McKool Smith Bolsters Financial Litigation Practice in New York

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May 10, 2017, 17:37 ET

NEW YORK, May 10, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- McKool Smith, one of the nation's leading trial firms, has announced that commercial litigators Christopher P. Johnson and Zachary W. Mazin will be joining the firm as principals in its New York office. Their anticipated arrival will bolster the firm's financial litigation practice, which represents hedge funds and other institutional investors in a broad range of disputes against major financial institutions.

"We are very excited that Chris and Zach will be joining the firm," said McKool Smith's Managing Principal, David Sochia. "Their arrival will further strengthen our financial litigation practice, which has had remarkable success litigating against financial institutions in disputes concerning complex financial products, breach of fiduciary duty claims, and other matters. We will continue to see opportunities in this area as funds and other investment firms seek formidable representation against the major banks."

"As a trial lawyer, I've always been impressed by McKool Smith's success in the courtroom and its reputation as a powerhouse trial firm," said Christopher Johnson. "When you talk about the firms that are winning the big verdicts and handling the significant cases, McKool Smith's name is always a part of the discussion. My clients will benefit from the firm's deep trial bench and highly specialized practice offerings."

Zachary Mazin echoed these sentiments. "McKool Smith is known for its trial prowess. However, I was especially drawn to the firm's history of partnering with clients on creative fee arrangements. I represent a number of leading funds who have an appetite for partnering with law firms that aren't afraid to put some skin in the game by offering mutually beneficial success fee arrangements. McKool Smith is an industry leader in this area, which will be very helpful as I continue to build my practice."

Johnson's and Mazin's start date is yet to be announced. Their anticipated move to McKool Smith will be the latest development in a strategic effort to expand McKool Smith's New York office, which is currently the firm's largest office with 48 trial lawyers. Last year, 14 trial lawyers, including seven principals, led by preeminent insurance litigator Robin Cohen, joined the firm's New York office to launch its insurance recovery practice. The group has since expanded to include more than 25 lawyers across the firm's offices in New York, Texas, and California.

Christopher P. Johnson's practice focuses on complex civil litigation, including commercial, securities, products liability, and Constitutional litigation, as well as alternative dispute resolution. He is both a trial and appellate lawyer with extensive experience in all aspects of civil litigation, from pre-trial proceedings, evidentiary hearings, and trials through appeals and U.S. Supreme Court practice. Within the last several years, he has focused primarily on litigation relating to structured financial products, including residential mortgage backed securities.

Zachary W. Mazin tries complex civil cases arising out of business disputes, structured financial products, and governmental investigations. He has handled numerous significant representations of trustees of residential mortgage-backed securitizations in actions seeking to recover billions of dollars from the investment banks.

With more than 180 trial lawyers across offices in Austin, Dallas, Houston, Los Angeles, Marshall, New York, Silicon Valley, and Washington, D.C., McKool Smith has established a reputation as one of America's leading trial firms. Since 2006, the firm has secured ten nine-figure jury verdicts and ten eight-figure jury verdicts. The firm has also won more VerdictSearch and The National Law Journal "Top 100 Verdicts" over the last ten years than any other law firm in the country. Courtroom successes like these have earned McKool Smith critical acclaim and helped the firm become what The Wall Street Journal describes as "one of the biggest law firm success stories of the past decade." McKool Smith represents clients in complex commercial litigation, intellectual property, bankruptcy, and white collar defense matters.

For more information, please contact Ada Oni-Eseleh at (646) 685-8075 or [email protected]

SOURCE McKool Smith