David Gelfand > Milbank > New York, United States > Lawyer Profile
Milbank Offices
55 HUDSON YARDS
NEW YORK, NY 10001
NEW YORK
United States
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David Gelfand
Position
Partner, Litigation & Arbitration Group
Career
Mr. Gelfand’s practice is highly diversified, with a concentration in complex civil litigation. He regularly represents financial institutions and corporations in class actions, securities and bankruptcy litigation cases. He has tried jury and non-jury trials in state and federal courts throughout the country and has extensive experience representing clients in fiduciary and estate litigation. Mr. Gelfand also has extensive experience representing financial institutions in US and international regulatory matters.
Mr. Gelfand has been recognized as one of the leading lawyers in America by Chambers USA, Benchmark Litigation, Legal 500 USA and New York Super Lawyers. He has been described by clients as having “a heart for details and immers[ing] himself in the facts important to the matter.’ (Legal 500 USA)
Memberships
Mr. Gelfand served on the Disciplinary Committee of the New York State Supreme Court, First Department, and currently serves on the Character & Fitness Committee. Mr. Gelfand is also a member of the American Bar Association, the DC Bar Association and the Association of the Bar of the City of New York, where he served on the Committee on Judicial Administration. He is a Member of the Dean’s Board of Advisors for Vanderbilt University School of Law, is a member of the Board of Trustees of Friends Academy, and served as President of the Board of Trustees of The Green Vale School.
Lawyer Rankings
United States > Dispute resolution > General commercial disputes
Counting major financial institutions among its key roster of clients, Milbank handles a range of commercial disputes concerning breach of contract, in addition to business torts, such as fraud, breach of fiduciary duty, and tortious interference with contractor prospective business relations. The New York-based team also has demonstrable experience advising on state and federal regulatory mandates. Global head of the firm’s litigation and arbitration practice, George Canellos jointly leads the team group alongside Daniel Perry, who focuses on disputes involving securities and corporate law, M&A, insurance and reinsurance, as well as financial restructuring issues. Scott Edelman’s ‘judgment is second to none and his advocacy is first-rate’, while David Gelfand is praised for his ‘impressive ability to dive deep’ into class actions, securities and bankruptcy litigation cases.
United States > Dispute resolution > Securities litigation: defense
Milbank has a deep bench of experienced partners in New York, whose track record in some of the most influential, high-stakes, and high-profile cases ever brought under federal and state securities laws sees the firm climb the ranking. The firm frequently acts for issuers, underwriters, banks, broker-dealers, investment advisers, accounting firms, and individuals in securities class actions and derivative suits. Global head of litigation and arbitration George Canellos and practice group leader Daniel Perry oversee the firm’s securities litigation work, for which Sean Murphy is a standout partner. Murphy has tried most of the private securities cases to go to trial under the Investment Company Act of 1940 Act in the last 20 years, winning all of them. Firm chair Scott Edelman handles high-stakes litigation in diverse areas of law, including securities, commercial and white collar. David Gelfand and up-and-coming partners Jed Schwartz and Robert Hora are also key partners in the practice. Edelman, Gelfand and Hora are acting for AXA Equitable Life Insurance Company in eight cases in federal and state courts, including putative class actions, that challenge the company’s 2016 increase in the cost of insurance rates on a block of universal life insurance policies.
Lawyer Rankings
- Securities litigation: defense United States > Dispute resolution
- General commercial disputes United States > Dispute resolution
Top Tier Firm Rankings
- Finance > Commercial lending
- Finance > Capital markets: global offerings
- Antitrust > Civil litigation/class actions: defense
- Transport > Aviation and air travel: finance
- Finance > Capital markets: high-yield debt offerings
- Finance > Commercial lending
- Antitrust > Cartel
- Media, technology and telecoms > Telecoms and broadcast: transactions
- Finance > Commercial lending
- Finance > Structured finance: securitization
- Transport > Aviation and air travel: finance
- Real estate > Real estate finance
- Finance > Project finance
- Energy > Renewable/alternative power
- Finance > Restructuring (including bankruptcy): corporate
- Environment > Environment: transactional
Firm Rankings
- Finance > Capital markets: global offerings
- Finance > Capital markets: global offerings
- Transport > Aviation and air travel: finance
- Energy > Energy transactions: electric power
- Dispute resolution > Securities litigation: defense
- Media, technology and telecoms > Telecoms and broadcast: transactions
- Finance > Capital markets: high-yield debt offerings
- Finance > Capital markets: debt offerings
- Finance > Capital markets: high-yield debt offerings
- Finance > Capital markets: debt offerings
- Dispute resolution > General commercial disputes
- Real estate > Real estate finance
- Finance > Capital markets: equity offerings
- Finance > Capital markets: equity offerings
- Energy > Energy transactions: oil and gas
- Antitrust > Merger control
- Intellectual property > Patents: litigation (full coverage)
- Tax > US taxes: non-contentious
- Labor and employment > Employee benefits, executive compensation and retirement plans: transactional
- M&A/corporate and commercial > M&A: large deals ($1bn+)
- Dispute resolution > Corporate investigations and white-collar criminal defense
- Antitrust > Cartel