Léa Dartevelle Erhel’s practice focuses on complex commercial disputes, arbitrations, bankruptcy-related matters and white collar criminal advice and investigations. Ms. Dartevelle has devised legal strategies and advised corporations, real estate partnerships, hedge funds, financial institutions, and insurance companies as well as individuals in a variety of matters involving breach of contract, fraud, the sale of public and private securities, insider trading, breach of fiduciary duty by directors and officers, market manipulation, RICO actions and other adversary proceedings.
Ms. Dartevelle also has experience advising companies and senior executives on sensitive internal and government investigations relating to the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, False Claims Act, Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, and other actions brought by the Department of Justice and the Securities and Exchange Commission.
In addition, Ms. Dartevelle has served as in-house counsel to the world‘s largest development bank on U.S. collateralized debt obligations related dispute; and has significant experience in cross-border disputes involving international arbitration, transnational discovery and jurisdictional issues.
Ms. Dartevelle serves on the board of HeartShare St. Vincent’s, a 200 years old nonprofit agency that provides family and residential foster care services.
Work Highlights
- Loreley Financing in analyzing and bringing claims against major investment banks and other financial institutions concerning billions of dollars of collateralized debt obligations and other structured finance products.
- Woodstock 50 in its highly publicized legal battle against its former financing partner Dentsu, a Japanese marketing and advertising company, which abruptly pulled its financing of the music festival celebrating the 50th Anniversary of the legendary 1969 Woodstock festival. The New York State Supreme Court agreed with Kasowitz in ruling that Dentsu did not have the right under the parties’ contract to unilaterally cancel Woodstock 50.
- A leading international insurance company in successful resolution of an international arbitration proceeding governed by The Danish Institute of Arbitration rules of arbitration procedure concerning a nine-figure coverage dispute under a professional indemnity insurance policy.
- Harbinger Capital Partners, a prominent hedge fund and majority shareholder of LightSquared, in connection with adversary proceedings against LightSquared’s largest creditor in Chapter 11 bankruptcy proceedings. In one of those adversary proceedings, the bankruptcy court held, after a trial on the merits, that the creditor breached the implied covenant of good faith and fair dealing and the creditor’s misconduct warranted equitable subordination of its interest.
- MBIA, one of the world’s largest monoline insurers, in litigation brought by 18 of the world’s largest banks seeking to overturn MBIA’s corporate restructuring which, with the approval of the New York Department of Insurance, established a separate company for MBIA’s municipal bond insurance business. After a several-week evidentiary proceeding, the New York Supreme Court upheld MBIA’s restructuring, and MBIA received $1.7 billion in cash and a $500 million line of credit for its municipal bond insurance business.
- The Ritz Paris Hotel in licensing issues and employment matters.
- Real estate general partnerships in connection with partners’ limited partnership disputes and investors’ exit involving hotels and rental properties.
- A FinTech start-up founder in a dispute with its private equity investors over control of the company.