Jillian R. Roffer’s practice focuses on complex commercial litigation in both federal and state courts. Jillian has experience representing corporations and individuals in a wide range of disputes, including antitrust, breach of contract, fraud, securities, white-collar criminal defense, civil RICO, and internal investigations. She has also worked on matters involving investigations by the U.S. Department of Justice as well as various state attorneys general.
Jillian is currently representing Jewish and Israeli students at Columbia, Barnard, and the University of Pennsylvania, in federal courts in the Southern District of New York and the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, respectively, concerning allegations that the universities enable hostile antisemitic educational environments, including pervasive acts of discrimination, harassment, and intimidation, in violation of Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. She represented Jewish and Israeli students at New York University and Harvard in successfully settling their Title VI claims and obtaining first-of-their-kind settlements, including the creation of an independent Title VI office. Before settling Harvard, Jillian helped defeat Harvard’s motion to dismiss. The court’s seminal opinion set a new standard and means for combating antisemitism through the Civil Rights Act.
Jillian also devotes time to pro bono work.
WORK HIGHLIGHTS
- A biopharmaceutical company in successful resolution of an arbitration against the former Chief Executive Officer concerning a dispute under an employment agreement.
- Andrew Wang and Shou-Kung Wang in defense of $200 million RICO and breach of fiduciary duty claims arising out of the decades-long battle over the estate of C.C. Wang, an esteemed artist and collector of Classical Chinese artwork, who was Andrew’s grandfather and Shou-Kung’s father. The defense of the Wangs culminated in a highly successful settlement of one of the most complex art law disputes in recent years.
- Alaskan Reefer Management and Kloosterboer International Forwarding, shippers of frozen fish from Alaska, in securing a pathbreaking preliminary injunction in the District of Alaska enjoining the U.S. government from assessing penalties for alleged Jones Act violations while the legality of already assessed penalties is adjudicated, and successfully resolving $2 billion penalty exposure less than ten million dollars.
- Lifestar Family Holdings and its investors, as lead counsel in an enforcement proceeding filed by the New York Attorney General alleging that the respondents engaged in fraudulent conduct. The Court, following a five-day bench hearing, found that the Attorney General had not met its burden on multiple counts of Executive Law § 63(12) and refused to order relief under Executive Law § 63-c (also known as the “Tweed Law”) or common law unjust enrichment.
- MLW Media in prosecuting antitrust claims against World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE), alleging that WWE undermined competition and monopolized the market for the sale or licensing of media rights for professional wrestling programming in the United States. The parties settled after Kasowitz defeated WWE’s motion to dismiss and struck numerous affirmative defenses.
- Successful representation of a pro bono client in obtaining a judgment of divorce and continued order of protection and a favorable settlement agreement.