Weil’s global Litigation Department Co-Chair Jonathan Polkes has been honored with The American Lawyer’s coveted Litigator of the Year award. He is one of just eight attorneys selected for this title nationwide. The publication noted this year’s “Litigators of the Year are a shining example of what it means to tenaciously advocate no matter the odds. And in 2020 and 2021, the odds were great.” The honorees “repeatedly went to bat for the biggest clients in industry-defining litigation and won. They proved that whether in mahogany-clad courtrooms or in front of a Zoom filter, they can get the toughest jobs done.”

Jonathan was recognized for myriad accomplishments over the past two years, including his ability to successfully litigate billion-dollar cases in the toughest venues, from the U.S. Supreme Court to Swiss arbitration forums. The American Lawyer noted that “he made new law regarding material adverse effect clauses and standing, squared off against the NRA in a landmark First Amendment suit and resolved cases implicating COVID, 1MDB and the Stanford Ponzi scheme.” Highlighting one of his most significant and impactful victories, the publication featured Jonathan’s work with “PE heavyweight the Carlyle Group to get out of a billion-dollar deal to acquire a travel services business” in the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic, and in the process laying “a framework for how parties should negotiate material adverse effects.”

The American Lawyer’s editorial team reviews dozens of submissions featuring “hundreds of cases” before selecting its finalists, which feature firms and individuals who “deliver results for clients in the most high-stakes, high-profile cases on the docket” and “showed up time and time again with novel solutions, preserving civil rights and corporate livelihoods all the same.”

This is the second consecutive year a Weil partner has won this distinction; Weil’s other Litigation Department Co-Chair, David Lender, received the honor in 2020.