Jonathan Polkes

Partner

Weil, Gotshal & Manges LLP

Current

Current

Represented Corporation, Special Committee, Audit Committee, and Senior Executives, in stock options backdating matters for Staples, Bed, Bath & Beyond, The Children’s Place, Barnes & Noble, Boston Computer Group and Fossil.

Current

Counsel to The Estée Lauder Companies in 10-b-5 securities litigation and related shareholder derivative suits.

Current

Liaison counsel to group of broker-dealer defendants and lead counsel to the Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce and Investec in connection with market timing cases. Led team of lawyers defending investigations by SEC, NY Attorney General and NASD. Successfully dismissed with prejudice all complaints brought against clients in multi-district class actions.

Current

Represents the estate of Enron Corp. in connection with dozens of lawsuits it has brought to obtain billions of dollars it is due under numerous swaps, forwards and other derivatives contracts.

Current

Represented Bank of America in highly publicized multi-district class action proceedings arising out of alleged improper initial public offering practices.

Current

Represented Bear, Stearns & Co. in connection with numerous regulatory investigations arising out of alleged conflicts of interest between investment banking and research functions.

Current

Represented Bear, Stearns & Co. at trial and on appeal before the Second Circuit when it was accused of trading hundreds of millions of dollars of foreign currency derivatives in violation of alleged fiduciary and other common law duties to its customers. The case resulted in the definitive Second Circuit decision addressing the common law duties of broker-dealers.

Current

Represented Lehman Brothers, Inc. in an internationally publicized, multi-million dollar dispute with an Asian trading counterparty involving the sale of derivatives. This case required the use of international discovery pursuant to the Hague convention and Mr. Polkes is one of the only American lawyers to have conducted a deposition in China. The case resulted in a 10 week trial in the Southern District of New York.

Current

Successfully defended a securities firm at a trial in the Southern District of New York against charges that the firm sold over one hundred million dollars of unregistered securities.

Current

Represented the CEO of a major fashion industry corporation in connection with SEC and criminal investigations of insider trading and market manipulation.

Current

Represented a group of executives in a New York Stock Exchange listed insurance company in connection with an SEC investigation of allegedly improper compliance procedures.

Current

Represented a group of senior corporate executives of a New York Stock Exchange traded company in connection with a DOJ investigation of an alleged international price-fixing conspiracy.

New York University

J.D.

1984

Haverford College

B.A.

1981

Publication

Publication

Publication

Publication