James J. McGuire

The Founding Partner of the firm's New York office and formerly a member of the firm's Executive Committee, Mr. McGuire participates in both the White Collar and Civil Fraud Defense and the Business Trials Practice Groups.

Mr. McGuire’s practice focuses on white collar criminal and complex commercial litigation, as well as internal investigations and international arbitrations. He has extensive experience in criminal and commercial matters at both the trial and appellate levels. He has successfully tried over twenty jury cases to verdict.

In such matters, Mr. McGuire has had numerous notable recent accomplishments, including:

• Securing a jury verdict of over $159 million (ranked # 11 nationally in 2005 by The National Law Journal in terms of dollar amount) as lead counsel in a seven week Maryland federal trial of a complex commercial action against a major defense contractor and one of its subsidiaries;
• Winning dismissal of a complaint against his client, the former President of the Republic of South Korea, alleging, among other things, violations of the Alien Tort Claims Act;
• Negotiating and obtaining, on behalf of a former international fund manager at Putnam Investments, the least onerous settlement yet granted by the SEC in the recent spate of "market timing" prosecutions; and
• Thus far successfully representing two separate groups of Islamic financial institutions and charities in voluminous, consolidated litigations arising out of the events of September 11, 2001.

More generally, Mr. McGuire has had substantial experience in representing major national and international banks and financial institutions in civil litigation.  Those representations have included the defense of securities fraud class actions, lender liability cases, fraud and RICO claims, and basic breach of contract actions.  In addition, Mr. McGuire has often represented such entities in "White Collar" matters, including the conduct of internal investigations with respect to possible money laundering, alleged embezzlement and fraud, and improper employment practices.  Mr. McGuire also has represented major financial institutions in numerous federal and state grand jury investigations across the country, where such entities have either been targets, subjects, or witnesses in the subject investigations. 

In white collar criminal matters, Mr. McGuire has particular experience in the securities, tax, money laundering, antitrust, and fraud areas, and regularly deals with the various federal agencies, including the SEC, FBI, IRS, EPA, DOL, and Customs Service. He has represented leading defendants in substantial grand jury investigations and federal and state prosecutions across the country. His clients have included major domestic and foreign entities and individuals.

Mr. McGuire’s civil litigation practice has ranged across numerous practice areas, including securities, professional liability, product liability, employment, entertainment, intellectual property, RICO, fraud, and contract. He has represented both plaintiffs and defendants in major commercial cases. In recent years, he has represented a group of domestic and foreign clients in actions arising out of their ownership of luxury hotels in various markets, several real estate limited partnerships suing a public company on fraudulent conveyance grounds to unwind a $200 million series of transactions, major automotive and chemical manufacturers in complex product liability suits, a prominent HMO in a panoply of healthcare-related litigation, a leading retailer of computer software in various contract, fraud, and intellectual property cases, major foreign and domestic banks and brokerages in securities litigation, a celebrated novelist in a copyright action related to the distribution of a major motion picture, and a well-known attorney in legal malpractice cases raising ERISA issues.

Mr. McGuire has also recently represented prominent foreign entities and individuals in significant international arbitrations.  As of late 2007, Mr. McGuire was actively involved in three such matters on behalf of foreign clients. 

From 1987 to 1992, Mr. McGuire was Assistant United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, Criminal Division. 

Education

• LL.M., London School of Economics, 1979, Rhodes Scholar
• J.D., Harvard Law School, 1982, cum laude
• B.A./M.A., University of Oxford, 1978, Rhodes Scholar
• B.A., Yale University, 1976, cum laude, with Distinction

Admissions

• New York;
• U.S. District Courts for the Southern and Eastern Districts of New York, District of Colorado; and
• U.S. Courts of Appeals for the First, Second, Fourth, and Fifth Circuits

Honors

• The National Law Journal ranked Mr. McGuire's above-referenced verdict as #11 in 2005 in terms of dollar amount

Articles

• Alien Tort Claims Act Case Against Former President of South Korea Dismissed, Corporate Crime Reporter, April 23, 2007
• Big Suits, , December 14, 2005
• Trends in Real Estate and Title Insurance, , November 28, 2005