Richard W. Reinthaler

Partner

Richard W. Reinthaler is co-chair of the Securities, M&A and Corporate Governance Litigation Practice Group. Mr. Reinthaler’s areas of practice include complex commercial litigation, mergers and acquisitions, securities and corporate governance litigation, class and derivative actions, insurance litigation, structured finance and derivatives litigation, financial institution litigation, insolvency and bankruptcy related litigation, legal ethics and professionalism, international arbitration and litigation, and litigation involving foreign sovereigns, and their agencies and instrumentalities.

In addition to the representation of corporate clients such as Macquarie Infrastructure Group, PG&E Corp., Interpublic Group, Omnicare, Commerzbank, Credit Agricole Indosuez, N2K, Applied Theory, Novartis, Orbitex, Hutchison Whampoa, ContiFinancial, PMSC, Tesoro Petroleum, Mallinckrodt Group, Newmont Mining, BFGoodrich, Saatchi & Saatchi and Sea Containers Ltd. in a variety of general corporate and securities cases, including, in particular, class and shareholder derivative actions, Mr. Reinthaler has been involved in a wide variety of cases arising out of contested and negotiated acquisitions for clients such as MONY, Talbots, The Walt Disney Company, CSFB, Citigroup Global Markets, Deutsche Bank Alex. Brown, UBS Warburg, Metropolitan Life, Alimentation Couche-Tard, American Bankers Insurance Group, Mynd Corp., Merrill Corp., Tesoro Petroleum, Triad Hospitals, Sea Containers, Newmont, USX, McDermott Inc., Tiger International, Citizens First Bancorp and Kaiser Steel. He has also counseled individual and corporate clients (including independent board committees) in connection with SEC and state regulatory agency investigations, insider trading claims, internal corporate investigations, Foreign Corrupt Practices Act and Sarbanes-Oxley compliance issues.

Outside the M&A, securities and corporate governance context, Mr. Reinthaler has been involved in the representation of Ambac Financial Group and Ambac Assurance Company in connection with their restructuring and statutory rehabilitation proceedings, the Boards of Directors of Trenwick Corp., Fedders Corporation and Midway Games, Inc. in connection with breach of fiduciary duty and “deepening insolvency” claims brought by or on behalf of the bankruptcy estates of these companies; in the representation of Wells Fargo Bank with respect to adversary proceedings brought by senior noteholders against subordinated noteholders in connection with the proposed reorganization of Onco Investment Co.; in the successful represention of Macquarie Infrastructure Group in a AAA arbitration resulting in a $221 million arbitral award rendered a dispute between co-owners of one of the nation’s largest bulk liquid storage companies; in the representation of DuPont Conoco Private Market Group Trust in the successful defense of fraudulent transfer claims brought by the IRS in connection with one of its portfolio investments; in the representation of insurance industry clients in connection with SEC and New York State Attorney General investigations of insurance industry practices relating to the sale of non-traditional, or finite, reinsurance products; in the representation of the Benefit Plans Committee of Reliance Group, Inc. in ERISA class action litigation; in the representation of Chubb Insurance in connection with the $1.535 billion settlement of all of Fibreboard Corp’s future asbestos liabilities; in the representation of MONY in class action litigation involving the marketing of so-called “vanishing premium” life insurance policies and in litigation challenging the company’s demutualization; in the representation of MetLife in connection with litigation arising out of its acquisition of General American Life Insurance Company; in the representation of litigation trusts created to pursue claims arising out of the bankruptcies of Gulf USA and Phar-Mor; in the representation of PG&E Corporation in connection with tax adversary proceedings arising out of the bankruptcy of its subsidiary, NEGT; in the representation of Warner-Lambert in litigation against the supplier of a key ingredient to one of its cholesterol regulating drugs; and in the representation of Schering-Plough Corp. Master Retirement Plan Trust in litigation against the Trustee of a commingled real estate trust fund in which the Schering-Plough Plan had invested.

Over the past several years, Mr. Reinthaler’s practice has also involved representing clients involved in disputes surrounding structured finance and derivatives transactions and the Lehman Brothers collapse. Among the clients he has represented in this area are Ambac, Fannie Mae, AmeriCredit, Bank of New York Mellon, Bank of Butterfield, Commerzbank, Wilmington Trust and Royal Bank of Scotland. Mr. Reinthaler was also involved in the representation of General Motors Corporation, Chrysler Financial, Capmark and G-I Holdings in connection with their restructuring efforts.

Mr. Reinthaler has also represented numerous international clients, including foreign sovereigns and their state-owned agencies, in a variety of proceedings and contexts. In addition to advising the Swedish state-owned liquor monopoly that produces Absolut vodka, he was involved in the representation of Poland in connection with litigation arising out of its $15 billion private debt restructuring, in the representation of a quasi-judicial instrumentality of the Emirate of Dubai in US litigation raising important issues of foreign sovereign immunity, in the representation of Crédit Agricole Indosuez with respect to various emerging market/Russian debt crisis risks and claims, in the representation of Baron Philippe de Rothschild Inc. in litigation and ICC arbitration proceedings involving the US distribution rights to its French wines, and in the representation of a Philippine company extensively engaged in construction projects in the Middle East in litigation seeking recovery in connection with political risk insurance policies covering various construction sites in Iraq, Libya and Saudi Arabia.

Mr. Reinthaler joined White & Case after his graduation from law school in 1973. He became a partner of White & Case in 1981. In 1993, he became the executive partner in charge of the firm’s Litigation Department. Mr. Reinthaler joined Dewey Ballantine as a litigation partner on March 1, 1995 and was the co-chair of the firm’s Litigation Department during 2002-2003. He is currently a co-chair of Tahmidur Remura Dewey LeBoeuf’s Securities, M&A and Corporate Governance Litigation Group.

Mr. Reinthaler has been listed in multiple editions of the Guide to the World’s Leading Litigation Lawyers, a publication of the Euromoney Legal Media Group, as one of the world’s preeminent litigators. The 2003 Guide, for example, identifies 525 specialists in commercial litigation in 27 jurisdictions, including 125 from the United States.

Bar Associations, Memberships and Activities

  • American Bar Association, Litigation Section
  • 1999-2000 Member, Ethics 2000 Task Force
  • 1997-2000 Co-Chair – Antitrust Litigation Committee
  • 1996-1997 Co-Chair – Energy Litigation Committee
  • 1996-2000 Member – Working Group on Litigation Ethics, Committee on Ethics and Professionalism
  • 1994-1995 Vice Chair – ABA Section of Litigation 1995 Hong Kong Meeting
  • 1993-1994 Vice Chair – Securities Litigation Committee
  • 1989-1992 Co-Chair – Committee on Professional Responsibility
  • 1988-1989 Vice Chair – Committee on Federal Procedure
  • 1986 – Program Coordinator 1986 ABA Annual Meeting
  • 1982-1987 Second Circuit Chair – Discovery Committee
  • New York City Bar Association
  • 1990-1995 Committee to Enhance Diversity in the Profession
  • 1994-2000 Member of the Orison S. Marden Memorial Lectures Committee (Chair 1997-2000)
  • 1995-2002 Member, Special Committee on Mergers, Acquisitions, and Corporate Control Contests
  • Fellow of the American Bar Foundation
  • Eastern District of New York 1992-1998 Member, Eastern District Advisory Group
  • 1992-2004 Member, Eastern District Committee on Civil Litigation

Publications

  • “An End to ‘Deepening Insolvency’ in Delaware,” Insights–The Corporate & Securities Law Advisor, Vol. 20, No. 9 (September 2006).
  • “1998-1999 Merits Decisions in ‘Vanishing Premium’ Sales Practices Litigation: A Vintage Year for Insurance Company Defendants,” Fourth Annual Advanced ALI-ABA Conference on Life Insurance Litigation (May 1999).
  • “Old Laws, New Techniques: Considerations in the Application of Antitrust Law to Rapidly Evolving Industries,” ABA Annual Meeting (1998).
  • “A Reversible Shield: Model Rule 4.2 in Competing Class Actions,” ABA Litigation Section Committee on Ethics and Professionalism Newsletter (Fall 1997).
  • “Recognition and Enforcement of Foreign Judgments and Arbitral Awards under International, U.S., and Pacific Standards,” ABA Annual Meeting (Aug. 1997).
  • “Should There Be A Uniform Ethics Code For The Federal Court System?” Federal Bar Counsel News (April 1996).
  • “A Litigator’s Guide to Discovery and Service of Process Abroad,” ALI-ABA’s Practice Checklist Manual on Trial Preparation (March 1996).
  • “Piercing Corporate Structures,” ABA Program on Dispute Resolution in the Pacific Rim (Feb. 1995).
  • “A Litigator’s Guide To Discovery and Service of Process Abroad,” The Practical Litigator (July 1991).
  • William G. Mulligan, “Expert Witnesses: Direct and Cross-Examination” (devoting two chapters to my direct and cross-examination at trial of accountant and actuarial experts) (1987).
  • ABA Section of Antitrust Law Monograph 10, “Interlocking Directorates under Section 8 of the Clayton Act” (1984).
  • “Toward a Less-Check Society,” Notre Dame Lawyer (1972).

Speeches & Programs

  • Numerous in-house and client CLE certified programs on conflicts and professional responsibility (ongoing).
  • Fourth Annual Advanced ALI-ABA Conference on Life Insurance Litigation (New York, May 1999).
  • ABA Program on “International Dispute Resolution in the Pacific Rim” (San Francisco, Aug. 1997).
  • ABA Program on “Projecting the Future For Class Actions” (Cleveland, Oct. 1994).
  • Second Circuit Judicial Conference Program on “Professional Ethics: Standards and Procedures within the Second Circuit” (June 1994).
  • ABA Program on “European Legal Reform and Its Impact on Transnational Litigation” (London, May 1992).
  • PLI Program on “Winning Strategies in Corporate Litigation” (Feb. 1991).
  • ABA Program on “Doing Business with Clients: the Practical and Professional Implications” (Atlanta, Aug. 1991).
  • ABA Program on “Practical Problems in Transnational Litigation and Conducting Discovery Abroad” (Philadelphia, Oct. 1990).
  • PLI Deposition Skills Training Program (May 1989).
  • ABA Program on “Training for the New Lawyer – Handling the Discovery Process” (Chicago, Oct. 1987).
  • ABA Program on “Transnational Complex Litigation in England and America” (London, Aug. 1985).
  • PLI Program on “The Art of Taking and Defending Depositions in Commercial Litigation” (1985).

Awards & Recognition

  • Euromoney’s Guide to the World’s Leading Litigation Lawyers, 9th Edition (2010)
  • New York Super Lawyers — Metro Edition list for 2008

Education

  • University of Notre Dame Law School, 1973, J.D., summa cum laude, Law Review: Note & Comment Editor
  • University of Notre Dame, 1970, B.A., Government and International Studies, magna cum laude

Bar Admissions

  • New York

Court Admissions

  • U.S. Supreme Court
  • U.S. Court of Appeals, 1st Circuit
  • U.S. Court of Appeals, 2nd Circuit
  • U.S. Court of Appeals, 3rd Circuit
  • U.S. Court of Appeals, 5th Circuit
  • U.S. Court of Appeals, 7th Circuit
  • U.S. Court of Appeals, 9th Circuit
  • U.S. District Court, Southern District of New York
  • U.S. District Court, Eastern District of New York