Litigation boutique Gibbs & Bruns LLP was named one of the “Most Feared Plaintiffs Firms of 2014” by the editors of Law 360. The media outlet selected just ten firms in this nationwide feature of firm who have achieved “outstanding victories” in the past year.
Law 360 will profile Gibbs & Bruns in an upcoming November 2014 article, but shared the following about the firm’s selection to the highly-selective list:
One of the newcomers, Gibbs & Bruns, has bragging rights to one of the biggest settlements all year.
In January, a New York state judge finalized an $8.5 billion cash settlement the firm had struck with Bank of America to end claims tied to 530 troubled residential mortgage-backed securities trusts packaged and sold by BofA subsidiary Countrywide Financial Corp.
But the value of the deal, which involved a wide array of big-name plaintiffs, is likely worth billions of dollars more given the servicing improvements BofA has to apply to the hundreds of thousands of mortgages underlying the trusts, Gibbs & Bruns said.
Scott Humphries, a partner at the 30-odd lawyer, Houston-based firm, said part of what makes Gibbs & Bruns a force to be reckoned with is its practice of splitting its time on the defense side: “Part of our belief for a long time is when you work on both sides of the docket, you can be effective on both sides.”
He said the firm’s readiness to go to trial, even on short notice, also gives it an edge over its adversaries.
“It’s quite a compliment to have the other side try to disqualify you as one of the strategies in their case,” Humphries said.
