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Kasowitz Benson Torres
Kasowitz Benson Torres | |
Headquarters | New York (NY) |
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Number of Offices | http://www.kasowitz.com/offices/"http://www.kasowitz.com/offices/" is not a number. |
Number of attorneys | 273 |
Practice Areas | Litigation |
Key People | Marc Kasowitz (?) |
Kasowitz Benson Torres Pay Scale | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Template:Use mdy dates Kasowitz, Benson & Torres is a New York law firm founded in 1993. It employs 350 lawyers and maintains offices in several states.[1] The firm focuses on product liability litigation, corporate, family and employment law, as well as intellectual property, bankruptcy and creditors' rights.[1] Notable clients have included Donald Trump,[2] Robert DeNiro, Celanese, ArvinMeritor, Liggett Group, Enron, WorldCom and Mia Farrow.
History
Founding
The firm was founded as Kasowitz, Hoff, Benson & Torres in 1993 when Marc Kasowitz left the Mayer Brown law firm with 18 other lawyers and two clients.[3] David M. Friedman was added as a partner in May 1995,[4] and William Bruce Hoff, Jr. left in November.[5]
Expansion
The firm began in New York City with 18 lawyers and after 6 months expanded to include a Houston branch office.[1][3] Friedman joined the firm in 1993 or 1994 and opened its bankruptcy practice.[3] In 1996 several new lawyers joined the firm to begin its employment and matrimonial practices.[3] It opened a New Jersey office in 1997, Atlanta in 2001[3] and in 2003 the fiirm opened a San Francisco office while former assistant district attorney, Leslie Crocker Snyder, joined the office in New York.[6] By 2004 the firm had increased to 160 lawyers and included an additional office in Atlanta.[3] The firm opened its Miami, Florida office in 2006 and expanded its San Francisco, California office in 2007 by merging with the seven lawyer firm, Topel & Goodman.[1] The 2005 launch of the intellectual property arm of the company led to several personnel changes with various key lawyers arriving and departing.[1] This included Peter J. Toren who left the intellectual property department in the spring of 2007.[1]
In 2009 the firm hired Marcos Daniel Jimenez, former U.S. attorney for the Southern District of Florida, to lead its Miami, Florida office[1] and added insurance recovery litigation to its practice.[7] In January 2010 the company added Robin Cohen and her insurance team from the firm, Dickstein Shapiro.[1]
In November 2012 the firm opened an additional office in Silicon Valley.[8] They opened a Los Angeles, California office in May 2013 led by partners that were lured away from Jenner & Block.[9][10] In June, former U.S. Senator, Joe Lieberman, joined the firm as Senior Counsel[11] and his former Senate Chief of Staff, Clarine Nardi Riddle launched a Government Affairs branch of the company in Washington D.C.[12] In October, two senior litigation attorneys from NBC Universal joined the firm's Los Angeles office to begin an entertainment litigation practice.[13]
In 2014, following the resolution of several large cases, Kasowitz, Benson, Torres & Friedman laid off approximately 30 of its 350 attorneys.[14][15] In 2014, Kasowitz, Benson, Torres & Friedman was ranked as the 119th largest firm in the United States by Law360.[16] In June, the firm was awarded the Chambers USA 2014 Award for Excellence.[17]
Notable clients and cases
In 2003 the firm successfully opposed a chemical company called Celanese and won an asbestos lawsuit involving the auto parts supplier, ArvinMeritor.[3] They also overturned a $799 million punitive damages award levied against the Liggett cigarette company.[3]
In 2004 the company received the "largest toxic tort settlement in U.S. history" in a case involving one of Monsanto's company plants in Alabama.[3] By 2005 the firm had participated in the bankruptcy cases of Enron, WorldCom, Global Crossing and Adelphia Communications and the matrimonial proceedings for Robert De Niro, Donna Hanover and Mia Farrow.[3] The firm has represented Donald Trump since 2001.[18] In January 2006, the firm filed a defamation lawsuit (dismissed in 2009) on behalf of Donald Trump against the author and publisher of TrumpNation: The Art of Being the Donald.[19][20] In 2010 the firm's clients included Fortress Investment Group, Liggett Group, MBIA and Fairfax Financial Holdings Limited.[1] In 2016, the firm represented Harold Peerenboom of Toronto in an extended legal fight with his seasonal Palm Beach, Florida, neighbor, businessman Isaac Perlmutter.[21] In 2017, the firm had recently added the Russian Sberbank "in a case that accused it of conspiring to take over a Russian granite company".[22]
Administration
The firm's main administration consists of the partners, Marc Kasowitz, Daniel Benson, Hector Torres and David Friedman and its executive committee consists of Kasowitz, Benson and Torres.[1] The company's average per partner profit was $2.9 million in 2004[3] and $2.1 million in 2009.[1] According to a 2004 article in American Lawyer the firm had a "diverse culture" featuring an exceptional number of young lawyers but fewer than the average number of women and minority employees.[3] In contrast, a 2014 a report by American Lawyer ranked the firms cultural diversity as 59th out of the 223 firms they evaluated.[23]
Controversy
In September 2007 the firm was dismissed by its client, Biovail Corporation after a Southern District Judge found Biovail Corp. had used legal documents in violation of a protection order.[1] The law firm denied knowledge of the protective order and was later rehired by Biovail.[1]
In December 2007, one of the firm's partners, Jeremy Pitcock, was fired for "extremely inappropriate personal conduct." Pitcock sued the firm for wrongful firing and defamation and the firm countered with a suit claiming Pitcock sexually harassed 12 female employees. A panel of the Appellate Division, dismissed both suits.[1]
A former associate filed a lawsuit against the firm in August 2011 alleging negligent misrepresentation, breach of contract and wrongful termination. The suit's 2012 dismissal was upheld upon appeal.[24][25]
References
- ↑ 1.00 1.01 1.02 1.03 1.04 1.05 1.06 1.07 1.08 1.09 1.10 1.11 1.12 1.13 Raymond, Nate (September 13, 2013). "Kasowitz Holds Power Close As He Grows Firm, Lures Business". New York Law Journal. Accessed June 27, 2014.
- ↑ Meet Marc Kasowitz, the litigator who often represents Donald Trump,
- ↑ 3.00 3.01 3.02 3.03 3.04 3.05 3.06 3.07 3.08 3.09 3.10 3.11 Amon, Elizabeth Fast Rise to the Top, The American Lawyer (August 2004)
- ↑ "Profiles/Executive Moves" (May 1, 1995). Crain's New York Business
- ↑ William Bruce Hoff Jr.: Lawyer, model ship builder, dies Chicago Tribune
- ↑ Unknown author, (September 2003) Supreme Court Justice Leslie Crocker Snyder Joins Kasowitz, Benson, Torres & Friedman Official web site
- ↑ It's Official,
- ↑ KBTF Open Office in Silicon Valley,
- ↑ June, Daniel, "Kasowitz Benson Poaches Two Partners, Sets Them Up in New LA Office"
- ↑ Kasowitz, Benson, Torres & Friedman, (June 7, 2013)
- ↑ Unknown author, (June 6, 2013) Senator Joseph Lieberman Joins Kasowitz News, Kasowitz, Benson, Torres & Friedman LLP
- ↑ Kasowitz Opens DC Office with Clarine Nardi Riddle to Lead Government Affairs Practice, (June 5, 2013)
- ↑ NBCU Legal Execs Joint Litigation Firm,
- ↑ Simmons, Christine Kasowitz Layoffs Tied to End of Credit Crisis Cases, 'New York Law Journal' (February 21, 2014)
- ↑ Lat, David Nationwide Layoff Watch: Casualties At Kasowitz Benson, 'Above the Law' (February 10, 2014)
- ↑ Simpson, Jake, "Law360 Reveals 400 Largest US Law Firms" Law360
- ↑ Staff Reporter (June 13, 2014) Kasowitz Insurance Policyholder Recovery Group Receives Chambers Award for Excellence, Insurance Weekly News
- ↑ Marc E. Kasowitz: 5 Fast Facts You Need to Know, Heavy.com (April 19, 2017)
- ↑ Trump Sues Writer and Book Publisher, The New York Times (January 25, 2006)
- ↑ Goodman, Peter Trump Suit Claiming Defamation Is Dismissed, The New York Times (July 15, 2009)
- ↑ Sorkin, Andrew Ross, "Lurid Suit Over Hate Mail Embroils Isaac Perlmutter, Marvel Chief", New York Times Dealbook, March 7, 2016. Retrieved 2017-06-09.
- ↑ Sorkin, Andrew Ross, "Trump’s Lawyer, Marc Kasowitz: ‘The Toughest of the Tough Guys’", New York Times Dealbook, June 5, 2017. Retrieved 2017-06-09.
- ↑ Diversity Scorecard: How the Firms Rate, (May 29, 2014)
- ↑ Weiss, Debra Cassens (January 23, 2013) Associate Who Told Partners of His Superior Legal Mind Loses Appeal ABA Journal
- ↑ Pearson, Brendon (January 23, 2013) [1] New York Law Journal