Bingham’s Financial Institutions Litigation Group brings critical industry knowledge and experience to complex disputes. With more than 350 lawyers serving the needs of financial institutions, including 75 dedicated to financial and securities litigation, the firm serves virtually all of the world’s leading financial institutions, including banks, investment banks, investment advisers, insurance companies, mortgage lenders, hedge funds and others. Clients include AIG, Bank of America, Credit Suisse, Deutsche Bank, JPMorgan, Marsh, MassMutual, MBIA, Morgan Stanley, RBS, The Travelers and Wells Fargo.
The group is known for both the depth of our experience and our geographic scope. We handle high-stakes and precedent-setting cases involving many areas of the law that are important to financial institutions, including securities, commodities, common law and other torts, breach of contract, insolvency, and restructuring. We deal with matters in court as well as alternative dispute resolution, including cross-border disputes and international arbitrations. With offices in leading financial centers, including New York, London and Tokyo, along with a robust U.S. presence on both coasts, we have extensive on-the-ground resources in jurisdictions critical to serving the financial services sector. We know the judiciary, and they know us as trustworthy, skilled advocates.
Our lawyers work with clients to develop a focused strategy and execute on that strategy to meet their legal challenges. We have a strong record of success, which has resulted in numerous awards and rankings from Chambers USA, Chambers UK, Best Lawyers in America, International Who’s Who of Business Lawyers, PLC Cross-Border Handbook and other industry publications.
Our areas of focus include:
- Complex financial products disputes. Leveraging our extensive experience with financial instruments such as collateralized debt obligations, asset- and mortgage-backed securities, and swaps, we handle the full spectrum of lawsuits involving complex financial products. Chambers USA notes that Bingham offers “a very strong team of litigators with in-depth knowledge of the financial markets” and that our litigators are particularly sought after for their strength in structured financial products. Recent, groundbreaking cases include the largest asset-backed securities case ever litigated and the initial securities class-action case involving mortgage-backed securities. We also work closely with trading desks to provide litigation assessment and risk management advice.
- Consumer actions. We advise and defend clients in matters involving federal and state investigations, enforcement actions, and individual and class-action litigation based on consumer protection statutes and regulations. Our experience encompasses a wide variety of legal areas, including deceptive trade practices, abusive telemarketing and e-mail practices, unfair competition, overdraft fees, interest rate disclosures, state financial disclosure requirements, state item-pricing laws, privacy, and torts.
- European financial litigation. Based in London, our European team represents clients in high-value, complex disputes across the full financial spectrum. Clients benefit from working with senior litigation lawyers who have extensive experience advancing their interests before the High Court, the Court of Appeal, the House of Lords and other tribunals. Our rapidly growing team also has extensive experience in managing and directing litigation across Europe and beyond and shares strong relationships with leading international firms in all the major European jurisdictions. Members of the group are recognized by Legal 500 and Chambers UK, which praises our “effective litigators” who “leave almost no stone unturned and represent excellent value for money.”
- Insurance litigation. Bingham has extensive experience representing insurance companies in their most sophisticated, high-stakes matters. Our lawyers have a strong record of successfully litigating on behalf of insurance clients, whether in federal or state court, before regulatory bodies, or in alternative dispute resolution. We have particular experience in insurance cases involving directors’ and officers’ liability, property-casualty coverage, errors and omissions, and environmental coverage disputes. Chambers USA notes that “The team’s depth of talent, commonsense approach, understanding of the end-game and ability to strategize are truly impressive.” We also handle matters involving bad faith, reinsurance, agent and broker issues, and insurance insolvency, as well as litigation and multi-agency enforcement actions relating to variable annuities and contingent commissions.
- Lender liability claims. We litigate claims brought under common law and statutory theories of lender liability. Our lawyers defend actions involving allegations of breach of contract, breach of the covenant of good faith and fair dealing, violations of the ’40 Act, fraud and misrepresentation, interference with contract or corporate governance, breach of duty of confidentiality, breach of fiduciary duty, and claims arising from negligent loan administration and documentation. Taking advantage of our deep knowledge of the mortgage lending industry, we also advise on allegations of predatory lending, violations of state and federal mortgage lending and loan servicing laws, and breach of servicing agreements.
We also work on SEC enforcement, antitrust, employment, restructuring and white collar matters, to provide our clients with fully integrated legal solutions.