Lawrence J. Zweifach is a litigation partner in Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher’s New York office.  Mr. Zweifach is a nationally recognized trial lawyer, a Fellow of the American College of Trial Lawyers, and he has been acclaimed as one of the country’s best litigators in Lawdragon’s “500 Leading Lawyers in America Hall of Fame”.  He has extensive experience handling civil and criminal matters, including securities, antitrust, SEC, PCAOB and CFTC enforcement investigations and litigation, corporate governance, internal investigations, white collar criminal defense and complex commercial litigation.  He regularly defends parallel proceedings that include shareholder class actions, antitrust class actions, derivative lawsuits, domestic and cross-border regulatory investigations, state attorney general investigations and federal grand jury investigations.

Mr. Zweifach has served as trial counsel in a wide variety of cases, including securities, antitrust, accounting, auditing, RICO, mail and wire fraud, tax and bankruptcy, as well as contract, corporate control and partnership disputes.  His experience includes numerous high-profile criminal cases that he tried during his nine years as a federal prosecutor at the United States Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of New York, where he was Chief of the Criminal Division.  He has represented a broad spectrum of clients, including public and private corporations, public accounting firms, investment banks, boards of directors, special committees, audit committees, corporate officers and directors, investment advisors, hedge funds, mutual funds and broker-dealers.

When inducted in Lawdragon’s “500 Leading Lawyers in America Hall of Fame”, Mr. Zweifach was described as “one of the true bedrocks of Gibson Dunn’s outstanding litigation corps” and a “clear ‘bet-the-company’ choice across antitrust, securities and all manner of civil and criminal white collar cases.”

Chambers USA:  America’s Leading Lawyers for Business ranked Mr. Zweifach among the top Securities Enforcement lawyers in the country, among the leading Securities Litigators in New York, and among the leading White Collar Criminal Defense Lawyers in New York. He is described as “a forceful and tenacious advocate” who is “smart and 100% dedicated to clients,” “keeps calm under fire and has good judgment,” “knowledgeable, experienced and confidence inspiring,” and “offers intellectual firepower and a wealth of experience.”  “His reputation in the industry and the courtroom is exceptional.”  He also has been recognized as a National and Local “Litigation Star” by Benchmark Litigation.  In addition, Who’s Who Legal and Global Investigations Review named Mr. Zweifach to their list of the World’s Ten Most Highly Regarded Investigations Lawyers.  Who’s Who Legal describes him as a “brilliant advocate” known for his “commanding presence in the courtroom.”  Also, Mr. Zweifach has been recognized in Legal Media Group’s Expert Guides Guide to the World’s Leading White Collar Crime Lawyers, Benchmark Litigation’s “Top 100 Trial Lawyers in America,” Who’s Who Legal: Thought Leaders – GIR 2019, The Legal 500, The International Who’s Who of Business Crime Defense Lawyers and The International Who’s Who of Investigations Lawyers & Forensic Experts.  He is also a Fellow of the Litigation Counsel of America, a trial lawyer honor society, and a recipient of the New York City Bar Association’s Thurgood Marshall Award for his pro bono defense of capital cases.

Mr. Zweifach is a former law clerk to the Honorable Harold A. Stevens of the New York State Court of Appeals and to the Honorable Henry Bramwell of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of New York.  He also was the Chair of the Litigation Department of Heller Ehrman’s New York office.  He received his Juris Doctor cum laude from George Washington University Law School in 1973, where he was the articles editor of The Journal of International Law and Economics.  He received his bachelor’s degree magna cum laude from Lehigh University in 1969.

Mr. Zweifach regularly lectures and participates in panel discussions before various professional organizations, has written numerous publications, and teaches CLE courses on a wide variety of subjects.  He has taught trial advocacy courses for the National Institute for Trial Advocacy, the American Law Institute-American Bar Association, the U.S. Attorney General’s Advocacy Institute, Practising Law Institute, the New York City Bar and numerous law schools.

Mr. Zweifach is admitted to practice in the State of New York, and before the U.S. Courts of Appeal for the Second, Third, Ninth and Tenth Circuits, the U.S. Tax Court, and the U.S. District Courts for the Southern, Eastern, Western and Northern Districts of New York.

The following matters are representative of Mr. Zweifach’s broad litigation practice:

Antitrust

• UBS AG:  Represents UBS in Multi-District Litigation involving the alleged manipulation of LIBOR and other interest rate benchmarks. The lawsuits asserted claims under the federal antitrust laws, Commodity Exchange Act, federal securities laws, RICO, and state law.
• Visa U.S.A.:  Trial counsel for Visa U.S.A. in a nationwide federal antitrust class action brought on behalf of all retail merchants that accept Visa cards, alleging that Visa illegally tied acceptance of Visa debit cards to acceptance of Visa credit cards.  At the time of the litigation, the case was the largest private treble damage action in U.S. history.

Auditor Liability

• Ernst & Young LLP:  Successfully defended Ernst & Young in class actions and related proceedings arising from the so-called “Madoff Scandal.”
• PricewaterhouseCoopers Canada:  Achieved favorable settlements for PricewaterhouseCoopers Canada in securities class actions brought by shareholders and bondholders of Laidlaw Inc.
• Mark E. Laccetti:  Successfully defended a former Big Four audit partner in a PCAOB enforcement proceeding.
• Michael Morrell: Achieved favorable settlement for the former Chairman of Deloitte Brazil in a PCAOB enforcement proceeding.

Securities Litigation

• AmTrust Financial Services, Inc.: Achieved complete dismissal of putative securities class action, including Section 10(b) and Section 11 charges involving fraudulent accounting, against AmTrust Financial Services, Inc., its board of directors, and senior executives, which was the first reported case in which Section 11 allegations were dismissed following a restatement and acknowledgement of material errors.
• Rio Tinto: Obtained dismissal of putative class action lawsuit alleging securities fraud against Rio Tinto, one of the world’s largest publicly traded mining companies..
• UBS AG:  Persuaded the Third Circuit Court of Appeals to affirm the dismissal of a securities class action against UBS and its affiliates involving a $2.5 billion offering of mortgage-backed securities.
• Moody’s:  Trial counsel for Moody’s in action brought by institutional investors alleging that it published fraudulent ratings of notes issued by a structured investment vehicle.
• Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce:  Achieved dismissal of MBS class action against the CEO, CFO and former Chief Risk Officer of Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce (CIBC), as well as the former Chairman and CEO of CIBC World Markets, alleging that they and the bank fraudulently misled investors regarding the bank’s exposure to subprime sectors of the U.S. real estate market.

White Collar and SEC Enforcement Litigation

• Rio Tinto: Trial counsel to Rio Tinto in an SEC enforcement action alleging securities fraud.
• Lynn Tilton:  Senior member of Gibson Dunn trial team that achieved a complete victory for Lynn Tilton and Patriarch Partners in an SEC enforcement action alleging violations of the Investment Advisers Act and the Investment Company Act. The SEC sought a lifetime bar and disgorgement of more than $200 million, the largest individual disgorgement ever sought in the history of SEC administrative proceedings.
• UBS AG:  Achieved negligence-based settlement with the SEC in connection with investigations by the SEC and the Fraud Section of the U.S. Department of Justice of UBS’s V10 Index, which was linked to FX trading overseas, persuading DOJ not to bring any criminal charges.
• UBS AG:  Represented UBS AG in the resolution of investigations involving the alleged manipulation of LIBOR and other interest rate benchmarks that were conducted by numerous domestic and foreign law enforcement, competition and regulatory authorities.
• UBS AG:  Represents UBS AG in various litigation related to the foreign exchange market.
• The Starr Foundation:  Served as Special Counsel to the Independent Committee of The Starr Foundation and assisted the committee in conducting an investigation of the issues raised in a report issued by former New York State Attorney General Eliot Spitzer, in which it was alleged that Maurice R. “Hank” Greenberg and other board members of The Starr Foundation breached their fiduciary duties.
• Scientific Atlanta:  Represented former CFO of Scientific Atlanta in SEC enforcement proceedings arising out of business transactions between Scientific Atlanta and Adelphia Communications Corporation.