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October 17, 2016
Cadwalader announced today that securities partner and firm alumnus Jason M. Halper will rejoin the firm as Co-Chair of the newly formed Global Litigation Group. In this role, Halper will help to shape Cadwalader’s litigation strategy, the department’s growth and client relationships.
The Global Litigation Group has been formed as part of the firm’s strategy to concentrate on better serving its core client base: financial institutions, large corporates and funds. The group comprises four important areas for clients: corporate governance, M&A and securities litigation; white collar defense and investigations; antitrust investigations; and IP litigation. Halper will co-chair the group with Washington, D.C. partner Ken Wainstein, who has also chaired the White Collar Defense and Investigations Group.
“Jason was a well-loved and respected partner in his prior tenure with our firm and is now returning to be a big part of its future,” said Patrick Quinn, Managing Partner. “Throughout his 16 years at the firm, Jason consistently exemplified a commitment to outstanding client service and collaboration that are central to our values.”
Ranked as a leading securities and defense attorney by Chambers USA, Legal 500 USA and Benchmark Litigation, among others, Halper rejoins Cadwalader from Orrick, where he served as Co-Head of the Financial Institutions Litigation Practice and as a partner in the Securities Litigation and Regulatory Enforcement Group. He has more than two decades of experience representing financial institutions, funds, public and private companies, corporate directors and other individuals in complex business disputes, government investigations, securities, ERISA and RICO class actions, and litigation arising from M&A or other transactions.
Halper also is an adjunct professor in corporate and securities law at the University of Pennsylvania Law School and serves on the Advisory Boards of the Harvard Law School Program on Corporate Governance and Bloomberg Law: Corporate Transactions.
“Returning to Cadwalader at an exciting time of growth for the firm was an easy decision,” Halper said. “I am especially excited about the opportunity to work closely with Ken Wainstein to carry forward the firm’s global litigation practice. Cadwalader continues to set global standards of excellence in advising clients on their most complex litigation and white collar defense matters. I have great confidence in the firm’s strategic plan to focus on its core clients, and in the management team to further the success of the litigation practice and the firm as whole.”
Wainstein, prior to joining the firm, had a long and distinguished public service career including Homeland Security Advisor to President George W. Bush; the United States Attorney in Washington, D.C., where he managed the largest U.S. Attorney’s Office in the country; Assistant Attorney General for National Security; General Counsel of the Federal Bureau of Investigation; Director of the Executive Office for U.S. Attorneys; and federal prosecutor in Washington, D.C. and the Southern District of New York.
In addition to Halper’s appointment, Cadwalader continues to expand its litigation offering to clients: Steven Baker, formerly the London head and global co-head of the dispute resolution practice at Bird & Bird, will join Cadwalader’s London office in the coming months; and Joseph Facciponti, a former federal prosecutor with significant experience in the financial industry, joined the firm’s New York office earlier this month.
Recently, Cadwalader successfully represented Ashford Hospitality Prime, Inc. in its proxy contest and related litigation against activist hedge fund Sessa Capital, which sought unsuccessfully to replace a majority of the company’s board. The ruling is the first time a court has invalidated an activist shareholder’s slate on the basis of the activist’s failure to comply with the substantive disclosure provisions of a company’s advance notice bylaws. The firm also scored a second litigation victory for client American General Life Insurance Company, an AIG company, in a dispute between senior noteholders over the proceeds of a distressed collateralized debt obligation, Northlake CDO I, Ltd.
Cadwalader’s litigation team was named as an "Awesome Opponent" in The BTI Group Litigation Outlook 2017 report, a survey of general counsel and in-house litigation heads on which firms they would least like to see as opponents. The firm was also honored by The American Lawyer with two awards for its work on the landmark case that saw Standard Bank Plc (now known as ICBC Standard Bank Plc) enter into the UK's first-ever Deferred Prosecution Agreement (DPA) while simultaneously entering into a settlement with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). This type of coordinated resolution by a multitude of agencies is unprecedented. Subsequently, the matter won ‘Global Dispute of the Year 2016: Investigations’ while Cadwalader’s litigation team accepted ‘2016 Transatlantic Legal Innovator of the Year,’ which “recognizes law firms for excellence in handling transatlantic matters across the key areas of corporate, finance and disputes, as well as highlighting law firm innovation, commitment to pro bono, outstanding transatlantic strategy, and in-house leaders.”
