Overview
Shawn Rabin, a Susman Godfrey Partner and member of the firm’s Executive Committee, is a go-to trial lawyer for high-stakes litigation. Described by one client as “highly strategic and always looking out for his clients’ best interests,” (Chambers USA 2022), Rabin personally handles all aspects of his cases, from evaluating claims before a complaint is filed to selecting juries and seeing cases through to verdict. Having tried cases all across America—from San Francisco to San Juan—Rabin’s creativity and strategic thinking give his clients the extra margin necessary for victory.
In recognition of his success, Chambers USA has repeatedly selected Rabin as part of their Leading Practitioner in New York: Litigation General Commercial rankings.
“His trial work is extraordinary, just exhilaratingly brilliant to watch during trial.”
As quoted in Chambers USA 2022 rankings
“Shawn Rabin is ‘among the very best litigators I work with …. He’s extremely hard-working, very responsive and a very reliable partner.”
As quoted in Chambers USA 2020 rankings
“We’d be lost without Shawn.”
As quoted in Chambers USA 2021 rankings
Rabin is continually recognized by the legal community for his litigation savvy:
- Chambers USA included Rabin in their 2020, 2021, 2022 and 2023 exclusive rankings of Leading General Commercial Litigators in New York.
- Lawdragon included Rabin on the Lawdragon 500 List of the Country’s Leading Lawyers in 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022,,2023, and 2024 ranked him as a Leading Plaintiff Financial Lawyer in 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023, and 2024 and named him among its 500 Leading Litigators in 2022, 2023, and 2024.
- The National Law Journal named Rabin a Trailblazer for Plaintiff-side Litigation in 2022 and 2018 and Employment Litigation in 2020 (ALM).
- The Best Lawyers in America® recognized Rabin as a Top Commercial Litigation Lawyer in New York for Commercial Litigation in 2019, 2020 and 2021. (Woodward White Inc.).
- Super Lawyers recognized Rabin as a Super Lawyer in New York from 2019 to 2024 and previously ranked him as a Rising Star every year from 2007 to 2018 (Thomson Reuters).
And the most unique of his honors, after winning a major trial victory in the state of Kentucky, the Governor of Kentucky appointed Rabin to the Honorable Order of Kentucky Colonels and bestowed upon him the title of “Colonel Shawn Rabin.”
In addition to his litigation work, Rabin is frequently sought out by leading publications to opine on and write about today’s hottest legal topics. Most recently, he penned an article for Bloomberg News called, Litigation Funding Success Breeds New Set of Ethical Issues, where he discussed the rising popularity of litigation funding and offered a proposed solution to some of its pitfalls.
Rabin has a proven track record of success. This includes:
- Representing WeWork founder Adam Neumann against SoftBank after SoftBank withdrew its offer to buy up to $3 billion in WeWork stock from Mr. Neumann and other shareholders. This lawsuit represents one of the largest individual claims to be litigated this century. The litigation was placed on an expedited schedule in the Delaware Chancery Court. A week before trial, the case settled as reported by media outlets throughout the world. The New York Times’ coverage of the lawsuit can be accessed here and here.
- Representing Uber in the nationally covered trial that pitted Google’s Waymo against Uber. Just a few months before trial, Rabin and his partner Bill Carmody were hired to represent Uber in a theft of trade secret case that the media called the “Tech Trial of the Century.” Although Waymo sought damages of almost $2 billion, Rabin and his team got all of Waymo’s experts’ damages opinions struck. The case settled two trial days before Rabin’s cross-examination of the star witness Anthony Levandowski.
- Winning a federal jury trial in the Southern District of New York for client General Electric in a breach of contract dispute with the Nebraska Investment Finance Authority over how many years an investment contract required GE to pay interest. After deliberating for two hours, the jury returned a verdict in favor of Rabin’s client valued at over $160 million.
- Winning a federal bench trial in the District of Puerto Rico while representing the world’s largest retailer, who was challenging a local tax as violating the Dormant Commerce Clause and the Equal Protection Clause. The federal district judge agreed with Rabin, striking down the statute in a decision that was front-page news across the country. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 1st Circuit—where Rabin coincidentally served as a law clerk over a decade earlier–unanimously affirmed.
- Strategically defeating several class actions on a motion to dismiss — Rabin was lead trial counsel for Trover Solutions in several class actions filed across the country relating to insurance subrogation. Rabin developed an approach to get the cases dismissed by knocking out the named plaintiff’s claims before class certification. Several of the cases were then appealed and the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 3rd Circuit where they were unanimously affirmed.
- Arguing an appeal to an en banc panel of the Delaware Supreme Court — Rabin was hired to argue and draft the appellate brief on behalf of the former stockholders of Harmonix Music Systems against Viacom in an appeal involving Viacom’s acquisition of Harmonix and the Guitar Hero and Rock Band video games. The Delaware Supreme Court affirmed the lower-court judgment.
- Representing Jerry Moyes against the National Hockey League in his legal battle involving the Phoenix Coyotes — Rabin secured a ruling significantly reducing the $140,000,000 in potential damages sought by the National Hockey League against Jerry Moyes and his family stemming from their ownership of the Phoenix Coyotes hockey team.
- Representing The Rawlings Company in a high stakes jury trial where, after presenting three-weeks of evidence to a jury in Oldham County, Kentucky, Rabin helped secure a complete defense victory in what was one of the first wage-and-hour class actions to go to trial in Kentucky.
“He is just technically exceptional, strategically impressive, and has the right temperament for dispute.”
As quoted in Chambers USA 2023 rankings
