Financial Services Litigation

A core practice of Pillsbury litigators is the representation of financial institutions. Our representation goes well beyond merely appearing on behalf of our financial services clients before judicial bodies. We play an integral role in helping them obtain the most appropriate business solutions to complex (and often cross-border) disputes.

When these solutions require litigation, our representation stresses the identification of clear objectives and proposal of efficient strategies to achieve the goals. Our work includes negotiated dispute resolution, litigation and arbitration, internal investigations and responses to government inquiries.

The disputes that we handle on behalf of financial institution clients relate to all aspects of their business and the business environment in which they operate. These matters range from disputes with customers, regulators, and counterparties that arise out of day-to-day business dealings, to matters resulting from an institutions’ change in business strategy or focus. Our clients also face issues that result from outside party actions or market forces, where they may become secured or unsecured creditors, or somehow caught up in complex fraudulent schemes. Our litigators counsel clients in multifaceted controversies that extend outside the courtroom and involve sensitive legislative, regulatory and reputational issues often in more than one jurisdiction.

When historic events have affected our clients’ businesses, we have assisted them in resolving these matters.

Our litigation for financial institutions includes:

Capital And Financial Markets Disputes

• Securities, Funds, Commodities, and Derivatives Matters
• Mergers and Acquisitions Matters

Disputes Arising From Commercial Banking And Trust Activities

• Bankruptcy, Restructuring and Workouts
• Consumer Class Actions
• Distressed Property Matters
• Loan Disputes
• Trade Finance, Forfeiting and Letter of Credit Disputes
• Factoring Disputes
• Fiduciary Litigation

Disputes Arising from Financial Institutions’ Status as Regulated Corporations

• Compliance and Regulatory Litigation
• Fraud and White Collar Criminal Matters
• Money Laundering
• USA Patriot Act

Disputes Not Relating to Specific Businesses

• International Discovery Disputes

Our experience includes:

• Represented three banks in connection with termination of interest rate hedges related to the USD financing of a toll road in Sao Paulo, Brazil.
• Represented a U.S. bank with respect to a dispute with four hedge funds involving credit default swaps (CDS).
• Defended a residential mortgage-backed securities (RMBS) trustee and named trusts in securities fraud class action lawsuit brought by investors.
• Represented a European counterparty in a dispute involving scope of damages upon termination event.
• Represented a German bank as trustee in noteholder litigation concerning asset swap hedge agreements.
• Represented an aluminum industry client where a counterparty on a metal swap sought to use the unwind value of the swap to assert control.
• Represented investment advisor and its institutional investor clients (including state pension funds and university endowments) in litigation involving 16 major shopping centers in 10 states.
• Successfully resolved two breach-of-fiduciary-duty class actions and defeated an 11th-hour injunction attempt on behalf of a U.S. bank, which was being acquired by a Japanese bank.
• Secured dismissal of our client’s broker-dealer subsidiaries in a securities class action in which the plaintiffs claimed that mutual funds’ “revenue sharing” was not adequately disclosed to investors.
• Secured a victory in the 9th Circuit for a major U.S. financial institution, establishing that the defendants interfered with our client’s custodial account contracts involving investments in collateralized mortgage obligations (CMOs).
• Obtained a favorable reversal at the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals relating to a credit derivative in which the reference obligation was a $500 million bond issued by the Republic of the Philippines. The court concluded as a matter of law that there had been no credit event, reversing a lower court decision and entering judgment in favor of our client.
• Defended an African bank from a defaulter’s attempt to, in U.S. courts, re-assert claims of breached loan agreements, usury, and fraud that were previously settled in Egypt.
• Represented an international financial institution in SEC and antitrust investigations related to municipal securities.
• Represented an institutional mutual fund adviser in regulatory investigations and securities class actions alleging that it permitted market-timing trades in funds the institution advised.
• Conducted multiple internal investigations for major international financial institutions in connection with money-laundering issues.
• Successfully represented a major international financial institution in a forfeiture action under the USA Patriot Act.
• Representing a financial services company in mutual fund investigations by the New York Attorney General and the SEC.