Skadden’s litigation department is light-years away from where it was a decade ago, when its marquee practice was litigating takeover battles and proxy disputes as an adjunct to its deals work. These days, new clients regularly tap the firm’s litigators first. And though it continues to excel in deals litigation, the department has earned a reputation as a global one-stop shop for antitrust, mass torts and securities litigation, as well as white-collar defense and regulatory work.
Karyl Nairn, Skadden’s charismatic new international disputes cohead, says the department’s growing reach stems from a decision made in the early 2000s. Perceiving that the world’s largest commercial disputes will be increasingly fought in multiple jurisdictions, the firm began building its bench in New York, London and Hong Kong in order to handle disputes involving those jurisdictions’ commercial courts, global arbitral bodies, and offshore jurisdictions. The disputes group now numbers 56 lawyers, and most are qualified to handle proceedings in at least two international jurisdictions.
