Partner Houston, Texas Phone: 713.653.7814 Fax: 713.654.3388 kmcneil@susmangodfrey.com* Print this Profile (PDF) Download Business Card As a 24-year partner with Susman Godfrey L.L.P., I have played a key role in some of the most significant lawsuits in the United States – half for plaintiffs and half for large corporate defendants. There is a common theme in all of them: the ability to quickly organize, simplify and resolve big lawsuits – in many cases, within months of my first day on the file: Around the world – including huge cases involving China, Australia, and Canada   In virtually every major industry and financial sector – pension funds, energy companies, airlines, HMOs, manufacturing, Internet, accounting, banking, railroads, power companies, pipelines, automobile industry   Across most areas of law – securities, antitrust, contract, ERISA, patent, fraud and other commercial torts, accounting malpractice, actuarial malpractice, oil and gas law, international law, environmental law, administrative law   In massive "perfect storm" situations – unexpected "bet-your company" cases and other disastrous problems (ranging from HMOs to energy companies to pension funds) And the result: a long track record of success of in-court and out-of-court settlements involving disputes as large as hundreds of millions and billions of dollars. SOME RECENT TRIAL AND SETTLEMENT RESULTS – 2005-2010 Lead plaintiff lawyer for Milwaukee County and the Milwaukee County Pension Fund Obtained a $45 million settlement after two weeks of jury trial in Milwaukee federal district court The recovery was paid by defendant Mercer, Inc., the largest employee-benefits company in the U.S The lawsuit had allegations of actuarial malpractice in connection with passage of a new employee benefits package in 2000-2001 by Milwaukee County   Lead plaintiff lawyer overseeing Canadian trial team in a major Canadian trial victory Was hired to oversee the Canadian trial team in a case in Canada where Apache Corporation's Canadian subsidiary faced a $300 million counterclaim in a dispute over drilling rights. The trial lasted eight weeks. The judge's decision just gave Apache a big victory – dismissing the counterclaim, and awarding disputed drilling lands and production proceeds to Apache worth tens of millions.   Lead plaintiff lawyer for Bank of Montreal in a major commercial dispute Obtained a confidential settlement within 12 weeks of being retained to the client's satisfaction. Settled the case before a lawsuit was even filed.   Lead plaintiff trial lawyer – JURY TRIAL LISTED IN "TOP 100 VERDICTS OF 2005" by Verdict Search magazine The jury trial involved purchase of a large Florida HMO from HIP New York – and was in state court, Fort Lauderdale, Florida. The jury had just returned a $38 million actual damages jury verdict – for fraud, breach of contract, and unjust enrichment plus the jury had found clear and convincing evidence that punitive damages were warranted (rarely awarded in Florida in a commercial case).   The case settled one day after verdict to the client's satisfaction.   Lead defendant trial lawyer settling a major patent dispute for Rockwell Automation, Inc., a Fortune 500 company was hired by Rockwell Automation to represent it as lead counsel in a major patent, antitrust and unfair competition dispute the dispute had been ongoing for four years before I was hired it was resolved approximately two months after I was hired the settlement resolved the dispute and provided significant business benefits to Rockwell   Lead plaintiff trial lawyer for a North Carolina bankruptcy estate in settling a dispute with Ford Motor Company over alleged patent infringement by Ford Was settled without filing any lawsuit Settled after a mock trial before a U.S. bankruptcy court judge as part of a mediation   Lead settlement counsel for a leading national builder of housing projects for the working poor in a dispute with Sun Trust Bank The dispute involved allegations of $20-$40 million against the client. The case was resolved with the client paying nothing. Other Results in 2004-06 2006 Selected to Special Counsel list for the Pennsylvania State Employees' Retirement System. 2004 Retained as special settlement counsel for the City of San Diego in a dispute with its auditing firm. 2004 Selected to Special Counsel list for State Retirement System of Maryland, 2004 Other Recent Results (2000-2004) Was lead trial lawyer for a joint prosecution group – the State of Wisconsin Investment Board (for a shareholder class), the Anicom bankruptcy estate, and several Chicago banks. $21.5 million settlement from accounting firm PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP $18.0 million settlement from certain officers and directors of Anicom, Inc. $40 million in total settlements were obtained in federal court in Chicago involving now-bankrupt wire distributor Anicom, Inc. Two directors paid $12 million out of their own pockets not from D&O insurer. First U.S. temporary restraining order ever obtained against three oil companies of the People's Republic of China Lead trial counsel in a $100 million lawsuit filed by a subsidiary of Apache Corporation against Petrochina, et al. Involved a $120 million investment in a major drilling project on the coast of China, where the Apache subsidiary is operator Settled favorably for Apache 10 days after the TRO was obtained Resolves issues holding up the project for 2 years Settlement of a major dispute against a "big-six" accounting firm in 6 months from filing the lawsuit Represented a multi-billion-dollar corporation as plaintiff Settled favorably to client Settlement of a major dispute against a national insurance company in 13 days Represented an East Coast corporation in a dispute with its insurer over denial of coverage Settled for the entire multi-million-dollar payment the client sought from the insurer Settlement of another major dispute against a "big-six" accounting firm in 15 months from filing of the lawsuit Settlement of an employment termination dispute in 3 weeks on terms which the client sought Other Plaintiff Contingent-Fee Litigation Two major cases settled during May and June 1999 ($12 million)  lead counsel in June 1999 in obtaining $6.25 million settlement in an international oil and gas dispute co-lead counsel in May 1999 in obtaining a $6 million settlement for a terminated CEO of a telecommunications company The largest Employee Stock Ownership Plan recovery in history ($27 million) lead counsel for much of the case settled in 1996 one of the largest recoveries in the history of North Carolina courts defendants were Morgan Stanley, NationsBank, and Burlington Industries The largest stock appraisal award in history ($120 million) won against Royal Dutch Shell in connection with its cash-out merger of Shell Oil U.S. stock upheld by the Delaware Supreme Court in 1992 $38 million disclosure violation award for class of Shell stockholders who tendered their Shell stock resulted from my discovery of a $1 billion error in Shell's published oil and gas reserve calculations upheld by the Delaware Supreme Court in 1992 $40 million award for plaintiff class in antitrust class action plaintiff class include Wisconsin Power and Light, and other electrical utilities suing for alleged bid-rigging in fabricated steel provided to construction projects final settlement occurred just before trial Client attorney for our firm, which served as lead counsel for the first six months of the Exxon Valdez litigation against Exxon worked with Steve Susman in setting up coordination among dozens of plaintiff-side law firms in the case left that role only because of a technical conflict that appeared with one of numerous defendants after our firm left the case, plaintiffs we organized won a $5 billion verdict (later reduced by the U.S. Supreme Court) Other Plaintiff Litigation on an Hourly Basis Lead counsel in a successful 3-day trial in 1999 defending my client for filing an involuntary bankruptcy petition against an opposing party for failing to pay $10 million   I was lead lawyer for a large publicly-traded oil and gas company creditor Opponent debtor filed a $17 million arbitration claim as offset Opposing party was represented by distinguished counsel Court held the opponent did not even raise a "bona fide" dispute over the vast majority of its claims Lead counsel in 1998 in a very favorable settlement for our clients (majority shareholders of a telecommunications company), just one month after minority shareholders instituted this legal dispute Lead counsel in a 1998 case in which our client, president of a large title company, was allowed by settlement to become president of a competing title company in the same city within weeks of leaving the first company, despite an attempt to enforce a non-compete restriction on him. Lead counsel in a case representing Enron Oil & Gas against Meridian Oil Won bench trial in North Dakota Opinion issued in 1997 Lead counsel in 1996 in a major dispute over a $50 million trust fund Several major law firms in Atlanta initially represented my client, the trust beneficiary I entered the case four years into the litigation It settled three weeks later, and my client got what she wanted Head of expert witness work for Northwest Airlines and Continental Airlines in largest antitrust litigation in airline history – against American Airlines (1994) organized expert work among economics professors from M.I.T., Stanford and University of Chicago, and attacked expert work of American Airlines witnesses worked with lead trial lawyers David Boies of Cravath, Swaine & Moore and Joe Jamail American Airlines stopped the practice in dispute after this lawsuit got underway Other Defense Litigation on an Hourly Basis Lead counsel in 1998 successful defense of a $30 million lawsuit, brought against our client, a major midwest public utility holding company Was retained by client, NIPSCO, to try this six-year-old case just weeks before trial Case was tried in federal district court in Chicago After two weeks of trial, confidential settlement was reached Successful defense in 1997 of NIPSCO Industries ( Northern Indiana's public utility holding company) against allegations of $60 million actual damages and $140 million punitive damages Case settled two weeks into trial at a tiny fraction of alleged actual damages Contingency-fee lawyers who brought the case failed to get from the public settlement anything close to even their regular hourly billing rates Co-lead counsel in successful defense in 1997 of Sysco Corporation, one of the largest food distributors in the nation, against allegations by the owners of the popular Houston-based Ninfa's restaurant chain for tens of millions of dollars Case settled within five months after the opposing side filed the case Sysco received a public apology from Mama Ninfa, the founder of the Ninfa's restaurant chain, for ever bringing the lawsuit Sysco was allowed to keep its entire creditor claim in bankruptcy against the plaintiff Representation of Placid Oil, Penrod Drilling, and Hunt Trusts in $1.5 billion counterclaim lawsuit against 22 banks (1986) An estimated 200 lawyers on other side Five to six main lawyers working on our side Headed up key parts of discovery in the case Track Record for Quick Settlement I have a long track-record of resolution of cases ranging from $5 million to $600 million or more in dispute – some even without taking them to court. Some recent settlements involve times as short as 2 days in dispute, 5 days, and 30 days. Among the clients for whom these have occurred are Apache Corporation, Bank of Montreal, Enron Oil and Gas, owner of a major HMO, and numerous others. Some Recent Professional Activities Member, Board of Directors, Lawyers' Committee on Civil Rights, founded by President John F. Kennedy (2006- ) Member of 12-person Civil Justice Institute of the American Bar Association, Litigation Section (2001-2004) Speaker, New York Law School Symposium on the Plaintiffs' Bar Speaker, 29th Annual Securities Regulation Institute, sponsored by Northwestern University School of Law Speaker, "Vanishing Trials" Seminar, ABA Litigation Section, San Francisco Speaker, Canadian Institute Seminar on Class Actions, Toronto, Canada Speaker, Seminar on Federal Class Actions, State Bar of Texas, Antitrust & Litigation Section, Houston, Texas Co-Organizer and Speaker, "Helping Institutional Investors Increase Recoveries in Corporate Fraud Litigation" Conference, held at University of Chicago Graduate School of Business, Chicago, Illinois Other Professional Activities and Honors Chair of the Antitrust & Business Litigation Section of the State Bar of Texas (1996) President, Wisconsin Law Alumni Association (national association of 12,000 alumni of the University of Wisconsin Law School) (1999-2001) Former U.S. Fifth Circuit Judicial Clerk Former member of the university faculty, University of Wisconsin, Madison Facts and circumstances differ from case to case and results cannot be guaranteed.   *Internet mail is not fully secure or private. 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