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Private Capital Litigation

Private Capital Litigation

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Overview

McDermott Will & Schulte are a class act – they have very clever and high-quality lawyers who will provide an excellent service. Any case they handle is in very safe hands.
– Client testimonial, Legal 500 UK

Our litigators possess unrivaled knowledge of private capital and have decades of experience advocating for the unique needs of private capital clients. We often balance the desire for confidentiality and practical dispute resolution with the vigorous prosecution or defense of claims in courts and arbitral tribunals across the country and beyond. Our established strength in navigating cross-border matters ensures we deliver favorable results for our clients, even against the odds.

Fluent in a broad spectrum of private capital structures and backed by the most dynamic transactional and investment management practice in the world, our litigators are seasoned trial lawyers and trusted advisors to a variety of clients in the private capital space, including hedge funds, private equity funds, venture capital, family offices, and esoteric asset managers.

Clients turn to our extensive experience to handle a wide range of private capital disputes.

Private equity litigation

We represent private equity sponsors and their portfolio companies in disputes across the entire fund lifecycle, including working capital disputes, take-private deal litigation, earnout and purchase price adjustment matters, defense and prosecution of fraud, breach of representation or warranty claims, and other mergers and acquisitions (M&A) litigation. Our representation of private equity sponsors often includes defense against attempts to pierce the corporate veil to impose alter ego liability against our clients.

Our litigators have extensive experience successfully representing private funds, shareholders, and directors in board and investor conflicts, including M&A disputes, change-of-control provisions, board elections, breach of director duties, shareholder unfair prejudice petitions, and management deadlocks. We have experience with all stages of the shareholder activism process, including nomination notices, books and records demands, advance notice bylaws, pre-vote entrenchment tactics, reopening nomination windows, and post-vote disputes.

Our litigators are trusted advisors to the world’s leading hedge funds, handling disputes involving partnership break-ups, valuation, trading strategies, and investor disputes. We combine market expertise with unparalleled sector knowledge to the advantage of our clients.

We regularly represent hedge fund founders, investors, and other professionals in connection with partnerships, joint ventures, seed investments, and business wind-down disputes. These disputes often concern allegations of fraud, breach of contract, and breach of fiduciary duties, and frequently draw on our extensive arbitration experience in private dispute resolution settings.

We represent life sciences investors, biotechnology sponsors, and healthcare-focused private equity funds in complex commercial, partnership, and post-acquisition disputes. We understand the regulatory, intellectual property, and valuation challenges unique to the sector and bring decades of experience advising on the full investment lifecycle – from seed and growth-stage financings to portfolio company exits.

We regularly represent private capital interests, including credit funds and other private investors, in bankruptcy disputes and other distressed situations. This includes restructuring disputes and workouts, fraudulent transfer litigation, the set-aside of transactions at an undervalue, plan confirmation proceedings, asset valuation disputes, and other contested matters.

We regularly represent private capital clients in connection with securities law claims, including securities fraud claims, Section 16(b) “short-swing profit” claims, and enforcement actions.

Our white-collar lawyers conduct global, cross-border, and internal investigations, and undertake due diligence, audit and compliance reviews in relation to corporate transactions, investments, and fund structures. We regularly counsel, represent and defend corporations, funds, and individuals across the full spectrum of white-collar, regulatory, and compliance issues, including bribery and corruption, money laundering, tax and fraud inquiries, data breaches, dawn raids, asset tracing, international enforcement, and corporate compliance issues. We also represent clients in associated civil, criminal, and regulatory litigation.

Our litigators possess particular experience in representing investors and others in disputes relating to life settlements portfolios.

Our litigators frequently represent and work with litigation funders in connection with complex funding transactions and disputes relating to this rapidly growing investment strategy.

Results

  • Achieved the voluntary dismissal of aiding and abetting breach of fiduciary duty claims in connection with a take-private M&A transaction on behalf of a private equity fund
  • Successfully defended claims brought under an alter ego/piercing the corporate veil theory against a private equity client concerning obligations of a portfolio company; case resulted in a dismissal of claims at the pleadings stage
  • Won summary judgment and dismissal with prejudice of a shareholder class action against a real estate investment trust and certain of its directors and officers

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