North America - United States • Dispute resolution

Debevoise & Plimpton LLP

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Clients praise Debevoise & Plimpton LLP in New York for ‘willing to go the extra mile'. Acting for major corporations in high-stakes securities litigation in federal and state courts around the country, the firm frequently handles stock-drop class actions, derivative actions alleging breaches of fiduciary duty, and related federal and state regulatory investigations. The practice is led by experienced partners Maeve O’Connor in New York and Jonathan Tuttle in Washington DC, who is also involved in cutting-edge areas of litigation, notably cases concerning cryptocurrency assets. Mary Jo White and Andrew Ceresney are acting for Ripple Labs in a putative class action concerning the marketing and sale of the virtual currency XRP. O’Connor and  emerging partner talent Elliot Greenfield are currently acting for cloud infrastructure and digital workspace technology company VMWare in a class action and a derivative action, which faces allegations of breaching fiduciary duties, insider trading, and unjust enrichment. Another up-and-coming partner is Susan Reagan Gittes, who frequently acts for insurance companies.

Legal 500 Editorial commentary

Testimonials

Collated independently by Legal 500 research team.

  • ‘Maeve O'Connor is excellent. I have been co-counsel with her and a co-panelist on speaking engagements. She's very knowledgeable on securities litigation matters.’

  • 'Top-notch lawyering by a team willing to go the extra mile.'

Key clients

  • Clayton Dubilier & Rice LLC
  • Coliseum Capital Management LLC
  • FirstEnergy Corp.
  • James River Holdings
  • MetLife, Inc.
  • Prudential Financial, Inc.
  • Ripple Labs, Inc.
  • Robinhood Markets, Inc.
  • Special Committee of the Board of Directors of Match, Inc.
  • Special Committee of the Board of TuSimple
  • Tether, Bitfinex, and related entities
  • The Dolan Family, controlling stockholders and members of the Board of Directors of Madison Square Garden Entertainment and MSG Networks
  • The We Company
  • Universal Navigation Inc. d/b/a Uniswap Labs
  • Vanguard Group
  • VMware, Inc.
  • Winged Foot Golf Club

Work highlights

  • Represented VMware, Inc. in the successful dismissal of a derivative lawsuit and a separate securities class action in the Northern District of California regarding the company’s backlog accounting.
  • Represented Ripple in the high-profile ruling against the Securities and Exchange Commission by the Southern District of New York holding that Ripple's digital token XRP is not an “investment contract” in many circumstances.
  • Achieved a significant settlement for Coliseum Capital Management in a closely watched action before the Delaware Chancery Court challenging defensive measures taken by the board of directors of Purple Innovation, Inc. in the midst of a proxy contest.

Lawyers

Hall of Fame

The lawyers at the very top of the profession, widely known and respected by peers and clients for their longstanding involvement in market-leading work.

Practice head

The lawyer(s) leading their teams.

Maeve O’Connor, Jonathan Tuttle

Other key lawyers

Elliot Greenfield, Susan Reagan Gittes, Andrew Ceresney, Mary Jo White