Overview
Tamar Lusztig is a seasoned trial lawyer with substantial courtroom experience representing plaintiffs and defendants in federal and state courts across the country. Tamar represents her clients at trial and on appeal in a wide variety of matters concerning intellectual property, antitrust, commercial contracts, and other high-stakes, complex issues.
Tamar has amassed an impressive docket of high-profile cases, often facing off – and prevailing – against opponents with substantially more resources than her clients. Tamar’s clients and colleagues look to her for her creative problem-solving, strategic acumen, and judgment to help secure victory in bet-the-company cases.
LANDMARK RESULTS
Tamar is no stranger to securing massive wins for her clients, winning nearly $2 billion in trial verdicts and judgments in 2024 alone. In 2024 she won a $1.6 billion bench trial verdict for client BML Properties in New York’s Commercial Division on fraud and breach of contract claims against China Construction America (CCA) arising out of the development of the Baha Mar casino and resort. Playing a key role at trial, Tamar led the damages portion of the case, examining her team’s expert and cross-examining CCA’s expert, ultimately achieving 100% of her client’s ask. She also cross-examined a high-level executive from CCA. Her work in the matter had a major impact on the enormous result the Court held was compelled by the fraud “established beyond doubt” by Tamar and her colleagues. Read more. The judgment was affirmed in full on appeal by the First Department in April 2025.
Tamar has also won multiple jury verdicts on behalf of Dutch telecommunications company Koninklijke KPN N.V. (“KPN”). In a recent contract matter against Samsung, she secured a $341 million victory, in which the jury awarded every penny of the damages model Tamar presented after deliberating for less than three hours. Read more about this case in Texas Lawyer or here. The prior year she helped to win a $31.5 million jury victory against Swedish giant Ericsson over patent infringement claims relating to telecommunications networks. In that trial, Tamar put on KPN’s entire damages case, including directing the examination of KPN’s expert and cross examining Ericsson’s damages expert. Read more about the case in Texas Lawyer, Law360 or here.
Tamar previously represented New York University in a lawsuit brought by FASORP, a Texas organization that claimed the university discriminated against white men. Tamar briefed, argued, and won the case on the pleadings before the district court, and the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit. You can read the Second Circuit’s precedential decision here, listen to Tamar’s winning argument here, and read more about the case here, here, here, and here.
BACKGROUND
Tamar joined Susman Godfrey after earning her J.D. from Columbia Law School and serving as a law clerk to the Honorable Louis L. Stanton of the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York. Tamar has been recognized on the Lawdragon 500 list of Leading Litigators in 2024 and on Benchmark Litigation’s 40 and Under Hot List in 2022 and 2023.
Notable Representations
- BML Properties Ltd. v. China Construction America Inc. et al. (Supreme Court of the State of New York, County of New York) Won a $1.6 billion trial verdict in October 2024 for client BML Properties in New York’s Commercial Division on fraud and breach of contract claims arising out of the development of the Baha Mar resort. The judgment was affirmed in full on appeal by the First Department in April 2025. Read more.
- Koninklijke KPN N.V. v. Samsung Electronics Co. (71st Judicial Dist. Ct., Harrison County, Tex.) Won a $341 million jury verdict on behalf of Dutch telecommunications company Koninklijke KPN N.V. (KPN) in a breach of contract dispute with Samsung Electronics Co. A Texas state court jury returned the verdict after four days of trial and just over three hours of deliberation. Read more.
- Koninklijke KPN NV v. Telefonaktiebolaget LM Ericsson et al. (E.D. Tex.) Secured a $31.5 million jury victory on behalf of Dutch telecommunications company Koninklijke KPN N.V. (“KPN”) against Swedish telecom giant Ericsson over patent infringement claims relating to telecom networks. The verdict concludes a more than five-year dispute between the companies, with the jury awarding KPN the entire damages model outlined by the Susman Godfrey team. Read more.
- Confidential AAA Arbitration. Achieved victory for a research hospital in a confidential AAA arbitration with a major international pharmaceutical company regarding a licensing dispute. Tamar cross examined each fact witness her adversary presented, obtaining testimony the Tribunal relied on heavily in its decision securing Tamar’s client a multi-million-dollar award.
- Philadelphia et al v Bank of America Corp et al. (S.D.N.Y.) Represents the City of Baltimore and a certified class of municipalities and other issuers in a $12 billion antitrust dispute pending in the Southern District of New York against numerous major banks related to their price-fixing of bond rates.
- California Institute of Technology (Caltech) v. Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. (E.D. Tex.) Represented the California Institute of Technology (“Caltech”) in pursuing its seminal Wi-Fi patents against Samsung. This case settled on confidential terms shortly before trial.
- Bascom v. AT&T (N.D. Tex.) Successfully prosecuted a patent infringement case against AT&T over pioneering Internet technology invented by Bascom. Tamar briefed, argued, and won multiple motions, including a critical claim construction motion in which the Court adopted all of Bascom’s positions. This case settled on favorable, confidential terms soon afterwards.
- FASORP v. New York University (S.D.N.Y.) Represented New York University in a lawsuit brought by FASORP, a Texas organization that claims the university discriminates against white men in its efforts to foster diversity in its faculty and on the NYU Law Review. Tamar briefed and won her client’s motion to dismiss before the district court, and briefed, argued and won the appeal before the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit. You can read the Second Circuit’s precedential decision here, listen to Tamar’s winning argument here, and read more about the case here, here, here, and here.
- Harris v. Miller (S.D.N.Y.) Working pro bono, Tamar represented a former prisoner in a Section 1983 case arising out of an illegal strip search during her incarceration. Key admissions Tamar obtained in the defendants’ depositions led to a sizeable settlement for her client on the eve of trial.
Honors & Distinctions
Honors and Awards
- Lawdragon 500 Leading Global Antitrust & Competition Lawyer (2025)
- Lawdragon 500 Leading Litigator (2024)
- 40 and Under Hot List, Benchmark Litigation (2022, 2023)
- Lawdragon 500X - The Next Generation of Leading Lawyers (2023)
- James Kent Scholar
- Harlan Fiske Stone Scholar
- Editor-in-Chief, Columbia Journal of Tax Law
Clerkships
- Honorable Louis L. Stanton, United States District Court for the Southern District of New York
Education
Education
- Columbia Law School (J.D.)
- The University of Massachusetts, Amherst (B.A.)
Admissions
Admissions
Bar Admissions
- New York
Court Admissions
- U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit
- U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit
- U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York
- U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York
- U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas
Publications
- Deducting the Cost of Sex Reassignment Surgery: How O’Donnabhain v. Commissioner Can Help Us Make Sense of the Medical Expense Deduction, 3 Colum. J. Tax L. 86 (2012)
Leadership & Professional Memberships
Associations
- Fellow, American Bar Foundation
