Peter Isakoff heads the Litigation practice in the Washington, DC office of Weil, Gotshal & Manges LLP, specializing in white collar criminal defense, class action defense, and general civil and commercial litigation in both trial and appellate courts across the country. Mr. Isakoff has achieved outstanding results for his clients at every stage of the litigation process, whether on motion, at trial or on appeal, through the development and skillful execution of creative and cost-effective strategies.
Mr. Isakoff graduated first in his class at Columbia Law School, where he was a notes editor for the Columbia Law Review. He then served as law clerk first for Judge Wilfred Feinberg at the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit and then for Associate Justice John Paul Stevens at the United States Supreme Court. Following his clerkships, he joined the Criminal Division of the United States Department of Justice in Washington as a trial lawyer, specializing in white collar criminal prosecutions. Mr. Isakoff’s private practice since 1983 has involved a broad mix of cases, featuring criminal defense, antitrust, Truth in Lending Act, tax, intellectual property, international trade, lender liability and general commercial litigation. The Supreme Court appointed him to argue as amicus curiae in Ornelas v. United States, where he was credited by the Court with having “well fulfilled his assigned responsibility.” 517 U.S. 690, 695 n.4 (1996).
In his extensive career as a litigator, Mr. Isakoff has served as lead counsel in a number of high profile cases, including, most recently, a cluster of related antitrust class actions alleging conspiracy to fix prices among cigarette manufacturers in which he won summary judgment for defendants, resulting in complete dismissal of all claims; a putative class action against a large retail jewelry chain which alleged misconduct in the marketing of credit insurance, and in which he defeated class certification and won dismissal of all but a single Truth in Lending Act claim; and an action to enforce a personal guarantee in which he also won summary judgment on all claims for plaintiff, a secured lender to a Chicago hospital, resulting in defendant paying 100% of the judgment amount plus a portion of Daiwa’s attorneys’ fees and costs. Mr. Isakoff also successfully defended orthopedic implant manufacturers in a federal criminal investigation into price-fixing in that industry.
Mr. Isakoff has written and lectured on a variety of litigation related topics, including the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, discovery in complex cases, environmental crimes, and government contract compliance programs. In addition to heading the Firm’s Washington, DC Litigation practice, he has served on a number of firm-wide committees, including the National Litigation Training Committee, the National Litigation Orientation Committee and the Compliance Committee, and is a member of the Investigations and Criminal Defense and Complex Commercial Litigation practice groups.
Mr. Isakoff is admitted to practice in the District of Columbia, the State of New York and the following federal courts: US Supreme Court; US Courts of Appeals for the First, Second, Third, Fourth, Sixth, Ninth, Tenth, Eleventh, District of Columbia and Federal Circuits; US District Courts for the Southern District of New York, the District of Columbia and the District of Maryland; US Tax Court; and US Court of Federal Claims.