Editor, Cornell Law Review

Recently described by CNBC's Charlie Gasparino as the "toughest lawyer on Wall Street" and by Bloomberg Financial News as "uberlitigator," Marc Kasowitz is widely regarded as one of the nation's preeminent business litigators and trial lawyers.  He has been profiled by The American Lawyer in an article entitled "Heavy Hitter" and in the cover story "Fast Rise To The Top."  Marc has been recognized in several publications as one of the nation's leading litigators and trial lawyers, including in Chambers USA ("bright and skilled," "a dynamic presence" and "respected") and Law Dragon 500 ("the cream of the crop"), and was ranked among The American Lawyer's "Forty-Five Under 45."  Opponents acknowledge Marc Kasowitz as a "powerhouse" and "the toughest of the tough guys," and a foreign publication recently referred to him as "one of the most prominent and feared lawyers in the United States."

Marc has an extensive background as national trial counsel in complex litigation in the areas of bank finance, leveraged-buyouts, fraudulent conveyance, RICO, corporate governance, trade secret misappropriation, antitrust, securities, mass tort, breach of contract and other commercial cases.  Marc has also conducted numerous internal investigations on behalf of boards of directors, management and special committees regarding alleged corporate misfeasance, conflicts of interest, challenges to board authority, insider trading, accounting fraud, market timing, obstruction of justice, market manipulation, and other issues relating to director and officer fiduciary responsibilities and liabilities.

Marc is the firm's founding and managing partner.  He was recently profiled by Law360 as one of the country's most innovative managing partners.


Notable Representations:

• MBIA Inc., the world's largest bond insurer, and its bond insurer subsidiaries, MBIA Insurance Corporation and National Public Finance Guarantee Corporation, in an ongoing multi-billion dollar fraudulent conveyance action and Article 78 proceeding in New York State court brought by nineteen of the world’s largest financial institutions, including Bank of America, JP Morgan Chase, Morgan Stanley, Citibank, HSBC, Wachovia, Barclays, and UBS.  In the lawsuit, the banks are challenging the restructuring of MBIA’s financial and municipal bond guarantee businesses, and claim that MBIA misdirected over $5 billion in assets.
  
  
• Apollo Management L.P. and its portfolio company, Hexion Specialty Chemicals, in litigation arising from Hexion's proposed $15 billion merger with Huntsman Chemicals.  Commenced and prosecuted an expedited proceeding in New York state court against Credit Suisse and Deutsche Bank to compel specific performance of the banks' commitments to fund the acquisition, and successfully negotiated a settlement with Huntsman, bringing an end to one of the largest-ever battles over a leveraged buyout.  Major media outlets, including The Wall Street Journal, lauded the settlement negotiated by KBT&F as a "sweet deal" for Apollo and Hexion.
  
  
• Fairfax Financial Holdings Limited, a Canadian insurance holding company, in a New Jersey action arising out of a short-selling attack on Fairfax and its operating subsidiaries by a group of hedge funds and their operatives in collusion with certain purportedly independent securities analysts.  Fairfax and its principal property and casualty insurance subsidiary have asserted claims under New Jersey 's RICO statute and New Jersey common law seeking $6 billion in damages for the harm they suffered as a result of the attack.  In September 2007, the New Jersey Superior Court denied the defendants' voluminous motions to dismiss Fairfax 's complaint and the New Jersey appellate courts subsequently denied defendants' applications for leave to appeal that decision.
  
  
• Source Interlink Distribution, L.L.C. and Source Interlink Companies, Inc. ("Source") in their antitrust suit alleging that leading magazine publishers and their distributors conspired to force Source out of the wholesale single-issue magazine market.  In February 2009, U.S. District Judge Paul A. Crotty granted a temporary restraining order to Source, ordering the defendant magazine publishers and their national distributors to resume supplying magazines to Source. Since then, Source dismissed its claims against two defendants and settled its claims against the remaining defendants.  One commentator described KBT&F’s role for Source: “Standing in the way of the publishers’ alleged conspiracy, like Superman in front of a speeding locomotive, has been Kasowitz Benson.”
  
  
• Private equity funds Apollo Management L.P., Centerbridge Capital Partners, L.P., Fortress Investment Group, TPG Capital and others in connection with disputes over acquisitions and acquisition financings in large leveraged buyout transactions.  Marc has formulated litigation strategy for disputes with target companies regarding material adverse effect clauses, post-merger insolvency and specific performance, and in disputes with major banks regarding funding of debt financing commitments.  The Home Depot Supply and Harrah's Entertainment buyout transactions in which Marc has been involved have funded and closed.
  
  
• Liggett Group Inc. as national counsel in smoking and health litigation since 1996.  Marc and other KBT&F attorneys conceived, negotiated and implemented the first-ever settlement in 1996 and 1997 of smoking and health litigation, settling health care cost recovery actions brought by states' attorneys general against Liggett.  These Liggett settlements led to revolutionary changes in industry conduct, as well as extraordinary financial benefits for our client.
  
  
• Port Authority of New York and New Jersey as lead trial counsel in the five-week trial concerning the Port Authority's liability for the 1993 bombing of the World Trade Center, the first major terrorist attack on United States soil.  The hundreds of plaintiffs in the action consist of representatives of estates of individuals killed in the attack, injured individuals, and World Trade Center tenants (including several financial services firms) that allegedly incurred business interruption damages as a consequence of the attack.
  
  
• Celanese Chemicals, Inc. as national counsel for mass product liability litigation concerning allegedly defective plumbing systems installed in six million homes nationwide.  In addition to winning several trials on behalf of Celanese, Marc also negotiated and gained final approval for one of the largest product liability class action settlements in history, and successfully defended that settlement against constitutional law challenges in federal and state trial and appellate courts around the country.

• Litigation
• Antitrust
• Appeals
• Arbitration/ADR
• Complex Commercial
• Environmental
• Insurance Recovery
• Mass Tort and Product Liability
• Plaintiffs' Representation
• Securities/Corporate
• White Collar Crime
• Real Estate