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Kasowitz, Benson, Torres & Friedman
HeadquartersParamount Plaza
New York City
No. of offices9[1]
Major practice areasLitigation
Key peopleMarc Elliot Kasowitz, founder and chief administrator[2]
Date founded1993
Company typeLimited liability partnership
Websitehttp://www.kasowitz.com/

Kasowitz, Benson, Torres & Friedman is a national law firm founded in 1993. The firm's initial focus was product liability litigation. It has since expanded into a range of litigation practice areas, including antitrust, banking, complex financial products, creditors' rights and bankruptcy, entertainment, insurance recovery, intellectual property, and white collar defense.[3][4] Its clients include: Liggett Group, MBIA, Fairfax Financial Holdings Limited,[3] Google,[5] Ford Motor Company,[6] and The Blackstone Group.[7]

History

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Kasowitz was founded in 1993 when Marc Kasowitz left Mayer Brown with two clients and 18 lawyers to create a firm focused almost entirely on complex litigation.[8] The firm opened a second office in Houston six months later.[8] Seven additional offices followed over the next 20 years: Newark (1997), Atlanta (2001),[8] San Francisco (2007),[9] Miami (2009),[10] Silicon Valley (2011),[11] Los Angeles (2013),[12][13] and Washington, DC (2013).[14][15]

The firm’s notable attorneys include Joe Lieberman, former United States Senator[16] and Clarine Nardi Riddle, former Attorney General to the State of Connecticut.[15]

At first focused on product liability litigation, the firm represented clients such as cigarette manufacturer Liggett Group Inc., for whom Kasowitz achieved a settlement in 1997 with 22 states that Vice President Al Gore called "a historic victory for the American people."[3][17]

In 2003, the firm won a $300 million settlement on behalf of 3,500 Alabama residents who were allegedly poisoned by seepage from a Monsanto Company plant manufacturing PCBs.[8] That same year, Kasowitz defeated claims against chemical company Celanese relating to a computer microchip manufactured in International Business Machines Corporations (IBM) plants.[8] The firm also worked on asbestos cases filed against Celanese and auto parts supplier ArvinMeritor, Inc. and overturned a $790 million jury verdict against Liggett Corp.[8]

The firm has been involved in high profile bankruptcies, including those of WorldCom, Inc., Adelphia Communications Corporation, Enron Corp. and Global Crossing Ltd.[8] In February 2011, the firm served as lead counsel to the debtors and debtors in possession in the bankruptcy cases of Borders Group Inc. and its subsidiaries.[18]

In September 2011, the firm commenced 17 separate actions on behalf of the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) against Morgan Stanley, Credit Suisse Securities (USA) LLC, RBS Securities Inc., Goldman Sachs & Co., UBS Securities LLC, JP Morgan Securities Inc., Barclays Capital Inc., SG Americas, Inc., Ally Financial Inc. (f/k/a GMAC, Inc.), Deutsche Bank Securities, Inc., and General Electric Company for misrepresentations and failures to disclose material information concerning pools of mortgage loans issued and securitized by the defendants using residential mortgage backed securities. The firm ultimately helped FHFA negotiate settlements with several of the defendants.[19]

In March 2013, the firm helped MBIA defeat litigation brought by 18 of the world’s largest banks seeking to overturn MBIA’s 2009 corporate restructuring. The firm thereafter obtained a settlement, which also covered put-back litigation, whereby the remaining banks agreed to drop their challenge to MBIA’s restructuring, and MBIA received $1.7 billion in cash and a $500 million line of credit for its municipal bond insurance business.[20][21]

That same month, the firm won a Supreme Court decision for Comcast Corp., overturning class certification in three antitrust class actions brought by a putative class of two million subscribers in each case.[22]

In 2014, Kasowitz, Benson, Torres & Friedman was ranked as the 119th largest firm in the United States by Law360.[23] In June, the firm was awarded the Chambers USA 2014 Award for Excellence.[24]

References

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  1. ^ Unknown author (2013) Offices Official website
  2. ^ Kasowitz's firm bio
  3. ^ a b c (Raymond, Nate (September 13, 2013) Kasowitz Holds Power Close As He Grows Firm, Lures Business, New York Law Journal, accessed June 27, 2014
  4. ^ Practice areas
  5. ^ "Google Seeks Sanctions From SuperSpeed Over Copied Code". Law360. August 26, 2014. Retrieved 24 March 2015. (subscription required)
  6. ^ "Fujikura Can't Shake Ford's Suit Over Price-Fixing Plot". Law360. March 4, 2014. Retrieved 24 March 2015. (subscription required)
  7. ^ "LightSquared Lands Bankruptcy Deal But Ergen Is Still Out". Law360. June 27, 2014. Retrieved 24 March 2015. (subscription required)
  8. ^ a b c d e f g "Fast Rise to the Top" (PDF). The American Lawyer. Incisive Media. August 2004. p. 11. Retrieved 17 January 2010.
  9. ^ "Kasowitz Scores California White-Collar Boutique". Law360. March 21, 2007. Retrieved 24 March 2015. (subscription required)
  10. ^ "Kasowitz Lures 5 New Partners To Start Miami Office". Law360. April 1, 2009. Retrieved 24 March 2015. (subscription required)
  11. ^ "Kasowitz, Benson, Torres & Friedman Open Office in Silicon Valley". JD Journal. November 22, 2011. Retrieved 24 March 2015.
  12. ^ "Kasowitz Benson Poaches Two Partners, Sets Them Up in New LA Office". JD Journal. May 21, 2013. Retrieved 24 March 2015.
  13. ^ Staff Writer (June 7, 2013). "Kasowitz, Benson, Torres & Friedman". Insurance Weekly News.
  14. ^ News Reporter (June 5, 2013). "Kasowitz Opens DC Office with Clarine Nardi Riddle to Lead Government Affairs Practice". China Weekly News.
  15. ^ a b "Kasowitz Opens D.C. Office". The BLT: The Blog of LegalTimes. June 6, 2013. Retrieved 24 March 2015.
  16. ^ "Joseph Lieberman Joins Kasowitz". The Wall Street Journal. June 6, 2013. Retrieved 24 March 2015. (subscription required)
  17. ^ "CIGARETTE MAKER CONCEDES SMOKING CAN CAUSE CANCER". The New York Times. March 21, 1997. Retrieved 24 March 2015.
  18. ^ "Kasowitz Takes Center Stage In Borders Bankruptcy" (PDF). Law360. February 16, 2011. Retrieved 24 March 2015.
  19. ^ "Banks' Bill in FHFA Cases: $9 Billion and Counting". The AmLaw Litigation Daily. February 5, 2014. Retrieved 24 March 2015. (subscription required)
  20. ^ "Handing Kasowitz a Big Win, Judge Tosses Article 78 Case Over MBIA Restructuring". The AmLaw Litigation Daily. March 4, 2013. Retrieved 24 March 2015. (subscription required)
  21. ^ "MBIA Settlements Came Quickly After Banks Lost Insurance Ruling". Forbes. May 9, 2013. Retrieved 24 March 2015.
  22. ^ "Law360's Weekly Verdict: Legal Lions & Lambs". Law360. March 28, 2013. Retrieved 24 March 2015. (subscription required)
  23. ^ Simpson, Jake, "Law360 Reveals 400 Largest US Law Firms" Law360
  24. ^ Staff Reporter (June 13, 2014) Kasowitz Insurance Policyholder Recovery Group Receives Chambers Award for Excellence, Insurance Weekly News
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