Firm Profile > Gibbs & Bruns LLP > Houston, United States

Gibbs & Bruns LLP > The Legal 500 Rankings

Gibbs & Bruns LLP > Firm Profile

Gibbs & Bruns LLP is a litigation boutique engaged exclusively in high-stakes business and commercial litigation.  The firm is acclaimed for its high-value and precedent-setting work across the banking, energy, technology, construction, and financial services sectors, among others.  Exceedingly rare for a litigation firm, we routinely practice on both sides of the docket.  With both plaintiff and defense experience, we bring a higher level of insight and strategy to complex disputes.  Our lawyers excel in creative approaches to disputes in the context of dynamic and ever-changing industry landscapes.

Founded by Robin Gibbs, named “Father of the Litigation Boutique in Texas” by The Texas Lawbook, the firm sustains a forward-thinking culture of creativity and a personal approach to managing its client matters.  Reciprocity is at the core of all of the firm’s client engagements. Risk sharing with clients and innovative fee arrangements are a hallmark of Gibbs & Bruns’ practice.  The firm’s track record of successes for clients since 1983 attests to the talents, creativity, and dedication of the firm’s trial lawyers.

High-Stakes Commercial Litigation

$8.5bn settlement with Bank of America for institutional investors: orchestrated the largest private legal settlement in Wall Street’s history and several other multi billion-dollar settlements of repurchase and servicing claims owned by RMBS Trusts. The $8.5bn RMBS settlement with Bank of America was the product of years of diligent diplomacy creating the investor group stronghold formed of some of the world’s most sophisticated institutional investors, such as BlackRock and PIMCO. The settlement received worldwide top billing in the financial press with The New York Times reporting it as ‘likely to be the single biggest settlement tied to the subprime mortgage boom and the subsequent financial crisis of 2008’. The Wall Street Journal labelled the deal a ‘mammoth settlement’ and the ‘turning point in Wall Street’s epic struggle with the fallout from the financial crisis’.

Gibbs & Bruns achieved additional multi-billion RMBS settlements including: Lehman Brothers ($2.4 bn recovery), JPMorgan ($4.5 bn recovery), Citigroup ($1.125 bn recovery), and ResCap (nearly $1 bn recovery in nation’s largest bankruptcy of a mortgage originator).

$1.7bn settlement for Huntsman in fraud and tortious interference case: achieved a mid-trial $1.7bn settlement win for client Huntsman Corporation on claims of tortious interference and fraud in connection with Huntsman’s failed merger with Hexion. This settlement included the largest cash settlement ever paid in a failed leveraged buyout. Under the terms of the settlement, Credit Suisse and Deutsche Bank paid Huntsman $632m cash and provided Huntsman with $1.1bn of favorable financing through issuance of notes and bonds.

$1bn in total recoveries, In Re National Century Financial Enterprises: prosecuted $1.6bn in securities fraud claims on behalf of 26 groups of institutional investors against accountants, trustees and investment banks involved in the issuance of the debt securities of National Century Financial Enterprises, Inc. See In re National Century Financial Enterprises Litigation, 541 F. Supp. 2d 986 (S.D. Ohio 2007) and In re National Century Financial Enterprises Litigation, 846 F.Supp.2d 828 (S.D. Ohio 2012). The firm secured $1bn in total recoveries for its clients during the tenure of the NCFE-related litigation.

$196m judgment in fraud case: secured a $196m judgment for plaintiff client against Dallas billionaire Trevor Rees-Jones and energy giant Devon Energy Production Company, L.P. The fraud and breach of fiduciary duty judgment was based on a verdict reached by a Houston jury in March 2011 following a five-week trial. Following oral arguments in the 14th Court of Appeals in November 2012, the parties reached a confidential, mutually acceptable settlement that fully resolved the matter.