S&C Sidebar

In this episode of S&C Sidebar, Annie Ostrager, Co-Head of S&C’s Employment Law Group, is joined by Litigation Partner Ollie Engebretson-Schooley to discuss the challenges of advising clients on evolving law and current litigation trends clients should monitor, including an uptick in derivative Section 10(b) claims and an increase in damages amounts for settlements in derivative cases.

A preview of the conversation is below.

Annie: What areas are you watching right now for your clients that you think should be on their radar screens?

Ollie: We’re seeing a lot more derivative litigation for Section 10(b) claims and a significant increase in damages amounts for settlements in derivative cases. Those cases used to be much smaller value cases and they were more focused on corporate governance reforms. Now you're seeing settlements with seven, eight, nine figure damages amounts. There's a number of different reasons for that, but I think what companies need to be aware of is that a lot of the risk can be addressed early on. Being proactive about not only ensuring that companies have the right corporate governance in place, but also making sure that corporate governance is well documented, is really critical to protecting them against these types of cases.

In this episode of S&C Sidebar, Amanda Davidoff, Managing Partner of S&C’s Washington D.C. Office, is joined by Washington D.C. Litigation Partner Samantha Hynes, to explore key developments in antitrust law, particularly the evolving regulatory landscape surrounding artificial intelligence and its potential anticompetitive effects. They also discuss the unique perspective of the Washington D.C. office, given its proximity to major regulatory activity.

“It’s good to be where the action is—the FTC is here, the DOJ is here and a lot of the people in the antitrust bar are here,” says Samantha. “So it’s good to be in the place that’s the center of where things happen. I’ve also had a lot of great mentors in the D.C. office that were focused on antitrust which led to me pursuing a career in that area.”

In this episode of S&C Sidebar, Sharon Nelles, Managing Partner of S&C’s Litigation Group, is joined by Andrew Finn, Head of the International Arbitration and Global Dispute Resolution Practice, to discuss the latest trends in arbitration and cross-border disputes. Andrew highlights the growing importance of arbitration as companies face an increasingly uncertain global environment, with many countries adopting protectionist policies and withdrawing from investment treaties that have traditionally provided legal protection for cross-border investments. 

“For those who do business internationally in this landscape, uncertainty seems to be the guiding sentiment right now,” says Andrew. “In new transactions, there’s been much more focus on what kind of agreements people are going to enter into in terms of arbitration. ‘Am I going to agree to U.S. courts resolving my dispute?  Am I going to agree to a non-U.S. court?’ So in terms of the political and other risk that you see, not just in the U.S. but in other countries, we’re seeing real world consequences of that risk.”

In this episode of S&C Sidebar, Jay Clayton, Senior Policy Advisor and Of Counsel to Sullivan & Cromwell, is joined by Mario Schollmeyer, partner in S&C’s General Practice Group. Jay and Mario talk about the challenge of reconciling varying laws in multijurisdictional deals, the developing regulatory landscape and how Mario engages with clients.

In this episode of S&C Sidebar, Jay Clayton, Senior Policy Advisor and Of Counsel to Sullivan & Cromwell, is joined by Alan Fishman, partner in S&C’s General Practice Group. Jay talks with Alan about legal developments in capital markets and finance.

“In addition to the regulatory pendulum shift, the main commercial imperative that we’ve seen over the last few years is the flow of capital into the United States, and public markets in particular,” says Alan. “We’re dealing with a lot of companies right now based outside of the U.S. that are looking to come to the United States.”

In this episode of S&C Sidebar, Sharon Nelles, Managing Partner of S&C’s Litigation Group, is joined by Alexander Gross, a partner in S&C’s Litigation Group. They discuss Alex’s work on complex technology trials and the uptick in trade secrets litigation.

“Our generalist model and exposure to different areas of law and types of cases allows us to think more broadly and creatively,” says Alex. “Perhaps something you learned in doing a Delaware M&A Litigation may ultimately be applicable in an IP case. And if you haven’t had worked on those types of case, you wouldn’t necessarily know that there might be some tool or a type of argument that you could bring to bear to help your clients in IP cases.”

In this episode of S&C Sidebar, Jay Clayton, Senior Policy Advisor and Of Counsel to Sullivan & Cromwell, is joined by Matthew Goodman, a partner in S&C’s M&A Group. Jay talks with Matthew about his extensive experience representing clients across various industries, domestically and internationally, and they discuss how to anticipate and plan for the impact of shifting regulatory regimes on deals.

“Early on at S&C, you get trained to be curious about the issues and what your clients are all about,” says Matthew. “And not just the legal issues and having legal acumen, but understanding commercial issues, and also understanding there are lots of really talented people at S&C that you can work with to get the best answer for the client.”

In this episode of S&C Sidebar, Sharon Nelles, Managing Partner of S&C’s Litigation Group, is joined by Litigation partner Jonathan Carter. They discuss Jonathan’s development as a versatile generalist litigator and his practice that spans complex commercial litigation and regulatory investigations, with a recent focus on antitrust and market manipulation class actions. They also discuss the importance of building client relationships based on integrity and trust.