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Nick Gravante is the co-chair of Cadwalader’s Global Litigation Group and head of the firm’s Commercial Litigation practice. He is widely recognized as one of the top litigators in the country, with extensive trial experience focused on complex commercial, securities and antitrust litigation, as well as criminal cases and appeals. Prior to joining Cadwalader, Nick was the Co-Managing Partner of Boies Schiller Flexner LLP.
Nick is renowned for his work on behalf of clients, handling high-profile cases and highly sensitive, confidential matters resolved behind the scenes. He 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 Starr Companies, to The Related Companies, and to several hedge funds and private equity firms.
Notable victories for clients include:
- Winning a $663 million jury verdict for a plaintiff in a case against a manufacturer of highway guardrails, the biggest award ever in a whistleblower action without intervention by the U.S. Department of Justice;
- Winning an acquittal for three leading New York City real estate companies indicted under the Martin Act;
- Winning a jury verdict that vindicated foreign exchange traders at Banque Indosuez, who were accused of executing hundreds of millions of dollars of unauthorized trades;
- Winning a lengthy trial for the co-founder of AriZona Iced Tea, related to the valuation of the Company;
- Representing several groups of bondholders in Argentina’s debt crisis litigation;
- Representing 12 Lloyd’s syndicates in litigation arising out of Hurricane Katrina;
- Winning a substantial jury verdict in Los Angeles federal court for a nationally-known mystery writer in a Lanham Act action against a major publishing house;
- Winning the acquittal of a defendant charged with arson in New York State Supreme Court in a groundbreaking “false confession” case;
- Achieving a hung jury while defending an anesthesiologist against insurance fraud charges in a New York federal court;
- Successfully defending Starr International Company in its trial victory over American International Group (AIG) in a dispute over the ownership of billions of dollars of AIG stock;
- Winning the outright dismissal of a well-publicized civil action filed against members of the immediate family of the then-Vice President of the United States; and
- Negotiating pleas for the former owner of a National Hockey League team charged with mail and wire fraud; a floor trader on the New York Stock Exchange charged with securities violations; and a medical supplies provider charged with insurance fraud.
Nick is a longtime member of Lawdragon’s “500 Leading Lawyers in America” and was named to its 2021 and 2022 list of “500 Leading Plaintiff Financial Lawyers in America.” He has been recognized as a top trial lawyer by Benchmark Litigation and Super Lawyers, by which he has been recognized every year since 2006 and named a “Top Business Litigation Attorney.” In addition, Nick was named a “Product Liability MVP” by Law360 in 2015.
Nick has long been a leader in the bar and in the philanthropic community. He was appointed to the New York Continuing Legal Education Board by former New York 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. He currently serves as Board Chair of Poly Prep Country Day School and Board 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.
Nick received his J.D. from Columbia Law School, where he was a Harlan Fiske Stone Scholar and served as the Writing and Research Editor for the Journal of Law and Social Problems. He received his B.S., magna cum laude, from Duke University.
*Certain representations occurred prior to Nick's association with Cadwalader.
