Michael E. Swartz

Michael E. Swartz is a partner in the New York office. The focus of his practice is complex commercial, securities and business litigation and antitrust, particularly as it relates to mergers and acquisitions. His litigation practice includes class actions, proxy contests and other corporate-control disputes, accountant’s liability, international litigation and arbitration. Michael’s antitrust practice involves the representation of companies across a wide range of industries, including private equity firms, financial services firms, rating agencies, defense industry companies, auto manufacturers, car rental companies and supermarkets, among others.

Michael has been recognized by his peers and clients in Benchmark Litigation: The Definitive Guide to America's Leading Litigation Firms and Attorneys and New York Super Lawyers in the area of business litigation. He is the Regional Vice Chair for the Mid-Atlantic Region of the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law. A former law clerk to the Hon. Irving R. Kaufman, Circuit Judge for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, Michael obtained his J.D. from Columbia Law School, where he was editor of the Columbia Law Review, and his B.A., magna cum laude, from the University of California, Los Angeles, where he was elected to Phi Beta Kappa.

Selected Representations

Representation of clients before the Department of Justice, the Federal Trade Commission, and States Attorneys General, as well as other antitrust regulatory agencies, in connection with mergers, acquisitions and joint ventures.

Representation of Chrysler LLC in connection with its strategic alliance with Fiat SpA, as well as in its prior strategic alliance discussions.

Trial counsel to former Vivendi Universal CFO in a four-month securities class action jury trial brought by a class of French shareholders and holders of American depository shares. The jury returned a verdict in January 2010 of no liability for SRZ’s client for securities fraud. This was only the ninth securities class action to go to verdict in the past fifteen years. In re Vivendi Universal, S.A. Securities Litigation (S.D.N.Y.).

Counsel to two Cayman Island investment funds in an SEC enforcement action brought in connection with an alleged multi-year ponzi-like scheme involving hundreds of millions of dollars.  SEC v. Illarramendi (D. Conn.).

Representation of The Royal Bank of Scotland N.V. (formerly known as ABN AMRO Bank N.V.) (“RBS”) in a copyright infringement/breach of contract action by a former banking software vendor. Complex Systems, Inc. v. The Royal Bank of Scotland (SDNY).  The vendor alleges that ABN lost all previously licensed rights in and to the vendor’s software after ABN divested certain US-based businesses to a third party. 

Trial counsel to a large U.K. hedge fund, The Children’s Investment Fund (“TCI”), in a bench trial involving proxy litigation commenced by CSX Corp. TCI’s slate was ultimately permitted to run for election to the CSX board. CSX v. The Children’s Investment Fund (S.D.N.Y.).

Representation of TCI in a Section 16(b) short-swing profit case, Donoghue v. CSX (S.D.N.Y.), as well as counseling and representation of other clients in connection with Section 16(b) claims.

Trial counsel to a former chief legal officer of media giant Hollinger International, Inc., in a four-month criminal trial; representation in a related SEC enforcement action and securities class action. United States v. Black (N.D. Ill.) and In re Hollinger International, Inc. Securities Litigation (N.D. Ill.).

Representation of Credit Suisse First Boston in a DOJ Antitrust Division investigation of fixed-income and foreign exchange electronic trading platforms. DOJ Antitrust Division Investigation of Electronic Trading Platforms.

Representation of a plaintiff who sued derivatively on behalf of Frank Brunckhorst Co., a New York LLC that owns and distributes the nationally-famous Boar’s Head Brand®, alleging management’s diversion, through related-party transactions, of hundreds of millions of dollars in profits to an affiliated entity. Bischoff v. Boars Head Provisions Co. (N.Y. Supreme Court).

Selected Publications

Selected Speaking Engagements

Memberships

American Bar Association     
    Antitrust and Litigation Sections
International Bar Association
Institute for Transnational Arbitration     
    Advisory Board
New York City Bar Association
United States Council for International Business     
    Arbitration Committee
Board of the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law 
    Regional Vice Chair for the Mid-Atlantic Region

Other Distinctions

Benchmark Litigation: The Definitive Guide to America’s Leading Litigation 
    Firms & Attorneys, identified as a rising star in New York litigation
New York Super Lawyers, business litigation category 

Bar Admissions

• New York

Court Admissions

• U.S. Supreme Court 1997
• U.S. Court of Appeals, First Circuit 1998
• U.S. Court of Appeals, Second Circuit 1994
• U.S. Court of Appeals, Seventh Circuit 2008
• U.S. District Court, Southern District of New York 1992
• U.S. District Court, Eastern District of New York 1992

Education

Prior Experience

Law Clerk to Hon. Irving R. Kaufman, U.S. Court of Appeals, Second Circuit