Selendy Gay PLLC > New York, United States > Firm Profile

Selendy Gay PLLC
1290 AVENUE OF THE AMERICAS
NEW YORK, NY 10104
NEW YORK
United States

Email firm Visit website 1 212 390 9000

Dispute resolution > General commercial disputes Tier 3

Jennifer Selendy , who regularly represents clients in governmental investigations related to antitrust and financial misconduct matters, heads up the complex commercial litigation team at boutique firm Selendy Gay PLLC, which splits its time between plaintiff and defense work and routinely undertakes high-value bet-the-company business disputes. Financial services disputes, particularly lender-on-lender, are becoming an increasing focus of the team of ‘terrific strategists’. Former practice co-head David Elsberg left the firm in January 2024.

Practice head(s):

Jennifer Selendy

Other key lawyers:

Maria Ginzburg; David Coon; Will Rathgeber; Faith Gay

Testimonials

‘We’ve been really impressed with the entire Selendy Gay team. They’re terrific strategists, and they have routinely cleaned the clocks of the larger law firms. ’

‘Jennifer Selendy is a rock star. She’s our first call for best the company matters. We’ve been pleased with quite of a few of their partners, though. David Elsberg is really good, and you want him on your side.’

Key clients

Cerberus Capital Management

Matterport, Inc.

Fortis Advisors

Drivetrain LLC

Save On SP, LLC

Official Committee of Unsecured Creditors of Celsius Network LLC, et al.

American Federation of Teachers

Bausch Health

Kingate Funds

Archer Aviation

Allianz Structured Alpha Mutual Funds Class Action

Work highlights

Represented Cerberus Capital Management in a breach of contract action against the Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce.
Represented Drivetrain LLC in a suit against 13 major banks for their role in deepening Puerto Rico’s debt crisis in September 2022 and filed a complaint asserting that the defendant banks facilitated a “scoop and toss” scheme, through which Puerto Rico repeatedly issued unlawful debt and deepened its insolvency while the banks received underwriting fees and payments on swap agreements from the proceeds.
Represented 10 members of the American Federation of Teachers in front of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, which unanimously affirmed an earlier agreement to settle a class action the members brought against student loan servicer Navient.

Dispute resolution > Securities litigation: plaintiff Tier 3

Litigation boutique Selendy Gay PLLC in New York acts for both plaintiffs and defendants in securities litigation, drawing on the experience of practice heads Philippe Selendy

and Sean Baldwin, who built their reputations in matters concerning complex financial products including mortgage-backed securities. Together, they recently achieved an $855m settlement for Cerberus Capital Management in a breach of contract action against Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce concerning the bank’s failure to pay back an investment in US housing-related assets. The firm is also making its presence felt in emerging areas of securities litigation, notably cryptocurrency cases. Selendy is representing plaintiffs in a putative class action based on the purported stablecoin USDT, claiming that investors bought into the market at a time when the price of the assets had been artificially inflated by defendants. Key partner Andrew Dunlap played a key role in that case. Also notable is Jordan Goldstein, who is leading 12 proposed class actions on behalf of investors who traded on multiple digital exchanges including Binance, which allegedly offered and sold billions of dollars of unregistered digital tokens.

Leading lawyers

Sean Baldwin – Selendy Gay PLLC

Hall of Fame

Philippe Selendy

– Selendy Gay PLLC

Practice head(s):

Philippe Selendy; Sean Baldwin

Other key lawyers:

Andrew Dunlap; Jordan Goldstein

Testimonials

‘Exceptional attorneys across the board.’

Key clients

Cerberus Capital Management

A proposed class of investors who purchased crypto commodities at artificially inflated prices.

Allianz Structured Alpha Mutual Funds Class Action

Funds and CLOs managed by Five Arrows Managers North America LLC, 400 Capital Management, Angel Island Capital Management LLC, Assured Investment Management LLC, Atalaya Capital Management LP, Bardin Hill Loan Management LLC, Benefit Street Partners LLC, DoubleLine Capital LP, Ellington CLO Management LLC, FS Credit Opportunities Corp., Mariner Investment Group, LLC, MJX Asset Management LLC, MJX Venture Management II LLC, and MJX Venture Management III LLC, NCC CLO Manager LLC, Palmer Square Capital Management LLC and Palmer Square BDC Advisor LLC, Saranac CLO Management, LLC, Steele Creek Investment Management LLC, and Wellfleet Credit Partners, LLC.

A proposed class of investors who traded on Binance

Crypto Asset Investors

Work highlights

Represented Cerberus Capital Management, a leading private equity firm, in a breach of contract action against the Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce (CIBC). In December 2022, Justice Cohen resolved all liability issues in Cerberus’s favor following a two-week bench trial against CIBC. After a subsequent damages hearing and related decision that rejected nearly all of CIBC’s damages arguments, the New York Supreme Court entered judgment for Cerberus for $855 million.
As co-lead counsel secured a $145 million settlement for mutual fund shareholders who purchased, sold, or liquidated mutual fund shares managed by Allianz Global Investors U.S. LLC’s Structured Property Groups from January 1, 2015-December 31, 2020.

Finance > Restructuring (including bankruptcy): corporate

Dispute resolution > Securities litigation: defense

Firms to watch

Selendy Gay PLLC is a litigation boutique that is highly active on the plaintiff side, having built its reputation in RMBS cases, but is increasingly involved for defendants in cases involving complex financial instruments and insurance.

Selendy Gay’s lawyers are trial and appellate generalists, able to take on litigation matters across an array of industries and subject areas, including bankruptcy, complex commercial litigation, securities and structured finance, corporate defense and investigations, corporate governance, and many others.

Since the firm was founded in 2018, it has maintained its focus on inclusivity and diversity. More than fifty percent of Selendy Gay’s equity is held by female partners, and more than twenty percent of the firm’s attorneys identify as LGBTQ+.

A hallmark of the firm is its even split between plaintiff and defense side work, which allows Selendy Gay to deploy winning strategies on both sides of the “v.” As plaintiffs’ counsel, the firm has pioneered claims, and even practice areas, that have recovered more than $46 billion for clients while holding institutional giants accountable. As defense counsel, the firm has won bet-the-company cases that threatened the existence of its clients’ businesses and business models, vindicated individuals in aggressive white-collar prosecutions, and counseled clients successfully in fast-moving investigations.

Central to the firm’s success is its willingness to take cases to trial, when necessary. Its attorneys have tried dozens of cases to verdict in state and federal courts across the nation and arbitrated many cases through to award, often stepping in to handle distressed cases at trial or on appeal. The firm’s experience brings its clients better courtroom results and better settlements because its adversaries have no doubt of the courtroom threat the firm poses.

Selendy Gay is known for its dedication to the public good. The firm’s public interest and pro bono litigation victories are as significant as those on the commercial side, and they stem from the firm’s foundational commitment to holding public interest work as equally important to commercial cases. The firm’s attorneys average 151 pro bono hours annually, compared to the industry average of 54.