Yvette Ostolaza is co-head of Weil’s Complex Commercial Litigation practice and a member of the Firm’s national Management Committee. For more than 20 years, Ms. Ostolaza has developed a reputation in Texas and nationally as a versatile counselor who excels at all aspects of complex disputes. She litigates matters in US state and federal trial and appellate courts on behalf of sophisticated, global clients like Halliburton, MGM Resorts, and Deutsche Bank. She coordinates and tries proceedings in a variety of arbitration venues and serves on the Roster of Neutral Arbitrators for the AAA for commercial litigation matters. She also manages and oversees complex internal investigations on behalf of companies, board committees, and individual directors, including recent high-profile matters for Southwest Airlines, Restoration Hardware, and National Public Radio.
Her range, experience, and results have earned her extensive recognition, including in 2012 as one of the 20 “Most Powerful & Influential Women” in Texas by the Texas Diversity Council, in 2012 and 2013 as of the “Top 250 Women in Litigation” in the US by Benchmark Litigation, and in 2009 – 2013 as a leading General Commercial Litigator in Texas by Chambers USA, which has noted that clients call her “a force of nature” with “every arrow in her quiver that you would want,” who “doesn’t look for the usual cookie-cutter, classic legal responses” and who has particular “expertise in whistleblower and investigation matters.”
Admitted to practice in Texas – where she formerly served as a Director of the State Bar – and New York, Ms. Ostolaza has particularly significant experience managing multi-jurisdictional disputes, including class actions, as well as business tort, securities/shareholder, consumer fraud, financial services, constitutional, contract, employment, fiduciary duty, advertising/sweepstakes, insurance, fraud, good faith, and accounting malpractice litigation, arbitrations, simulations, and mediations. Fluent in Spanish, Ms. Ostolaza also has extensive experience managing Latin America-related litigation and arbitration. Other aspects of her practice include: counseling clients on reducing risks from consumer and advertising-related claims and representing clients in negotiations with state agencies on such claims; advising private equity firms on litigation risks facing their portfolio companies; and coordinating and arguing appeals in courts across the US, including the US Supreme Court, the US Court of Appeals, the Texas Supreme Court, and the Fifth District Court of Appeals in Dallas.
Some of Ms. Ostolaza’s recent representations, which illustrate the breadth of her practice, include:
- Representation of Barclays Bank, Commerzbank, and Deutsche Bank in a multi-hundred million dollar fraud litigation brought by MGA Entertainment in California federal court with respect to MGA’s acquisition of a failed French toymaker, Smoby, SA; obtained motion to stay the proceedings on forum non conveniens grounds and in favor of pending proceedings in France.
- Representation of a Special Committee of the Board of Halliburton with respect to a shareholder demand and subsequent litigation in Texas state court relating to FCPA issues; obtained a favorable, no-money settlement that was featured in The Wall Street Journal.
- Representation of Zale Corp., a national retailer, in securities fraud litigation in Texas federal court relating to an accounting restatement; secured dismissal with prejudice, later affirmed by the Fifth Circuit.
- Representation of Ability Insurance Company in numerous cases in federal courts in Montana, South Dakota, Iowa and Washington State in which long-term care policyholders allege fraud, bad faith, and various other torts; to date, has secured numerous favorable rulings at the summary judgment phase.
In addition, a significant portion of Ms. Ostolaza’s practice involves counseling boards, special committees, and directors on sensitive internal investigations, including with respect to whistleblower, accounting, and executive issues. Some of her recent experience in this area includes:
- Advising a Special Committee of the Board of Restoration Hardware with respect to an internal investigation of a whistleblower’s allegations concerning the company’s former CEO.
- Advising National Public Radio with respect to its internal review into the firing of Juan Williams following his controversial on-air remarks, the results of which were covered by the national news media.
- Advising a Special Committee of the Board of a recruiting firm with respect to an investigation of employment discrimination allegations.
- Conducting an independent investigation on behalf of a Special Committee of the Board of Fossil, Inc. with respect to historic equity granting practices.
Ms. Ostolaza is also actively engaged in the Firm’s robust pro bono practice. Currently, she is leading the Weil team, working with Disability Rights Texas, that represents a putative class of intellectually disabled residents of nursing facilities in their quest to obtain access to community-based facilities.
Outside of her active practice, Ms. Ostolaza regularly speaks on class actions, investigations, and arbitration issues. She has been featured in Time Magazine and as a speaker on “Internal Investigations Best Practices” in America’s Most Influential Women, and broadcast in American Airlines, Northwest Airlines, and on CNN’s national airport edition.
Ms. Ostolaza has received continuous recognition over the course of her career for her achievements, dedication to diversity and pro bono programs, and breadth of practice. In addition to the above accolades, the Dallas Business Journal and the Association of Corporate Counsel named Ms. Ostolaza in 2008 as one of the “Defenders” – the top 15 business defense attorneys in the Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex. In 2010, she was selected as one of 20 “Women of Excellence” honored nationwide by Hispanic Business Magazine, and also named by her peers as one of the “Best Women Lawyers in Dallas” in Business Litigation in D Magazine. In 2011, Ms. Ostolaza was profiled as one of the “Winning Women” by the Texas Lawyer. In 2012, she was named among the “Top 50 Women” in Texas Super Lawyers, and for the sixth consecutive year recognized by that publication for Business Civil Litigation. Additionally, since 2010, she has been recognized as a National “Litigation Star” in Commercial Litigation by Benchmark Litigation.