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 creative and aggressive litigator," and "a dynamic presence"), Lawdragon 500 ("the cream of the crop"), and Benchmark ("a superb advocate...with Marc representing you, you at least know you can go to trial if necessary"). Marc has also been named in The Legal 500's elite "Leading Lawyers" guide to outstanding attorneys nationwide. Legal 500 describes him as having "a superb track record as a trial lawyer, particularly in highly complex disputes in the financial services, leveraged-buyout and corporate arenas." 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. In January 2011, Marc was selected as The American Lawyer's "Litigator of the Week." In 2010, he and the firm were featured in a New York Law Journal cover story entitled "Kasowitz Holds Power Close as He Grows Firm, Lures Business" and he was 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 19 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.
- Federal Housing Finance Agency (“FHFA”), as conservator for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, in several actions in federal and state courts against numerous financial institutions and individuals. The lawsuits seek rescission or damages from the defendants for, among other things, defendants’ misrepresentations concerning pools of mortgage loans that underlie residential mortgage-backed securities issued and securitized by the defendants and sold to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.
- 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 Kasowitz 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. Trial is expected in 2012.
- 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 Kasowitz’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 Kasowitz 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 consisted 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.
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Related Information
Education
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Cornell Law School
(J.D., 1977)
Editor, Cornell Law Review
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Yale University
(B.A., cum laude, 1974)
Court Admissions
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U.S. District Court, Eastern District of New York, 1978
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U.S. District Court, Southern District of New York, 1978
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U.S. Court of Appeals, Second Circuit, 1989
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U.S. Court of Appeals, Third Circuit, 1993
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U.S. District Court, District of Colorado, 2001
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U.S. Court of Appeals, First Circuit, 2009
Associations / Memberships
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