Sidley Austin LLP boasts a ‘multidisciplinary team that focuses on solving clients needs’, handling a number of high-profile, complex disputes, that include numerous jurisdictions. Members of the team work for leading US and foreign corporations, appearing in federal and state courts in the US. Based in Washington, Mark Guerrera and Gregory Williams lead the team. Guerrera has extensive experience representing financial institutions in high-value litigations, often concerning novel points of law, and is adept at handling matters including leading private equity funds. Williams similarly has knowledge of intricate litigation, acting frequently on litigations with parallel proceedings and concerning international public policy. Yvette Ostolaza in Dallas and Carter Phillips are key to the practice. The team continues to grow, with the arrivals of Gregory Williams and Aryeh Lev Kaplan from McDermott Will & Emery LLP in July 2024.
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Testimonials
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‘Multidisciplinary team that focuses on solving clients needs’
‘Multidisciplinar backgroud Diversity Specialization Simón Navarro Sandra González Varo’
‘I have worked with Mark Guerrera and his team at Sidley for over two decades and they are top of the class. It is hard to pin-point a specific area where they exceed since, in comparison to other large Firms with whom I have worked, they are just solid all around. ’
‘I would have to point out Mark Guerrera. Not only is he extremely intelligent but is very flexible and intuitive with regards to new issues which arise in the context of cross border litigation. ’
Key clients
- Antrix Corp. Ltd.
- BAE
- Huawei Technologies Co. Ltd.
- Triumph Aerostructures and Triumph Group
- Tavistock Corporation
- Stericycle, Inc.
- Kingdom of Spain
- Hudson Advisory, LP
- Ninestar, Inc.
- Cicel Science & Technology Ltd.
Work highlights
- Advising Indian state-owned entity in Supreme Court proceedings related to $1.3 billion arbitration award. The Supreme Court granted certiorari to assess the question of whether a plaintiff must prove minimum contacts before federal courts may assert personal jurisdiction over foreign states sued under the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act.
- Representing Ninestar Corporation in a first-of-its-kind lawsuit. In 2023, the federal government added Ninestar to a list of entities suspected of transporting Uighur or other protected minorities. As a result U.S. Customs was mandated to assume that all Ninestar goods were manufactured using forced labor, which in turn bars them from entry into the United States. Customs states that a company can be removed from the list if it can prove by clear and convincing evidence that the listing is incorrect. However, the government made this listing without providing any explanation. We filed suit alleging the government violated the Administrative Procedures Act.
- Representing Huawei — one of the world’s largest smartphone, telecommunications, and consumer electronics manufacturers — in bet-the-company criminal case, in which Huawei was charged with conspiracies to steal trade secrets, to commit Iranian sanctions violations, to defraud banks into providing services that violated Iranian sanctions, to engage in money laundering, and to invest the proceeds of these activities in violation of RICO. Also acts as counsel for Huawei in connection with its response to the Department of Commerce’s placement of Huawei and nearly 200 of its non-U.S. subsidiaries on the “Entity List,” which prohibits American companies from supplying goods or technology to Huawei without the permission of the Commerce Department.
Lawyers
Practice head
Gregory M. Williams; Mark P. Guerrera
Other key lawyers
Yvette Ostolaza; Carter Phillips; Aryeh Lev Kaplan