Litigation & Dispute Resolution

We represent clients on both sides of private and government antitrust litigation, including class actions, and have the capacity to manage multiple defenses and government investigations simultaneously. Our client base includes airlines, pharma and healthcare companies, manufacturers, and consumer-product companies. In addition to traditional antitrust claims, i.e., price-fixing and monopolies, we handle antitrust-related disputes involving the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA), the False Claims Act, securities law violations, and RICO claims.

Our appellate lawyers, many former appellate clerks, have briefed, argued, and won appeals nationwide, in state and federal courts and the U.S. Supreme Court. Our team brings a deep bench of experience to high-stakes disputes and government actions. We frequently work with trial teams, developing legal strategies and assisting team members during trials. In addition to having a robust appellate practice, our lawyers provide amicus curiae briefs in precedent-setting cases on behalf of industry groups and advise on constitutional and public policy issues in draft legislation and agency actions.

The lawyers on our Construction and Engineering Litigation Team have worked in the construction industry for decades, with vast experience in contracting, project counsel, and dispute resolution, Our client base includes all parties involved in project development and construction, including contractors, builders, product manufacturers, owners, developers, and sureties.

While we have significant experience resolving construction disputes through alternative dispute resolution, we also represent clients in trials and appeals in state and federal courts and international arbitration forums. Our litigation experience includes statewide class action lawsuits involving products, materials, contract and procurement process violations, construction defects, and warranties. We also defend clients against wrongful death, injury, and damage claims arising from unsafe conditions or accidents.
 

Complex litigation is one of our most extensive practice areas, and our team is adept at managing large-scale cases, including contract disputes, business torts, mass torts, class actions, and more. As modern litigation evolves, we're committed to staying ahead of the curve while maintaining cost-effective legal services. Clients benefit from:

• Industry-leading case management processes and technology
• Geographic coverage across the U.S. and a 360-degree view of tort liability nationwide
• Complete trial support, including on-site court setups and custom graphics
• Advice on complex medical and scientific issues from in-house nurses, researchers, and scientists
• Assistance with expert witness selection 
• In-house litigation support services for time and labor-intensive tasks: medical record analysis, document review, and eDiscovery

Womble Bond Dickinson is an industry leader in mass torts and products litigation. We're known for using complex action plans, alternative pricing structures, innovative technology, and cost-effective in-house litigation support teams. Our attorneys have successfully managed complex and challenging cases for some of the world's largest manufacturing, pharmaceutical, medical device, transportation, agricultural, and consumer goods companies. With experience in nearly every U.S. state, we're frequently national trial and coordinating counsel for clients defending themselves against complex mass torts. Our lawyers also act as regional and local counsel on specific cases.

As veteran employment lawyers, we use proven techniques to help our clients deal with nuanced legal issues and avoid employment disputes. Our experience covers all areas of state and federal employment law, including performance management, workplace hiring practices, wage and hour issues, leave and accommodation management, workforce restructuring, internal investigations, harassment and discrimination allegations, and internal workplace complaints.

With our help, many clients have avoided employment disputes and litigation. However, if needed, we have experience with class actions, multi-plaintiff litigation, and restrictive covenant litigation. Our lawyers have successfully represented clients before courts, arbitration panels, and agencies, including the Department of Labor and the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. 

Our experienced litigators have obtained numerous summary judgments for insurance companies, plan sponsors, plan administrators, and claims administrators in ERISA benefit lawsuits. We also routinely defend clients in the financial services industry against ERISA breach of fiduciary duty claims involving investments, distributions, and conflicts of interest. However, ERISA litigation is notoriously complicated. Because of our considerable litigation experience in this area, we represent all parties, including employers and plan participants, in high-stakes single-plaintiff ERISA lawsuits and class actions, sometimes bringing ERISA claims on behalf of plan administrators.

Our environmental litigators work directly with the EPA and state lawmakers to resolve client issues and have decades of experience in government litigation. We represent clients in federal and state civil and criminal actions, administrative hearings, and proceedings and pursue judicial reviews of adverse administrative decisions when necessary. Our environmental attorneys also represent clients in single-plaintiff citizen suits, private cost recovery actions under CERCLA, and other disputes between corporate parties, often because of missed contractual or statutory obligations.

With extensive experience in multi-jurisdictional litigation and environmental law, we've been local, lead, and coordinating counsel in toxic tort litigation nationwide. Our team's knowledge of toxicology, epidemiology, chemicals, and environmental contaminants is essential to resolving these cases quickly. Clients also seek us out because we have substantial experience with environmental emergencies and agrichemicals.

We represent individuals involved in personal fiduciary disputes, such as conservators, as well as financial institutions, companies, and corporate officers. Thanks to our diverse private wealth practice, we thoroughly understand the laws governing fiduciary disputes, such as the Uniform Trust and Probate Codes, Prudent Investor Act, and the Uniform Principal and Income Acts. Our experience covers breach of fiduciary duty claims, tax matters, fiduciary appointments/substitution, distributions, will contests (capacity/undue influence), inter-beneficiary disputes, special assets, trust and estate administration, and claims against estates. Many of our litigators hold state arbitration and mediation certifications and are American College of Trusts and Estates Council members.

Some of our earliest litigation portfolios belonged to banking clients more than 150 years ago, and we've been along for every bump in the road since. Our representation has expanded to include non-traditional financial institutions, lenders, FinTech providers, and insurance companies, with a track record that includes single-plaintiff lawsuits, class actions, and appeals. We are especially adept at handling ERISA, securities, antitrust, and fiduciary litigation.

With years of high-stakes litigation and government experience, some of us holding former government positions, our attorneys are well-suited to represent clients in government and constitutional litigation, including constitutional claims, civil rights cases, administrative proceedings, and appeals. We help corporate clients navigate constitutional claims when the government has intruded on their business. We also support state and local government clients when others challenge the constitutionality of their actions. In doing so, we engage on issues under federal and state constitutions and have participated in some of the most significant constitutional fights in several states.

We represent governments and businesses in international commercial and investor-state arbitration, appearing before the world's leading arbitral institutions, such as the I.C.C., ICSID, LCIA, P.C.A., SIAC, ICDR, SCIA, and HKIAC. Collaborating with lawyers in our eight U.K. offices and Lex Mundi partner firms ensures that we can assist with arbitrator selection, expert witnesses, and local award enforcement in countries worldwide.

While the privacy litigation landscape is constantly in flux, our lawyers are highly familiar with the impact of privacy-related statutes, including the Illinois Biometric Information Privacy Act ("BIPA"), the California Invasion of Privacy Act ("CIPA"), the Telephone Consumer Protection Act ("TCPA"), and the Video Protection Privacy Act ("VPPA"). We defend companies in privacy class action lawsuits arising from data breaches, cyber-attacks, and allegations of non-compliant digital business practices. These cases allow us to leverage our firm's proficiency in managing complex litigation and the regulatory compliance and incident response experience of our Privacy and Cybersecurity Team. 

As successful real estate attorneys, we understand stakeholders' perspectives and the impact litigation has on real estate development, which is time- and budget-sensitive by nature. Our real estate lawyers handle all kinds of disputes and litigation, working with a broader group of attorneys who focus on environmental, employment, land use, and construction litigation. Typically, these matters involve disputes over property ownership, transactions, real estate and construction contracts, land use and zoning issues, environmental issues (citizen suits, commercial disputes, and regulatory actions), and routine conflicts that stem from property management.

We've successfully defended some of the nation's largest publicly traded companies and their officers in federal securities litigation, derivative actions, and other investor claims. Several of our attorneys are former government employees, which helps us guide clients in investigations by the S.E.C. and the Department of Labor. These regulatory investigations often last many years and are accompanied by additional civil and criminal actions, which we also have the resources to handle. 

We've litigated telecommunications disputes in federal and state courts and before domestic and international arbitration panels and regulatory agencies. Some of our team members are former lawyers for the F.C.C., U.S. Department of Justice, and the National Telecommunications and Information Administration; others have worked in-house at telecom companies or are longtime representatives of industry clients. Because our attorneys are already familiar with communications technology and have direct insight into the regulatory process, we can translate highly technical concepts into easy-to-digest briefs and oral arguments according to the audience, i.e., jury, judge, or arbitrator.

Womble Bond Dickinson is one of the few firms in the country that can take on large-scale TCPA litigation portfolios. Our team of experienced federal court litigators focuses solely on TCPA matters and regularly appears before the Federal Communications Commission to defend clients. As TCPA counsel for major banks, platform providers, marketing, and consumer finance companies, we've successfully defeated scores of TCPA class actions through dispositive motion practice.

In addition to our attorneys’ experience, we use industry-leading litigation technology to help you decide when to settle and when to fight, how to present a vigorous defense, and how to ensure your marketing efforts are TCPA-compliant in the future.

Unsurprisingly, UCC matters are significant in our litigation practice. Our group has tried or arbitrated UCC disputes for clients in nearly every industry, and we advise clients based on this experience. If you need assistance settling contract disputes, collecting debts, resolving creditor and debtor rights issues, or defending against consumer fraud claims governed by the UCC, we have litigators who can help across jurisdictions.

Our distinguished white collar criminal defense team includes former federal prosecutors, defenders, and U.S. Attorneys. Many of our lawyers served at the highest levels at the Department of Justice (DOJ), Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Enforcement Division, The White House, U.S. Congress, and the country’s leading U.S. Attorney’s Offices. Leveraging their experience, our team defends corporations and individuals throughout criminal investigations and prosecutions, including state and federal court trials.