Richard Rothman is a senior Litigation partner in the firm’s Complex Commercial Litigation practice group. Since becoming a partner in the firm’s New York office in 1985, Mr. Rothman has consistently achieved successful results for long-standing clients in a broad range of substantive areas. In addition to his experience as lead trial counsel and coordinating counsel in complex commercial litigations, Mr. Rothman has extensive experience in the fields of antitrust, product liability, appellate, and bankruptcy litigation.
In 2010, Mr. Rothman served as lead trial counsel for Lehman Brothers in the action challenging the Bank of America’s seizure of $500 million of deposited funds shortly before Lehman’s bankruptcy. The Court ruled in Lehman’s favor and ordered the return of $595 million (including 9% interest) to Lehman. As a result Mr. Rothman was named AmLaw Daily’s “Litigator of the Week” (November 19, 2010). In mid-2011, Mr. Rothman won a complete victory for Sanofi-Aventis as lead trial counsel in an arbitration involving a multi-hundred million dollar contract dispute with Warner Chilcott over rights to promote, market, distribute, and sell the billion-dollar osteoporosis medication Actonel. In September 2011, Mr. Rothman won a landmark ruling for the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey when the New York Court of Appeals – after twice hearing oral argument – reversed the Appellate Division’s 2008 ruling affirming a jury’s finding that the Port Authority was liable for the 1993 bombing of the World Trade Center. During the course of his career, Mr. Rothman has argued appeals throughout the country and has won each of the appeals he has argued in the United States Courts of Appeals for the Second, Third, Seventh, Eighth, Tenth, and D.C. Circuits.
Mr. Rothman has served as one of American Airlines’ principal litigation counsel for over 20 years, and has handled a wide array of cases for American, including antitrust and securities derivative actions. He currently is co-lead counsel in the major antitrust litigations American has brought against SABRE, asserting claims for attempted monopolization, breach of contract, and tortious interference pending in both the federal and state courts in Texas. He also is leading the team representing American in connection with the airline cargo fuel surcharge price fixing proceedings pending throughout the globe, including the European Union proceeding in which American succeeded in having all charges against it dropped.
Mr. Rothman also currently is lead trial counsel for Anadarko Petroleum Corporation in a high profile fraudulent conveyance action arising from Kerr-McGee’s initial public offering of its chemical business, and lead counsel for Symantec Corporation in a consumer fraud class action pending in federal court in California.
Mr. Rothman is the editor and principal author of Litigating Complex Cases: From the Inside Out, and has written and spoken widely on various topics relating to complex litigation.
Throughout his career, Mr. Rothman has served in leadership roles of various public service organizations. He has served as President of the Federal Bar Foundation; Trustee of the Federal Bar Council and Chairman of the Council’s Second Circuit Courts and Public Service Committees; Counsel to the Board and member of the Executive Committee of the American Red Cross in Greater New York; and Co-Chair of the Products Liability Subcommittee of the ABA Litigation Section’s Committee on Corporate Counsel. He is currently a member of the Board of Directors of Graham Windham, the oldest childcare agency in the U.S., and a member of the Washington University Law School National Council.
Mr. Rothman is admitted to practice in New York and before the United States Supreme Court; United States District Court for the Southern and Eastern Districts of New York and the Northern District of Illinois; the United States Tax Court; and the United States Courts of Appeals for the First, Second, Third, Sixth, Seventh, Eighth, Tenth, and DC Circuits.
He received his BA (magna cum laude) from Tufts University and his law degree from Washington University School of Law, where he served as Managing Editor of the law review.