June 10, 2020
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Cohen Milstein Sellers & Toll PLLC has been recognized by The Legal 500 as a Top-Tier firm in the following practice area:
In addition, Cohen Milstein was recognized as a Leading Firm in the following three practice areas:
- Antitrust: Civil Litigation / Class Actions: Plaintiff
- Dispute Resolution: Securities Litigation: Plaintiff
- Dispute Resolution: Product Liability, Mass Tort and Class Actions: Plaintiff
Seven partners were singled out as Legal 500 Leading Lawyers:
- Andrew N. Friedman – Product Liability, Mass Tort and Class Actions
- Richard A. Koffman – Antitrust (Legal 500 Hall of Fame)
- Theodore J. Leopold – Product Liability, Mass Tort and Class Actions
- Kit A. Pierson – Antitrust
- Julie G. Reiser – Securities Litigation & Investor Protection
- Joseph M. Sellers – Labor and Employment
- Steven J. Toll – Securities Litigation
Five partners were singled out as Legal 500 Next Generation Lawyers:
- Shaylyn Cochran – Labor and Employment
- Michael B. Eisenkraft – Securities Litigation
- Brent W. Johnson – Antitrust
- Kalpana Kotagal – Labor and Employment
- Sharon K. Robertson – Antitrust
Additionally, five partners were “Recommended” by The Legal 500 United States 2020 editorial.
- Benjamin D. Brown – Antitrust
- Leslie M. Kroeger – Product Liability, Mass Tort and Class Actions
- Daniel McCuaig – Antitrust
- Daniel A. Small – Antitrust
- Christine E. Webber – Labor and Employment
The Legal 500 editorial team observed:
LABOR AND EMPLOYMENT DISPUTES (INCLUDING COLLECTIVE ACTIONS): PLAINTIFF
The members of Cohen Milstein Sellers & Toll PLLC’s civil rights and employment practice group are experienced in acting for employees from various industries in disputes. The focus of the group is on discrimination matters, such as age, race, disabilities, sexual orientation and gender as well as wage-and-hour claims. Practice head Joseph Sellers has more than 40 years of experience acting in the field. He and Christine Webber specialize in particular in class actions, while Kalpana Kotagal is noted for her knowledge in Title VII and Equal Pay Act cases. Shaylyn Cochran was promoted to partner. All mentioned individuals are based in Washington DC.
ANTITRUST/COMPEITION – CIVIL LITIGATION/CLASS ACTIONS: PLAINTIFF
In the antitrust space, litigation heavyweight Cohen Milstein Sellers & Toll PLLC is focused on bringing original cases, but also represents plaintiffs in follow-on cases. The department excels at representing workers against employers with regard to sharing of wage data and no-poaching cases as well as class actions involving technology and securities. At the beginning of 2019, the ‘extremely smart’ Richard Koffman took over the post of co-chair from Daniel Small. Koffman is now in joint charge with Benjamin Brown, who also oversees the firm’s Fifth Amendment takings litigation. All above-mentioned lawyers operate out of the Washington DC office, which is also where key individuals Kit Pierson and Brent Johnson sit. The New York-based Sharon Robertson is praised for her work in pay-for-delay pharmaceutical lawsuits. The Washington DC office welcomed Daniel McCuaig from the DOJ’s antitrust division in August 2019, and Laura Alexander left to take up a position at The American Antitrust Institute at the end of 2019.
PRODUCT LIABILITY, MASS TORT AND CLASS ACTION – PLAINTIFF
Cohen Milstein Sellers & Toll PLLC is experienced in personal tort issues nationally and internationally. In particular, the firm has core strengths in representing consumers in environmental mass torts and product liability class actions, as well as in novel cases relating to data breach and guardrail safety. The practice group also is also rated for its personal injury work, including matters related to insurance fraud of injured persons. Florida-based mass tort specialist Theodore Leopold jointly heads the team alongside Leslie Kroeger, who focuses on high-profile products liability and wrongful death matters; and Andrew Friedman in Washington DC, who is known for expertise in class actions data privacy breaches.
SECURITIES LITIGATION: PLAINTIFF
Best known for its antitrust litigation practice, Cohen Milstein Sellers & Toll PLLC also has a strong securities litigation practice, which frequently handles class actions on behalf of some of the largest pension funds in the US. The practice has a 50-year history of success in class actions and it has a string of victories in cases relating to mortgage-backed securities in the wake of the global financial crisis. It served as court-appointed lead- or co-lead counsel in nine class actions against MBS issuers, the last of which returned more than $2bn to investors. Now, the firm’s work has diversified and it is handling more event-driven securities class actions such as those arising from the misconduct of senior employees. Among these is an on-going matter concerning the sexual harassment of employees by a CEO. Managing partner Steven Toll and the greatly respected Julie Reiser in Washington DC are co-chairs of the eight-partner practice. Up-and-coming partner Michael Eisenkraft, also in Washington DC, prosecutes cases arising from the financial and commodity markets.
A summary of the firm’s 2020 Legal 500 rankings can be viewed here.