McDermott Will & Schulte, a global law firm

Disputes can disrupt your operations, drain resources, and create uncertainty that affects business performance. Our litigation and dispute resolution lawyers help you navigate high-stakes disputes while reducing uncertainty, managing risk, and protecting your long-term business interests.

Our litigation and dispute resolution practice is comprised of experienced litigators and trial lawyers throughout the US and Europe. Working across practices, we provide integrated counsel tailored to complex disputes. By combining industry- and practice-specific knowledge with trial and appellate experience, we assess how disputes are likely to evolve and adapt your strategy accordingly.

Our lawyers guide you through every stage of a dispute – from early case assessment through litigation, trial, and appeal. With a dedicated appellate practice that has handled hundreds of appeals, including matters before the US Supreme Court, we approach cases with trial and appellate strategies aligned from the outset.

When litigation is not the most effective path forward, we partner with you to resolve disputes through arbitration and mediation. Our lawyers represent you in proceedings before the American Arbitration Association (AAA), the International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID), and other arbitral bodies – helping you control risk, maintain confidentiality, and preserve business relationships.

In addition to commercial disputes, we advise you on sensitive investigations and government enforcement actions. We conduct internal investigations involving allegations of misconduct, compliance issues, and potential regulatory violations. We also represent you in proceedings involving the US Department of Justice (DOJ), the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), self-regulatory organizations, stock exchanges, and other state and federal agencies.

Our litigation and dispute resolution lawyers understand how disputes can affect your business and reputation. By combining litigation experience with practical business insight, we help you assess risk, reduce uncertainty, and determine the most effective path forward – whether through litigation or strategic resolution outside the courtroom.

More than ever, class action litigation presents a risk for your business as plaintiffs’ lawyers become more sophisticated and aggressive in filing class actions.

Our litigators provide comprehensive counseling advice to prevent and, as needed, defend your company at all stages of class actions, including pre-filing resolutions of threatened claims, successful motions to dismiss and to compel arbitration, summary judgment grants, class certification denials, class de-certification and successful appeals of class certification rulings. With decades of experience and a strong track record, our representation has spanned issues of antitrust and unfair competition, ERISA and RICO liability, consumer fraud, deceptive business practices and product liability. Our team regularly provides counseling to avoid class actions, and we have also successfully defeated class actions and negotiated favorable settlements. Clients seek our counsel particularly for our ability to address the unique issues raised in healthcare, tax, employment, securities and consumer class actions.

To help you succeed, we draw on our experience providing strategic and tactical counsel in the management of large and complex class action litigation. We practice regularly before the Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation, serve as lead defense counsel in class actions spanning multiple state and federal jurisdictions, and represent clients in parallel government proceedings, including multi-state attorney general investigations and actions.

Our lawyers also are active in promoting various civil justice reform initiatives, including changes to the rules affecting class actions. We contributed to what ultimately became The Class Action Fairness Act and have helped secure enactment of state-level rules for interlocutory appeals of class certification rulings.

The lawyers of our Commercial Litigation Group draw on their industry knowledge, efficient project management, business acumen, and ability to take complicated, high-stakes commercial cases to trial to help clients resolve disputes quickly and effectively.

We represent transnational, multibillion-dollar corporations as plaintiffs and defendants in commercial litigation. Our clients operate in several sectors of the worldwide economy, from chemicals and health care, to hospitality and financial services. We leverage our industry experience and strong trial skills to provide clients with resolutions to a broad scope of business and commercial disputes, including breach of contract, fraud and securities litigation, as well as licensing and supplier disputes.

In addition to our representation of clients in federal and state courts across the country, we regularly act as lead counsel for clients in appeals in numerous federal and state appellate courts and before the US Supreme Court and state supreme courts.

During early case assessment, we seek to maximize the prospects for a successful outcome by working with our clients to determine the best strategy and method to move forward under the particular circumstances. We have handled thousands of mediations and arbitrations in forums worldwide, as well as mini-trials, summary jury trials and other devices that can also achieve successful results.

What would you do if your company faced shareholder class action and derivative lawsuits, a Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) investigation or a corporate governance dispute? What if you encountered all three simultaneously? With the complexity of securities and governance law, you need a trusted partner by your side who understands both the legal and business implications of the issues that are raised by shareholders and regulators.

You can count on our dedicated securities & corporate governance litigation team to protect your legal and business interests in high-stakes cases and sensitive governance matters. Whether you face accusations of accounting irregularities, inadequate disclosures, breaches of fiduciary duty, market manipulation, insider trading or valuation irregularities, we are well-versed in litigating a broad range of these substantive issues to help you navigate it all.

With a nationwide network of collaborative practitioners, including a significant presence in New York, Delaware, Chicago, Los Angeles and Washington DC, we’re able to support your needs regardless of jurisdiction. The group also includes dedicated corporate governance litigators, including in our Delaware office. Our experienced team includes Board and Fund Counsellors, trial lawyers, corporate governance litigators, former SEC regulators, federal prosecutors, in-house lawyers, and federal and Delaware law clerks. Additionally, our sophisticated counsel helps you manage any governance, disclosure, regulatory and trading issues.

We have an extensive and successful track record in shareholder class action litigation filed pursuant to the Securities Act of 1933 and Securities Exchange Act of 1934. In addition, our team regularly represents a wide range of clients in the investment management industry in connection with a myriad of complex commercial litigation and regulatory matters. Corporate clients include investment banks, accounting firms, hedge funds, funds of funds, and private equity funds, as well as their principals and portfolio companies. We also regularly represent individual issuers, directors and officers, Board Committees.

Because of this collective knowledge and passion for the practice, our team has achieved highly favorable results stemming from litigation, negotiated results, investigations, and enforcement proceedings.

International arbitration is far from an academic exercise. As soon as a dispute arises, counsel from a law firm with demonstrated success and knowledge of the arbitration framework and process is critical. At the firm, we work side-by-side with our clients to analyze the strength of their claims and defenses in conjunction with their economic imperatives. We provide our clients with unvarnished advice, tailor an arbitration strategy that is determined by reality rather than wishful thinking, avoid over-lawyering a case, and never lose focus on the possibility of early resolution through settlement.

Our integrated team includes lawyers situated in the United States, France, England, Germany, Belgium and Italy. Providing coordinated solutions to the most complex cross-border controversies, our work covers all types of international commercial disputes, investor state arbitrations, and litigation in aid of international arbitration. We also advise our clients in the drafting of international arbitration clauses, internal investigations and criminal defense matters.

Our lawyers have experience resolving international commercial disputes under all of the major international arbitration institutions and rules, and our work in this arena has been recognized globally by, among others, Global Arbitration Review, The Legal 500 Europe, Middle East & Africa and Chambers Global. For us, international arbitration is not just about scoring points against an opposing legal team on an inevitable march to a final hearing; rather, it is about partnering with our clients to achieve results that are consistent with their business goals and objectives.

Product liability claims can disrupt operations and tarnish reputations—for even the most reputable companies. When facing product liability litigation, you need a quick response and a thoroughly mapped out strategy to mitigate risk.

That’s why companies around the world turn to us for help with serious product-related litigation matters, including toxic torts, product recalls and multi-jurisdictional consumer class actions. Our seasoned trial lawyers partner with you to understand your product inside and out, including its manufacture, distribution and use, then develop litigation strategies that are both innovative and targeted to your unique situation and business needs.

Our team has extensive experience managing, supervising and handling large-exposure national US litigation, including multidistrict litigation; multi-plaintiff cases involving lead paint, medical devices, pharmaceuticals, chemicals, telecommunications, asbestos and other construction products; and litigation in difficult jurisdictions, including those branded as “judicial hellholes” by the US Chamber of Commerce. We also handle claims involving international exposures and litigation filed in non-US jurisdictions, including claims before the EU courts. Our deep familiarity with the science of causation and long-standing relationships with leading experts give us a thorough command of the core issues in all product areas.

Often the best way to protect your business is to proactively identify and root out potential problems before they can spread. We draw on our deep experience with high-stakes litigation to deliver effective pre-marketing advice to eliminate potential risk areas. We examine insurance policy coverage issues; review corporate mergers and acquisitions to assess potential areas of liability; advise on regulatory requirements; and develop instructions, warnings and methods to limit potential claims.

As you work to prevent or address claims, cost-effectiveness is a top priority. To help you manage large-scale dockets, we have developed sophisticated in-house tools and deploy skilled paralegal and support staff to perform case-management tasks effectively and efficiently. We understand that major cases can impose a heavy financial burden, so we use legal project management processes to offer fee arrangements that can add a layer of predictability to your legal expenses.

Our product liability lawyers are well known for their forward-thinking, tactical counsel in the management of large and complex class action and mass tort litigation. To aid distributors, retailers and other businesses in today’s highly contentious environment, we leverage our extensive experience handling a broad range of mass tort cases across the United States and internationally to deliver proven results.