Steven M. Shepard is a first-chair trial lawyer who represents plaintiffs and defendants in complex commercial cases across the United States. He has tried nine cases to verdict, four of them as first-chair. Mr Shepard has been recognized by the New York Law Journal, the American Antitrust Institute, and Benchmark Litigation for his litigation successes. He is consistently recognized by New York Metro Super Lawyers and has repeatedly been named a “Leading Plaintiff Financial Lawyer” by Lawdragon 500.

Landmark Wins

Mr. Shepard has appeared in courts in Arkansas, California, D.C., Delaware, Florida, Illinois, Kentucky, Michigan, New York, Nevada, New Jersey, Puerto Rico, Tennessee, and Texas, racking up precedent-setting wins along the way. Some of these victories include:

• Securing settlements valued at $135 million in a False Claims Act case against Verizon, AT&T, and Sprint over allegations of fraudulently overbilling government entities in California and Nevada.
• Representing Walmart Inc. in constitutional litigation, securing a judgment that Puerto Rico’s discriminatory transfer tax violated the Dormant Commerce Clause—a trial victory unanimously affirmed by the First Circuit.
• Securing settlements that exceed $1 billion for consumers impacted by antitrust violations in In re: Automotive Parts Antitrust Litigation, the largest anti-trust action ever brought in the United States. Learn more
• Securing a $40.5 million settlement in a False Claims Act case against Apria Healthcare Group, Inc.
• Winning a $50.3 million verdict for patent infringement against Ardagh Group on behalf of Green Mountain Glass. This verdict ranked among the National Law Journal’s “Top 100 Verdicts” of that year.
• Securing settlements of more than $450 million in a False Claims Act case against Novartis Pharmaceuticals Corporation and other defendants.

Ongoing Complex Litigation

Mr. Shepard’s current matters include:

• Defending a leading financial exchange in securities fraud class action relating to high-frequency trading.
• Representing Walmart Inc. as opt-out plaintiff in In re Broilers, an antitrust action against the nation’s largest producers of chicken.
• Representing former investors in Yukos seeking confirmation of $50 billion in arbitral awards against the Russian Federation.
• Representing False Claims Act relators in fraud claims against Laboratory Corporation of America.
• Representing a multi-national commodity producer in insurance coverage litigation.
• Representing plaintiff patentees in patent-infringement litigation against Cisco and Samsung.

Background

After graduating from Yale Law School, Mr. Shepard served as law clerk to the Honorable Anthony M. Kennedy, Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States and the Honorable Alex Kozinski, Judge of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit.  After clerking, Mr. Shepard served honorably for four years in the U.S. Navy’s Judge Advocate General’s Corps.