Mr Christopher Duffy > Vinson & Elkins LLP > Washington DC, United States > Lawyer Profile

Mr Christopher Duffy

1.212.237.0172 cduffy@velaw.com View profile

Work Department

Shareholder Litigation & Enforcement

Position

Chris serves as Co-Head of Vinson & Elkins’ Complex Commercial Litigation practice. A seasoned New York litigator, Chris’s practice focuses on complex commercial trials and appeals, arbitrations, and government investigations. He represents clients in a number of industries, from technology to professional sports, and has significant experience representing large financial institutions in complex matters.

Career

• As co-lead trial counsel for a major international banking firm, delivered the summation to the jury and cross-examined the plaintiff’s CEO, COO, and expert witness on damages. After a nine-day trial, the jury returned a verdict in less than three hours, eliminating all of the plaintiff’s claims for more than $100 million in alleged damages and interest
• As lead counsel for a major U.S. investment bank, prevailed at trial in the Delaware Court of Chancery, and in a subsequent appeal to the Delaware Supreme Court, in a dispute over the meaning of indemnification provisions in corporate by-laws
• Defended civil litigation brought by the New York Attorney General relating to the operation of a major investment bank’s private trading platform
• Defended a major investment bank and several of its former employees in litigation and arbitration centering on whether particular transactions qualified as swaps, security-based swaps or security-based agreements, for purposes of determining the application of the Commodities Exchange Act
• As co-lead counsel for a large investment firm, prevailed at trial in the Delaware Court of Chancery, resulting in a judgment that a hedge fund breached its fiduciary and contractual duties by raising “gates” to block the redemption of a seed investment
• Secured a full defense verdict in a jury trial of claims brought by a public company seeking control of the client’s board of directors and billions of dollars of its assets
• Won a rare appellate reversal of a jury verdict in a multibillion dollar fraud trial arising from a public-to-private M&A deal
• Represented a creditor in pursuing and successfully settling claims arising from an ISDA-governed interest rate swap agreement in the Title III PROMESA restructuring of Puerto Rico’s Sales Tax Financing Corporation
• Regularly served as lead counsel for clients involved in external investigations by FINRA, the SEC, the New York Attorney General, and other government agencies
• Won a full dismissal of claims brought by a former top cable television executive asserting an ownership interest in a major cable network
• Won the dismissal of all damages claims in a fiduciary duty lawsuit brought by a court-appointed bankruptcy trustee against a private equity firm and several of its principals, arising from the bankruptcy of one of the firm’s portfolio companies
• Served as lead counsel in multiple confidential FINRA arbitrations for financial industry clients

Education

• Columbia Law School, J.D., 2001 (Harlan Fiske Stone Scholar; Senior Editor, Columbia Law Review)
• University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, M.A., Communication Studies, 1997
• University of Virginia, B.A., English, 1994