Mr Kevin Orsini > Cravath, Swaine & Moore LLP > New York, United States > Lawyer Profile

Based in New York, the team at Cravath, Swaine & Moore LLP is well versed in the intricacies of high-profile contentious matters. The firm regularly leads litigation on behalf of major media and entertainment clients, including precedent-setting copyright claims. The practice’s expertise particularly lends itself to the corporate aspects of media litigation, such as antitrust, securities, and contractual disputes. The team saw a notable victory in December 2023, winning on all counts in an antitrust dispute that determined Google had acted anticompetitively in its distribution of apps and payments, while similar litigation against Apple remains ongoing. Gary Bornstein and Kevin Orsini are experienced partners who both regularly demonstrate their court room capabilities in high-stakes commercial media disputes. Wes Earnhardt is a further key contact in the team and  represents the likes of the Walt Disney Company and Epic Games in impactful antitrust, copyright infringement, and breach of contract matters. David Korn is rising at the firm and continues to demonstrate his ability to manage putative class actions, as well as securities and commercial litigation.

Cravath, Swaine & Moore LLP in New York ‘pursues cases relentlessly‘, frequently represents companies, boards of directors and special committees in individual, class and derivative actions arising from contemplated or hostile transactions, including mergers, acquisitions and other business deals. Gary Bornstein and Kevin Orsini are among the standout partners, along with veteran litigator Robert Baron. Key partners Justin Clarke and Antony Ryan are also highly regarded by peers. They are working with Bornstein on behalf of Deutsche Telekom, the controlling stockholder of T-Mobile, in class action and derivative litigation alleging that defendants breached their fiduciary duties in connection with T‑Mobile’s $26bn merger with Sprint by not arguing for more favourable terms. Up-and-coming partner Rory Leraris also plays a vital role in the practice. With Orsini, he won a summary judgment for Blackstone as the pre-IPO private equity sponsor and a principal stockholder of online dating application Bumble concerning its dual-class voting structure.

A strong choice for broker-dealers, banks, startups, as well as public companies, the New York-based practice at Cravath, Swaine & Moore LLP is knowledgeable of digital payments, protocol design, and Web3 intellectual property mandates. Other areas of expertise for the practice include regulatory cryptocurrency matters, decentralized finance, and DAOs. David Kappos oversees the team and is proficient in the intellectual property aspects of blockchain and cryptocurrency matters. A partner in the firm’s corporate department, Scott Bennett advises issuers and investment banking firms on public and private offerings of securities. Sasha Rosenthal-Larrea often handles the technology, intellectual property, data privacy, and data security aspects of major corporate transactions, while Daniel Barabander is particularly well-versed in compliance and securities matters. Other key team members include co-lead of the firm’s litigation practice Kevin Orsini.

The antitrust team at Cravath, Swaine & Moore LLP routinely acts for leading names in the tech, media, and life sciences sectors and has extensive experience handling precedent-setting, business-critical litigation cases spanning the full range of antitrust issues, including monopolization allegations, price-fixing, and consumer class actions. Former assistant attorney general for antitrust Christine Varney and former FTC Commissioner Noah Joshua Phillips  in Washington DC, jointly head the team, leveraging their agency experience to advise clients in bet-the-company litigations and class actions. Seasoned litigator David Marriott takes point on both vertical and horizontal merger challenges and has an impressive track record in this area. Described by clients as ‘one of the best,’ Kevin Orsini, who co-heads the firm’s litigation department alongside experienced antitrust litigator Gary Bornstein, is another key member of the team who routinely takes point on large and complex antitrust litigations and class action cases in the digital advertising and finance sectors. Lauren Roberta Kennedy is a key name for multidistrict litigations in the healthcare sector. Unless otherwise stated, all mentioned lawyers are based in New York.

Cravath, Swaine & Moore LLP fields an ‘excellent, dedicated and highly professional team’ of seasoned trial lawyers who are adept across the full range of high-profile, business-critical litigation, including disputes involving breach of contract, fraud, breach of fiduciary duty, tortious interference, employee ‘raiding’, and unfair competition claims, among many others. New York-based attorneys Gary Bornstein and Kevin Orsini, who is praised by clients as the ‘best in the business’, jointly head the litigation department. Bornstein predominantly focuses on antitrust, M&A and securities litigation, while Orsini remains a key name for complex litigation relating to mass torts and post-M&A disputes, among others. Pre-eminent trial lawyer David Marriott‘s practice emphasises litigation and arbitration in the areas of antitrust, intellectual property, employment and securities, while Lauren Moskowitz represents some of the firm’s biggest clients in crucial restructuring andIP litigation mandates, including appearing before the Supreme Court. Former firm chairman Evan Chesler retired from the litigation department in December 2023. All named contacts are based in New York

New York-based Cravath, Swaine & Moore LLP is led by co-head of the litigation department Kevin Orsini, whose track record of involvement in market-leading cases continues. He won a complete summary judgment victory for generic drug manufacturer Viatris Inc. concerning the marketing, pricing and classification of EpiPen, as well as alleged conduct concerning generic drug price fixing and market allocation. He is also working with well-regarded securities litigators Daniel Slifkin and Antony Ryan to defend Robinhood Markets, Inc. in the sprawling ‘meme stock’ litigation, which concerns the company’s decision to temporarily place limits on trading in GameStop and other securities in the face of unprecedented market volatility in 2021. They have, so far, secured the dismissal of two of the three tranches of litigation against the company. Karin DeMasi worked closely with emerging partner talent Lauren Rosenberg to secure back-to-back dismissals of class actions against First Solar, Inc. Among the firm’s other up-and-coming partners are Wes Earnhardt, who is involved in a notable matter concerning the Disney+ streaming service, and Lauren Moskowitz, who is widely recognised as a tenacious litigator.

Cravath, Swaine & Moore LLP’s appellate practice is closely aligned with its trial practice and the team frequently—though not exclusively—handles appeals for litigation led by the firm at trial level. From its New York base, the group is active in appellate courts across the country, including recent appearances before the Federal, Fifth and Ninth Circuits, as well as in the California, Delaware, and US Supreme Court. Gary Bornstein and Kevin Orsini co-lead an overarching litigation department that also includes Antony Ryan.