Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP and affiliates (“Skadden, Arps” or “Skadden”) has handled numerous significant and precedent-setting business cases in the appellate courts.  Our attorneys have argued cases before the United States Supreme Court, all 13 United States Courts of Appeals and state appellate courts.

Our appellate lawyers handle a range of services relating to appeals and related legal issues, including:

• briefing and arguing appeals on the merits;
  
  
• preparing and opposing petitions for review in the United States Supreme Court and in state supreme courts;
  
  
• providing advice and assistance in briefing significant legal issues at the trial court level;
  
  
• advising clients on appellate issues during and after trial;
  
  
• handling agency appeals before various regulatory bodies; and
  
  
• preparing amicus curiae briefs.

In this era of “mega-litigations” and multidistrict practice often involving nontraditional routes of appellate process, our appellate lawyers also engage in frequent motions practice in the courts of appeals and prepare petitions for and oppositions to writs of mandamus. 

Our Approach to Appellate Litigation

Our Appellate Litigation Group combines Skadden’s extensive firmwide experience and knowledge of business law and litigation — developed from decades of litigating and counseling clients on many high-profile and novel, bet-the-company business law issues — with the generalist appellate experience of our attorneys.  Ensuring that all aspects of a particular matter are thoroughly analyzed, our appellate teams consist both of lawyers who are well-versed in particular areas of business law and industry-specific practice, and of appellate lawyers who analyze and present these issues within the context of appellate tribunals’ broader legal perspectives. 

Skadden’s appellate teams use creative legal analysis and writing to present legal and jurisprudential solutions to business problems.  Skadden’s appellate lawyers study the legal trends in federal and state appeals courts, as well as the views of individual jurists, to enable us to advocate most effectively on behalf of our clients in light of the appellate courts’ evolving jurisprudence across a range of substantive law areas.  We work with important private trade associations and federal, state and local governmental agencies in order to obtain amicus curiae support where appropriate.  We regularly interact with and monitor the work of leading academics to ensure that the most current scholarly developments are analyzed in presenting the public policy implications of novel legal issues. 

Based on our work with appeals and complex business law issues, Skadden frequently is asked to represent clients in significant litigation at the post-trial or appellate stages and is regularly involved in cases presenting important issues of first impression in trial and appellate courts.  Our work has been recognized by The National Law Journal, which named Skadden to its 2010 “Appellate Hot List” of law firms “that represent the best in the practice of appellate law.” 

REPRESENTATIVE APPELLATE EXPERIENCE

Federal Court

Skadden recently has handled some of the most significant appeals in federal appellate courts affecting business.  For example, in the U.S. Supreme Court, Skadden represented Merrill Lynch & Co., Inc. in its landmark victory in Merrill Lynch v. Dabit, in which the Court held that the Securities Litigation Uniform Standards Act (SLUSA) pre-empts private securities class actions brought under state law by individuals who assert claims as “holders” of securities and who do not allege that they purchased or sold securities during the period in question.  In addition, in State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Co. v. Campbell, also in the Supreme Court, Skadden obtained a decision on punitive damages that has been heralded by many commentators as being of lasting importance for corporate defendants, and as one of the most significant legal victories for business in decades.

Skadden also has had an extensive practice before the federal courts of appeals.  Because of the rare and unusual availability of Supreme Court review, the significant body of business law is developed in the other federal appellate tribunals.  In these courts, Skadden has secured important legal rulings in cases of first impression in a variety of areas of substantive law — including securities, antitrust, intellectual property, administrative, white collar, constitutional and bankruptcy.  For example, in the Second Circuit in California Public Employees’ Retirement System v. WorldCom, Inc., one of the largest securities class action cases in recent history, Skadden secured a precedent-setting victory on behalf of major underwriter defendants on an issue of first impression at the intersection of  bankruptcy and securities laws.  The decision will have an enormously favorable impact on the ability of securities underwriters to defend massive, multidistrict securities class action litigation.

State Appellate Courts

Some subject matters, such as corporations, insurance and torts, are predominantly matters of state law and thus are generally litigated in state court.  Increasingly, plaintiffs select state court as their forum of choice for filing banking, consumer and shareholder actions.  Skadden attorneys have substantial experience with appellate litigation in state supreme courts and in the intermediate state appellate courts. 

Contact Information

For more information on Skadden’s appellate litigation and legal issues practice or for a fuller listing of the firm’s appellate experience in particular subject areas or courts, please contact any of the individuals listed below:

New York Sheila L. Birnbaum 212.735.2450 Jay B. Kasner 212.735.2628 Hon. Judith Kaye 212.735.3680 Jonathan J. Lerner 212.735.2550 Sarah E. McCallum 212.735.3998 Boston Thomas J. Dougherty  617.573.4820 James R. Carroll 617.573.4801 Chicago Michael Y. Scudder 312.407.0877

Houston Charles W. Schwartz 713.655.5160 Los Angeles Thomas J. Nolan 213.687.5250 San Francisco Raoul D. Kennedy 415.984.6450 James E. Lyons 415.984.6470 Washington, D.C. Amy R.Sabrin 202.371.7699 Cliff Sloan 202.371.7040 David W. Foster 202.371.7626