Jonathan D. Polkes, Co-Chair of the Securities Litigation Practice Group and member of the firm’s Management Committee, is ranked among the top New York Securities Litigators by Chambers USA. He supervises investigations, regulatory and criminal matters, and securities litigation.
A former federal prosecutor, Mr. Polkes represents many of the highest profile clients involved in the financial crisis. He is supervising a vast docket of criminal and regulatory investigations and civil litigation arising from the collapse of Lehman Brothers, which the American Lawyer Magazine described as "enormous enough by itself to keep most litigation departments on the run." Mr. Polkes represented AIG in connection with the Department of Justice investigation into its near-collapse, and Washington Mutual Bank in connection with the criminal investigation of its collapse. Mr. Polkes also represents the Willis Group in the MDL litigation concerning the Stanford Financial fraud, an elite financial institution in connection with the Mark Dreier ponzi scheme, and a senior executive in connection with all civil and regulatory matters arising from the Merrill Lynch-Bank of America merger. He represents Archstone Smith Realty Trust in connection with the litigation fall out from the largest REIT merger in history.
Mr. Polkes has represented prominent corporate clients and executives in virtually every major legal event to have affected the business world in recent memory, including stock option backdating, market timing and late trading, IPO laddering, investigations of conflicts of interest between investment banking and research departments, and the Enron bankruptcy.
He was described by Chambers USA as “part of the new generation set to take over from the current leaders…a tremendously talented litigator,” as “a star both in and out of the courtroom,” as “a power lawyer,” and also as achieving “great results in complex securities regulatory investigations and related class actions.” Mr. Polkes is listed in Best of the U.S. in the category of “Bet the Company Litigation” as well as white collar criminal defense and commercial litigation. He has been listed in Legal 500 (securities litigation and white collar criminal defense), where he was described as “very talented” and as having “a superb reputation in the market.” He also has been featured in New York Magazine as one of the best securities litigators in New York, and recognized as a leading lawyer in Best Lawyers in America, as a “Local Litigation Star” in Benchmark Litigation and among the Lawdragon 500 Leading Lawyers in America.
He is a member of the Board of Contributing Editors and Advisors of the Securities Regulation Law Journal. He received the Burton Award for clarity in legal writing. Mr. Polkes has been invited to speak at Yale Law School and New York University School of Law. He was also an adjunct associate professor at Fordham University School of Law, where he taught seminars covering trial advocacy and the Federal Rules of Evidence. He served as co-chairman of the ABA subcommittee on Criminal Aspects of The Securities Laws. Mr. Polkes is regularly invited to speak at the Securities Industry Association, American Bar Association, and Futures Industry Association. He was the Keynote Speaker at an annual meeting of the association of lawyers and compliance officers of British investment firms.
Mr. Polkes was an Assistant US Attorney in the Eastern District of New York, where he was Deputy Chief of the Business/Securities Fraud Unit. He conducted over 20 jury trials and argued 12 times before the United States Court of Appeals. He received two Superior Performance Awards from the Department of Justice and numerous commendations of the FBI, the Postal Inspection Service and the Secret Service.
Mr. Polkes is a graduate of New York University School of Law, where he received his J.D. in 1984, and Haverford College, where he graduated magna cum laude. He is a member of Phi Beta Kappa. He served as law clerk to Justice Aharon Barak of the Supreme Court of Israel and to The Honorable William B. Bryant, United States District Judge for the District of Columbia.
Mr. Polkes serves on the Board of Directors of the Make-A-Wish Foundation and of Advocates for Children of New York, and as a Vice Chairman of the Executive Committee of the Lawyers Division of the UJA Federation of New York.