Best Lawyers in America recognizes 12 Cohen & Gresser attorneys in its newly-published guide. The prestigious publication—now in its 31st edition—evaluates and selects lawyers through an extensive peer-review process, ensuring that the recognition reflects the consensus of top legal professionals regarding the expertise and abilities of their colleagues within the same geographic and practice areas.

Five C&G attorneys are recognized by their peers as “Best Lawyers” in their respective practice areas:

• Mark S. Cohen – Criminal Defense: White-Collar
• Lawrence T. Gresser – Commercial Litigation
• Jonathan S. Abernethy – Criminal Defense: White-Collar and Litigation - Regulatory Enforcement
• Jason A. Brown – Criminal Defense: White-Collar
• Mark Spatz – Product Liability Litigation - Defendants

Seven C&G attorneys are recognized as “Best Lawyers: Ones to Watch” in their respective practice areas:

• Luke Appling – Commercial Litigation and Litigation - Securities
• Sharon L. Barbour – Commercial Litigation and Criminal Defense: White-Collar
• William E. Kalema – Criminal Defense: White-Collar
• Phoebe King – Criminal Defense: White-Collar
• Barbara K. Luse – Commercial Litigation and Corporate Law
• Alexandra K. Theobald – Commercial Litigation and Corporate Law
• Benjamin Zhu – Criminal Defense: White-Collar

Best Lawyers in America recognized 14 Cohen & Gresser lawyers in its newly-published 2024 guide. The publication—now in its 30^th edition—evaluates and selects lawyers based entirely on peer review. The survey process is “designed to capture, as accurately as possible, the consensus opinion of leading lawyers about the professional abilities of their colleagues within the same geographical area and legal practice area.”

Six C&G attorneys are recognized by their peers as “Best Lawyers” in their practice areas:

• Mark S. Cohen – Criminal Defense: White-Collar
• Lawrence T. Gresser – Commercial Litigation
• Jonathan S. Abernethy – Criminal Defense: White-Collar
• Colin Bridge – Criminal Defense: White-Collar
• Jason A. Brown – Criminal Defense: White-Collar
• Mark Spatz – Product Liability Litigation - Defendants

Eight attorneys are recognized as “Best Lawyers: Ones to Watch” in their practice areas:

• Luke Appling – Commercial Litigation and Litigation - Securities
• Sharon L. Barbour – Commercial Litigation and Criminal Defense: White-Collar
• William E. Kalema – Criminal Defense: White-Collar
• Phoebe King – Criminal Defense: White-Collar
• Barbara K. Luse – Commercial Litigation and Corporate Law
• Alexandra K. Theobald – Commercial Litigation and Corporate Law
• Eszter Vincze – Commercial Litigation and Criminal Defense: White-Collar
• Benjamin Zhu – Criminal Defense: White-Collar

International law firm Cohen & Gresser is pleased to announce that ten of its New York-based lawyers have been recognized by their peers in the 2023 edition of the Best Lawyers in America. Selection in the 29th edition of the guide “is based entirely on peer review.” The survey process is “designed to capture, as accurately as possible, the consensus opinion of leading lawyers about the professional abilities of their colleagues within the same geographical area and legal practice area.”

Six C&G attorneys have been recognized by their peers as a “Best Lawyer” in their practice areas:

• Jonathan S. Abernethy – Criminal Defense: White-Collar
• Thomas E. Bezanson – Commercial Litigation and Product Liability Litigation – Defendants
• Jason A. Brown – Criminal Defense: White-Collar
• Mark S. Cohen – Criminal Defense: White-Collar
• Mark Spatz – Product Liability Litigation – Defendants
• C. Evan Stewart – Litigation – Securities

Four C&G attorneys have been recognized as “Best Lawyers: Ones to Watch” in their practice areas:

• Luke Appling – Commercial Litigation and Litigation – Securities
• Sharon L. Barbour – Criminal Defense: White-Collar
• William E. Kalema – Criminal Defense: White-Collar
• Alexandra K. Theobald – Commercial Litigation

Mergers & Acquisitions magazine announced that its 2022 Deal of the Year is global investment firm Francisco Partners’ acquisition of Trading Screen and Imagine Software within a 14-day period in the spring of 2021. Cohen & Gresser represented Imagine Software, a global portfolio risk management technology company, in the deal.

Francisco Partners, which specializes in partnering with technology and technology-enabled businesses, soon after merged the two acquired entities to create TS Imagine, a dynamic end-to-end trading and portfolio management software platform that is now used by 500 financial institutions worldwide. In awarding the “Deal of the Year” distinction, the magazine praised the deal’s formation of a “singular company poised for growth across both the buy and sell-side.”

The C&G team representing Imagine Software included Lawrence T Gresser, Kwaku Andoh, Karen H Bromberg, Bonnie J Roe, Nicholas J Kaiser, Ronald F Wick, Alexandra K Theobald, and Drew S Dean. Learn more about the deal in Francisco Partners’ press release and C&G’s news alert.

Mergers & Acquisitions, founded in 1965, is the oldest trade brand for the dealmaker community and is where private equity professionals, strategic acquirers and advisors turn for news, analysis, data and community around deals and dealmakers.

International law firm Cohen & Gresser is pleased to announce that eight of its lawyers have been recognized in the 2022 edition of the Best Lawyers in America. Selection in the 28^th edition of the guide is based entirely on peer-review surveys in which tens of thousands of leading lawyers evaluate their professional peers.

Five C&G attorneys have been recognized by their peers as a “Best Lawyer” in their practice areas:

• Jonathan S. Abernethy – Criminal Defense: White-Collar
• Thomas E. Bezanson – Commercial Litigation and Product Liability Litigation: Defense
• Jason A. Brown – Criminal Defense: White-Collar
• Mark S. Cohen – Criminal Defense: White-Collar
• Evan Stewart – Litigation – Securities

Three C&G attorneys have been recognized as “Best Lawyers: Ones to Watch” in their practice areas:

• Sharon L. Barbour – Criminal Defense: White-Collar
• Winnifred A. Lewis – Commercial Litigation
• Alexandra K. Theobald – Commercial Litigation

C&G successfully obtained the First Department’s affirmance of an order dismissing all claims against our client Fidelity Brokerage Services in a dispute stemming from the acts of convicted fraudster Andrew Caspersen, who allegedly deposited the proceeds of a fraudulent scheme into his trading accounts at Fidelity.

Andrew Caspersen was a prominent and wealthy investment banker who used his position at a reputable private equity firm to lure friends and family to invest in shell entities that he created purportedly to make investments in profitable, risk-free opportunities. In reality, Caspersen funneled the stolen funds from the shell entities to a personal trading account that he held at Fidelity. The brokerage firm ultimately terminated Caspersen’s account several months before Caspersen was arrested and charged with securities and wire fraud. After Caspersen’s guilty plea, his defrauded friends and family brought this suit, claiming that Caspersen’s deposits of their money from the shell entities to his personal trading account constituted fraudulent conveyances under New York’s Debtor and Creditor Law and that Fidelity was therefore liable for the funds that Caspersen stole.

The First Department held that Fidelity did not have dominion and control over the assets in Caspersen’s account so there were no conveyances subject to recovery under fraudulent conveyance law.  In addition, it held that Caspersen’s lack of good faith in deceiving his victims did not constitute a lack of good faith for purposes of fraudulent conveyance law. The First Department’s decision reaffirmed important principles of fraudulent conveyance law that protect financial institutions and, in turn, their innocent customers from the costs of unrelated frauds.

The C&G team consisted of Daniel H Tabak, David F Lisner, Nicole Dhir, Alexandra K Theobald, and Jeffrey Sherman.

Cohen & Gresser represented Imagine Software, a leading global portfolio risk management technology company, in its sale to Francisco Partners, a global investment firm that specializes in partnering with technology and technology-enabled businesses. Francisco Partners has announced that it will combine Imagine Software with the recently acquired TradingScreen to form TS Imagine – a new dynamic end-to-end trading and portfolio management software platform that will be one of the most robust SaaS cloud-based software platforms in capital markets and investment management. The combined company will offer integrated and complete front office solutions, complementary product capabilities, best-in-class technology, global geographic coverage, and deep expertise to investment firms and financial institutions around the world. The C&G team representing Imagine Software in its sale to Francisco Partners included Lawrence T Gresser, Kwaku Andoh, Karen H Bromberg, Bonnie J Roe, Nicholas J Kaiser, Ronald F Wick, Alexandra K Theobald, and Drew S Dean. Learn more about the deal in Francisco Partners’ press release.

Alexandra Theobald wrote an article called “Can assets withdrawn from a digital exchange be clawed back in bankruptcy?," that was featured on Blockchain Law Alliance.

The Department of Justice (DOJ) has recently signaled a renewed focus on enforcement, and its priorities are being driven by world events.

• In the past few months, the DOJ has announced new task forces and more resources to combat fraud in connection with COVID-19 relief, criminal activity related to cryptocurrency, and sanctions violations by Russian entities and individuals linked to the Putin regime.
• These initiatives signal an uptick in criminal enforcement in the coming months, especially in the areas involving fraud, digital assets, sanctions, and money laundering.

This C&G client alert summarizes some of the recently announced initiatives, which shed light on the likely future enforcement priorities.

On March 9, 2022, President Biden issued an executive order on the “responsible development of digital assets.” He directed a “whole government” review of cryptocurrency assets, including directing the Secretary of the Treasury to convene the Financial Stability Oversight Council (“FSOC”).

• In conjunction with other agencies, the FSOC will study the risks and impact of digital assets and explore the possibility of creating a Central Bank Digital Currency in the United States.
• The order directs the executive agencies to explore creating a digital version of the U.S. dollar that could be used to facilitate digital transactions while still being controlled by the U.S. Department of the Treasury.
• President Biden expressed concern about the impact of cryptocurrencies on the integrity of the financial system.

In this C&G client alert, Douglas J Pepe and Alexandra K Theobald review the details of President Biden’s executive order on the “responsible development of digital assets” and offer insight into what we can expect from the government in terms of future guidance and enforcement efforts.

Alexandra Theobald participated as a speaker on the “Nuts & Bolts of SEPs and Antitrust” panel at the ABA Antitrust Section IP Committee meeting. The panelists discussed major cases at the intersection of standard essential patents (SEPs) and antitrust and described how the U.S. agencies have approached SEP issues.