Cohen & Gresser LLP

Litigation & Arbitration

Partner

Douglas J. Pepe is a partner in Cohen & Gresser’s New York office. His practice focuses on litigating complex commercial matters on behalf of corporate and institutional clients, defending major law firms in high-stakes legal malpractice cases, advising and litigating on behalf of companies and directors and officers in complex, multiparty insurance disputes, and blockchain law.

Throughout his career, Doug has litigated tens of billions of dollars in claims involving a wide variety of complex substantive and procedural issues, including the securities laws and RICO Act; fiduciary, contractual and pre-contractual liability; corporate, class action and derivative litigation; legal malpractice and sanctions defense; and insurance subrogation, mass tort, aircraft disaster and terrorism litigation. He has extensive experience in large multiparty disputes and played a leading role on the Court-appointed Executive Committee charged with directing the subrogation and property damage claims arising out of the 9/11 terrorist attack, which were successfully resolved in a $1.2 billion settlement approved by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit.

Doug is recognized by Lawdragon on its list of the 500 Leading Litigators in America for commercial litigation, law firm malpractice, and blockchain; in The Legal 500 in its general commercial disputes category; and as a “Litigation Star” in the Benchmark Litigation Guide to America’s Leading Firms and Attorneys for commercial and securities litigation. Testimonials in The Legal 500 guide note that Doug “is one of the best, smartest and most strategic lawyers I have run across. I have seen him take the most complicated and sensitive matters and finesse them to very good resolutions for his clients. I’ve also seen him turn from great negotiator to incredible litigator to expert trial lawyer – very versatile. Highly recommend.” Super Lawyers has recognized Doug on its annual New York Metro Super Lawyers list for business litigation for more than a decade, and he has been AV Peer Review Rated by Martindale-Hubbell since 2010.

Doug is also a Professorial Lecturer in Law at The George Washington University School of Law, where he teaches blockchain law, technology, and cybersecurity. He is a member of the American Law Institute, the preeminent independent organization in the United States producing scholarly work to clarify, modernize, and otherwise improve the law. Doug has authored numerous articles and book chapters on complex commercial litigation issues that have been cited in legal treatises, law reviews and other professional journals, and the commentaries to the New York Civil Practice Law and Rules. He speaks regularly on blockchain-related legal issues.

Before joining the firm, Doug practiced for 20 years at Joseph Hage Aaronson, one of the country’s preeminent litigation boutiques. Before that, he was an associate at Fried, Frank, Harris, Shriver & Jacobson, where he practiced in both the Corporate and Litigation departments, working principally in the fields of Mergers & Acquisitions, White Collar Criminal Investigations and Securities Litigation. Doug also served as a law clerk for U.S. District Court Judge Faith S. Hochberg for the District of New Jersey. He is a graduate of Columbia Law School, where he was a James Kent Scholar.

New York State

New Jersey State

U.S. Supreme Court

U.S. Courts of Appeals for the Second Circuit, Ninth Circuit and Federal Circuit

U.S. District Courts for the Southern District of New York, Eastern District of New York, and District of New Jersey

Columbia Law School (J.D., Chancellor Kent Scholar, 1999)

State University of New York at Buffalo (B.A., summa cum laude, 1996)