David Gelfand > Milbank > New York, United States > Lawyer Profile

Counting major financial institutions among its key roster of clients, Milbank handles a range of commercial disputes concerning breach of contract, in addition to business torts, such as fraud, breach of fiduciary duty, and tortious interference with contractor prospective business relations. The New York-based team also has demonstrable experience advising on state and federal regulatory mandates. Global head of the firm’s litigation and arbitration practice, George Canellos jointly leads the team group alongside Daniel Perry, who focuses on disputes involving securities and corporate law, M&A, insurance and reinsurance, as well as financial restructuring issues. Scott Edelman’s ‘judgment is second to none and his advocacy is first-rate’, while David Gelfand is praised for his ‘impressive ability to dive deep’ into class actions, securities and bankruptcy litigation cases.

Milbank has a deep bench of experienced partners in New York, whose track record in some of the most influential, high-stakes, and high-profile cases ever brought under federal and state securities laws sees the firm climb the ranking. The firm frequently acts for issuers, underwriters, banks, broker-dealers, investment advisers, accounting firms, and individuals in securities class actions and derivative suits. Global head of litigation and arbitration George Canellos and practice group leader Daniel Perry oversee the firm’s securities litigation work, for which Sean Murphy is a standout partner. Murphy has tried most of the private securities cases to go to trial under the Investment Company Act of 1940 Act in the last 20 years, winning all of them. Firm chair Scott Edelman handles high-stakes litigation in diverse areas of law, including securities, commercial and white collar. David Gelfand and up-and-coming partners Jed Schwartz and Robert Hora are also key partners in the practice. Edelman, Gelfand and Hora are acting for AXA Equitable Life Insurance Company in eight cases in federal and state courts, including putative class actions, that challenge the company’s 2016 increase in the cost of insurance rates on a block of universal life insurance policies.