GIBBS & BRUNS NAMED TOP US LITIGATION FIRM BY FINANCIAL TIMES – US INNOVATIVE LAWYERS 2012

The Financial Times released its “US Innovative Lawyers 2012” special report on November 29, 2012, listing Gibbs & Bruns LLP as the “Top US Litigation Firm” in the feature publication.  Financial Timesassessed 320 submissions from law firms and in-house legal teams for the 2012 report and conducted over 400 interviews with lawyers and their clients to arrive at the final rankings.

Gibbs & Bruns is referenced as a “Magic Circle” in the special report – noted for “straddling both the plaintiff and defense bar.”  A litigation lawyer shares about Gibbs & Bruns, “It’s interesting to think of them as like a ‘Magic Circle.’  I think you’re going to see firms that aren’t centered around just one or two guys, and, in that way they are resembling defence firms rather than just plaintiff firms.”

Gibbs & Bruns partner Kathy Patrick is highlighted as one of the “Top Ten Change Agents” in the report.  Her profile reads:

Kathy Patrick is Wall Street’s new nightmare, Forbes magazine claimed, after she secured an $8.5bn settlement with Bank of America last year on behalf of residential mortgage-backed securities (RMBS) investors.

The litigation, in which Ms. Patrick and her team represented 22 institutional investors, including Pimco, BlackRock, MetLife and Federal Reserve Bank of New York, resulted in one of the largest settlements in Wall Street’s struggle with the fallout from the credit crisis.

For Ms. Patrick, a partner at Houston-based firm Gibbs & Bruns, the RMBS litigation added to an impressive portfolio of successes on behalf of investors, though her work has also included acting for former outside directors of Enron, the failed energy group, in more than 100 securities, investigative and regulatory actions pending against them from 2001 to 2007.

Before joining Gibbs & Bruns, Ms. Patrick was a law clerk to Judge John R. Brown, US Court of Appeals.

The full report can be accessed here.

It’s interesting to think of them as like a ‘Magic Circle.’  I think you’re going to see firms that aren’t centered around just one or two guys, and, in that way they are resembling defence firms rather than just plaintiff firms.
– A litigation lawyer as interviewed by the Financial Times