Susan L. Saltzstein

Ms. Saltzstein’s experience extends to class and derivative actions, investigations and corporate control contests. Bet-the-company litigation is one of the mainstays of her practice.

She has represented, among others: Federal Express in connection with securing dismissal of securities and derivative litigation; Nokia Corporation in its successful defense against securities litigation; Neuberger Berman in its successful defense against preliminary injunctions that had targeted a multibillion-dollar transaction; J.P. Morgan Chase in connection with a number of foreign exchange-related purported class action litigations and in its defense of its ERISA plan; Citigroup Inc. as part of the 17-member underwriting syndicate of Santander Consumer USA Holdings Inc.’s IPO in two securities class actions, as well as in connection with litigation related to its student loan business; Realogy in its successful defense against securities and derivative claims; Anadarko Petroleum Corporation in connection with securities and derivative litigation arising out of its operations; Portland General Electric Company and two officers of the company in a putative securities class action arising from alleged energy trading activity; Booz Allen Hamilton, Inc., in securities and derivative litigation arising out of a government investigation; Footlocker Inc. in its successful defense of a securities class action; Inovalon Holdings, Inc. in connection with securities and derivative litigation arising from its IPO; Covisint Corporation and Compuware Corporation in connection with securities class action litigation involving the spin-off of Covisint Corporation; UniCredit S.p.A. in its defense of multibillion-dollar, precedent-setting Bernie Madoff-related litigations; the former CEO of Bear Stearns Companies, Inc. in connection with the defense of securities class and derivative actions and arbitrations; Cheniere Energy Inc. in its successful defense of challenges to its shareholder vote and related issuance of shares as incentive compensation; and Nortel Networks S.A. in securing a favorable settlement regarding the allocation of $7.3 billion of asset-sale proceeds in the Nortel bankruptcy cases.

Ms. Saltzstein led the Skadden team that was honored, among other firms, for its Nortel-related legal work by The American Lawyer as the Grand Prize Winner for Disputes.

The American Lawyer named Ms. Saltzstein and her partner Marco Schnabl as Litigators of the Week for their work on behalf of UniCredit S.p.A. in connection with Madoff-related matters, which also was named among the top matters in the Litigation & Dispute Resolution category in the Financial Times’ 2013 U.S. Innovative Lawyers report.

Ms. Saltzstein has extensive experience providing litigation advice to and representing members of public company boards of directors in litigation. She has advised clients on litigation-avoidance strategy and routinely consults clients concerning litigation-related corporate governance and disclosure issues. In this regard, she has participated in the successful representation of clients involved in diverse businesses such as financial services, telecommunications, health care, investment banking, hedge funds, private equity and retail.

Ms. Saltzstein has in the past served on the Attorneys’ Advisory Committee of the Southern District of New York, a committee that had provided assistance to members of the judiciary serving on the Judicial Improvements Committee. In this role, she co-chaired the Motions Committee and helped draft procedure rules that have been implemented by district court judges in a pilot program directed at complex commercial disputes. Ms. Saltzstein has served as co-chair for numerous American Bar Association organizations and events, including the Section of Litigation Annual Conference (2010), the Litigation Institute for Trial Training (2011) and the ABA’s Expert Committee (2017), as well as having previously served as co-chair of the Class and Derivative Action Committee and for three years as co-chair of the Securities Litigation Committee.

Ms. Saltzstein was one of three women securities litigators ranked by Chambers USA in its top band and has repeatedly been listed in its rankings, in which she is described by clients as “phenomenal at navigating a number of complex issues and [providing] great commitment to her clients.” She also has been featured by Securities Law360 as one of its Outstanding Women lawyers and repeatedly named by Benchmark Litigation as a Litigation Star and one of its Top 250 Women in Litigation. In addition, she was named a 2021 Securities MVP by Law360, has been named to The Best Lawyers in America and was selected for inclusion in the 2020 Lawdragon 500 Legends of Law list, which recognizes attorneys “whose contributions define justice and excellence in the legal profession.”