortgage loan servicers, including in a class action lawsuit involving allegations of improper loan servicing practices.

  • Recent Bankruptcy Litigations

    • Secured Creditors with $100+ Million Claim. Obtained a resounding victory at trial for secured lenders and UBS O’Connor, as investment advisor, in an adversary proceeding brought by two chapter 11 debtors and their non-debtor affiliates seeking to invalidate the lender’s right to collateral securing a nine-figure loan. Nick and the team pursued expedited fact and expert discovery, culminating in a week-long trial in the Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of Texas, where Nick cross-examined Plaintiffs' most important fact and expert witnesses, and conducted multiple direct examinations, including the examination of what the Court determined was the "key" witness in deciding the case. Following trial, the Court rendered an opinion affirming the $100+ million claim. (AVR AH LLC v. Nineteen77 Capital Solutions A LP (In re Strudel Holdings LLC) (Bankr. S.D. Tex.))
    • Victory Securing Ownership of 800+ Acre Ranch in Aspen, CO. Co-lead trial counsel for secured lenders and UBS O’Connor in one-day evidentiary hearing regarding ownership of the Aspen Valley Ranch, an 813-acre luxury property that was pledged to our clients in connection with the extension of $100+ million loans to the Debtors and its affiliates. Nick examined two of the three witnesses and secured a complete victory, enabling his clients to close on the Ranch sale. (In re Strudel Holdings LLC, et al.)
    • Global Drug Development Company with $100+ Million Claim. Helped spearhead the defense of a global biopharmaceutical company in an adversary proceeding brought by a chapter 11 debtor seeking to extinguish company's rights to a development program for a breakthrough drug in Phase 3 clinical trials so it could sell the program to a third party. Nick and the team mounted a successful defense in a highly expedited litigation—which from complaint to trial was less than 3 months—in the Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware. On December 12, 2022, the night before trial, Nick and the team secured the debtor’s agreement to transfer the program to our client, which preserved the client’s investment and enabled the development program to continue. (PhaseBio Pharmaceuticals, Inc. v. SFJ Pharmaceuticals X, Ltd. (In re PhaseBio Pharmaceuticals, Inc.) (Bankr. D. Del.)
    • UK-based Financial Services Company with $100+ Million Claim. Represented the joint liquidators of a UK-based financial services company in a chapter 11 bankruptcy filed by Katerra Inc. and its 32 affiliated debtors in the Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of Texas. (In re Katerra Inc. (Bankr. S.D. Tex.))

    Commercial Litigation

    • Multi-Billion Dollar Representations of Credit Suisse. Represented Credit Suisse and related affiliates in connection with over a dozen lawsuits, representing billions of dollars of alleged liability, brought by monoline insurers, investors, and trustees of residential mortgage-backed securitizations.
    • Defending $3 Billion Attorney General Lawsuit. After replacing prior counsel, completing fact and expert discovery and summary judgment, Nick and the team successfully resolved the matter for far less than the $3 billion sought by the New Jersey Attorney General on the eve of trial. (Grewal v. Credit Suisse Securities (N.J. Super. Ct., Ch. Div.))
    • Goldman Sachs. Counsel for Goldman Sachs in two actions pending in the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York concerning RMBS sponsored by Goldman. The plaintiff in both cases, the trustee for two RMBS trusts, alleges that Goldman breached representations and warranties made in the securitization documents for the deals concerning the characteristics of the securitized loans. The complaints seek repurchase by Goldman and damages for all purportedly breaching loans in the two trusts, which together had an original principal balance of over $1.5 billion. (GSAMP 2007-HE1 v. Goldman Sachs Mortg. Co. (S.D.N.Y.); GSAMP 2007-HE2 v. Goldman Sachs Mortg. Co. (S.D.N.Y.)
    • RICO Consumer Class Action. Working with a team, litigating a high-profile civil RICO consumer class action against our client Ocwen, a Florida-based loan servicing company. We took the case over from another firm after the class was certified, and engaged in merits discovery and extensive expert analysis, in an attempt to narrow down the class size and damages amount, in preparation for our motion for summary judgment.
    • adMarketplace (AMP). Counsel for AMP, a leading online search advertising marketplace, in multiple lawsuits in NY Supreme Court involving breach of contract and AMP’s claims of fraud and theft of trade secrets against multiple entities. (Bidtellect v. adMarketplace (N.Y. Sup. Ct., N.Y. Cnty.), adMarketplace v. John Doe No. 1 (N.Y. Sup. Ct., N.Y. Cnty.))

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