Jared R. Friedmann

Jared has been named a “Rising Star” by the New York Law Journal and selected for Benchmark Litigation’s “Under 40 Hotlist,” which noted that he “excels at commercial litigation.” He has also been recognized as a recommended lawyer by The Legal 500, named to Lawdragon’s “500 Leading Litigators in America” and “Leading Global IP Lawyers” lists, and ranked nationally for Enforcement and Litigation in World Trademark Review’s WTR 1000.

Selected Experience

Complex Commercial Litigation

• Representing the Special Master appointed by the U.S. District Court for the District of Delaware in litigation concerning the judicial sale of shares of PDV Holding, Inc., the parent company of CITGO Petroleum, one of the largest refiners, transporters, and marketers of motor fuels, petrochemicals, and other industrial products in the United States, including successfully defending the judicial sale.
• Defending the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) in multiple privacy class actions alleging violations of the Video Privacy Protection Act (VPPA), California Invasion of Privacy Act (CIPA), and other privacy statutes in connection with BBC.com.
• Defending Alibaba in a secondary product liability case in which a 3D printer purchased on AliExpress allegedly caught fire.
• Successfully defending the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey in multiple litigations involving claims seeking hundreds of millions of dollars in damages.
• Securing one of the largest settlements ever obtained against the State of New York in the Court of Claims on behalf of Tyco Electronics, in a breach of contract action arising from the largest contract ever entered into by the State.
• Obtaining summary judgment on behalf of UnitedHealthcare, dismissing a putative ERISA class action alleging the improper denial of benefits as “experimental and unproven.”
• Successfully defending NewGen Health against an application for a status quo order and injunctive relief brought by its joint venture partner in the Delaware Court of Chancery.

Intellectual Property Litigation

• Successfully defending Alibaba in multiple federal court litigations alleging direct and contributory trademark and copyright infringement arising from its e-commerce platforms, including AliExpress and Alibaba.com. The matters included a putative class actions and allegations under the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO).
• Representing Getty Images in litigation against Stability AI arising from the alleged unauthorized copying and use of Getty Images’ copyrighted content to train artificial intelligence models.
• Defending Believe S.A. and TuneCore Inc. in a $500 million music copyright infringement action brought by UMG Recordings, Inc., Capitol Records, LLC, and other record labels.

Bankruptcy and Restructuring Litigation

• Successfully litigating numerous contested matters in the Sears Holdings Corporation chapter 11 proceedings, including securing approval of the sale of substantially all of the debtors’ assets and handling subsequent litigation involving hundreds of millions of dollars against the purchaser.
• Leading the litigation and trial team in securing confirmation of Exide Technologies Inc.’s chapter 11 plan, including obtaining approval to abandon a California facility over the objection of the California Department of Toxic Substances Control.
• Overseeing litigation in the chapter 11 proceedings of Cano Health Inc., one of the largest independent primary care provider groups in the United States, including conducting an investigation on behalf of a special committee.
• Leading the litigation team in the chapter 11 proceedings of Terraform Labs Pte. Ltd., developer of the Terra blockchain ecosystem, involving billions of dollars in claims asserted by the SEC.
• Directing litigation in the chapter 11 proceedings of Everstream Solutions, a leading provider of fiber network solutions, including a prepetition investigation on behalf of a special committee.
• Leading the litigation team in the highly contested chapter 11 proceedings of VIVUS, Inc., a specialty pharmaceutical company, including disputes concerning the valuation of pharmaceutical products in clinical development.
• Directing litigation in the chapter 11 proceedings of Pinnacle Group, a New York City-based real estate holding and management company, culminating in the sale of more than 5,100 apartments in one of the largest transactions involving residential properties subject to rent stabilization laws.
• Leading litigation teams in chapter 11 proceedings of, among others, Ruby Pipeline, Fairway Group Holdings Corporation, Fusion Connect, Inc., and Basic Energy Services, including disputes arising from significant asset sales and other contested restructuring matters.
• Conducting investigations on behalf of special committees appointed by the boards of numerous companies, including CareStream Dental LLC, Exide Technologies Inc., Red Lobster Management LLC, and Robertshaw Controls Company.

Employment and Trade Secrets Litigation

• Successfully defending and counseling Stone Ridge Asset Management in multiple employment-related matters, including arbitration proceedings.
• Defeating a competitor’s motion for a temporary restraining order seeking to prevent Intrepid Solutions and Services, Inc. from bidding on a Department of Defense contract in a dispute involving allegations of trade secret misappropriation and breach of restrictive covenants.
• Obtaining an order denying class certification on behalf of Merrill Lynch in a putative nationwide employment discrimination class action alleging intentional race discrimination and disparate impact in hiring, promotion, compensation, account distribution, and team assignments.
• Representing Kroll Associates, Inc. in a restrictive covenant dispute, securing a favorable settlement following a preliminary injunction hearing.

Leadership and Professional Activities

Jared serves as Chair of Weil’s Hiring Committee and is a member of the Firm’s Inclusion and Pro Bono Committees. He is also a member and former co-chair of New York Lawyers for the Public Interest’s Pro Bono Advisory Council, and serves as General Counsel of Temple Beth Sholom in Roslyn, New York.

Jared has received numerous awards for his pro bono work, particularly his advocacy on behalf of disadvantaged children with special needs.

Jared writes and lectures on a range of litigation and professional responsibility topics, including the Class Action Fairness Act (CAFA), federal subpoena practice, dispositive motions, settlement agreements, electronic discovery, and legal ethics. He has also served as a guest lecturer at Columbia Law School.

Education and Judicial Clerkship

Jared received his B.S. from Cornell University’s School of Industrial and Labor Relations and his J.D. from Columbia Law School, where he was a Harlan Fiske Stone Scholar and Senior Editor of the Columbia Law Review.

From 2004 to 2005, Jared clerked for the Honorable Colleen McMahon of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York.