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December 02, 2020
Led by Nicholas Gravante, this team of fellow Boies Schiller partners – including Philip Iovieno, Karen Dyer and Lawrence Brandman – will further establish Cadwalader as a destination litigation practice.
Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft LLP announced today that nationally renowned litigator Nicholas Gravante and three market-leading partners – Philip Iovieno, Karen Dyer and Lawrence Brandman – will be joining the firm as members of the firm’s destination litigation practice. The addition of these accomplished lawyers enhances the firm’s ability to produce great results for clients in their most important matters.
The team joins Cadwalader from Boies Schiller, where Gravante served as managing partner. Gravante and the team led that firm’s representation on a number of headline commercial litigation and antitrust litigation matters. They join a litigation group at Cadwalader that is already recognized as a transatlantic powerhouse, and they will strengthen the firm’s market-leading trial capabilities.
“We couldn’t be more excited to add a world-class team of litigators from one of the country’s premier litigation firms,” said Cadwalader managing partner Pat Quinn. “Nick has been a builder throughout his career, both in creating a unique practice and reputation for Boies Schiller and in the philanthropic community. Nick is on the shortlist of litigators around the country whenever there is high-stakes litigation. His addition as head of our Commercial Litigation practice will accelerate the growth of our outstanding capabilities. The arrival of this team cements Cadwalader’s position as a destination litigation firm.”
The new partners add first-in-class strength to Cadwalader’s growing Global Litigation Group, which includes the recent addition of another Boies Schiller trial team comprised of Sean O’Shea, Michael Petrella and Amanda Devereux. In addition, recent Cadwalader Global Litigation Group additions have included former Consumer Financial Protection Bureau senior counsel Rachel Rodman; London white collar partners Mark Beardsworth and Kevin Roberts; and State Attorneys General Practice head Doug Gansler, the former Maryland Attorney General.
“I have been extremely impressed by the strategic steps that Cadwalader has taken in the past few years to establish its litigation practice as a market leader,” said Gravante, who will join Cadwalader as head of the firm’s Commercial Litigation practice. “I am eager to help build on that success and momentum to create one of the top litigation practices in the country.”
Regarding his team’s move to Cadwalader, Gravante added: “We are very excited about this opportunity. With its storied 228-year history as an iconic Wall Street firm, Cadwalader has preeminent legal talent, and we are confident that together we can reach even greater heights.”
Gravante’s practice ranges from complex commercial cases to securities and antitrust litigation, as well as criminal cases, internal investigations and appeals. For two decades, he has consistently been honored as one of the country’s top litigators who handles high-profile matters as well as highly-sensitive, confidential matters resolved behind the scenes. Recently, Gravante won a $663 million jury verdict for a plaintiff in a case against the manufacturer of highway guardrails, the biggest award ever in a whistleblower action without intervention by the U.S. Department of Justice. His trial victories have included winning an acquittal for three leading New York City real estate companies indicted under the Martin Act, and a jury verdict that vindicated foreign exchange traders at Banque Indosuez who were accused of executing hundreds of millions of dollars of unauthorized trades. Gravante has negotiated non-prosecution agreements for publicly traded companies and won exoneration of numerous individuals, non-profit entities, Fortune 500 companies, and a major national university in federal and state grand jury and regulatory investigations. He currently serves as counsel to the former CEO of a major insurance company, Starr Companies, The Related Companies and several hedge funds.
Gravante has been a leader in the bar and the philanthropic community. He was appointed to the New York Continuing Legal Education Board by former NY Chief Judge Jonathan Lippman, to the Second Department Judicial Screening Committee by Governor Andrew Cuomo and to the Departmental Disciplinary Committee by the First Department. Gravante currently serves as Board Chair of Poly Prep Country Day School and Chair of the Community Service Society of New York. He is the former Board Chair of Brooklyn Public Library and currently serves as a trustee for the Central Park Conservancy.
Iovieno will join the firm as co-leader of the Antitrust Litigation practice, which he will lead along with Cadwalader Washington, D.C. partner Brian Wallach. Iovieno’s practice focuses on representing plaintiffs and defendants in antitrust and other complex commercial litigation. He has litigated in federal and state courts throughout the country, including having led or co-led multiple jury trials through verdict. Iovieno also maintains an active traditional antitrust litigation practice, and has represented a number of leading corporations for many years. In one noteworthy matter, he represented 12 corporate opt-out plaintiffs who were victims of a price-fixing cartel involving LCD panels, achieving total settlements of more than $500 million, exceeding 150 percent of the plaintiffs’ damage claims and more than 5 times what they would have recovered from the class action.
Dyer is a leading trial lawyer, representing various Fortune 500 companies and other multimillion and multibillion dollar entities in all aspects of commercial litigation, including antitrust, civil RICO, securities and bankruptcy law. She has led a number of significant representations, including her recent work on behalf of a client in connection with a multibillion dollar antitrust group boycott case involving securities trading products and previously worked on the Name Brand Pharmaceuticals opt-out case. Dyer obtained a directed verdict for a nationwide hospital chain in an antitrust case that sought to preliminarily and permanently enjoin that chain’s merger with another major hospital system. She has also represented Florida Power & Light in connection with antitrust disputes with other power suppliers. In addition to her antitrust work, she has represented private equity and venture capital firms in large U.S. and international disputes, recently representing a private venture capital firm in a proxy dispute with a worldwide rental car company.
Brandman has more than 35 years of experience in bankruptcy advisory and litigation matters. Prior to joining Boies Schiller, he served in various senior leadership roles at Lehman Brothers Holdings, Goldman Sachs and Credit Suisse First Boston.
“Nick brings so much to our firm – first-class trial capabilities and expertise, a history of building a great practice and exceptional client relationships – and we are so happy to have him, along with Phil, Karen and Larry, on board at Cadwalader,” said Jason Halper, Cadwalader’s Global Litigation Group chair. “This is just the start of the many great things we hope to accomplish together.”
