NEW YORK, Oct. 1, 2009 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- McCarter & English announced today that Daniel A. Pollack and his partners in Pollack & Kaminsky will join the New York office of McCarter & English. The addition of Pollack & Kaminsky, one of the best-known boutique law firms in financial services litigation, will be a significant gain for McCarter's New York office. Mr. Pollack is regarded as one of the most effective civil trial lawyers and appellate advocates in the country, with a particularly strong reputation in mutual fund litigation. Also joining the firm are: Martin I. Kaminsky, Edward T. McDermott, Anthony Zaccaria, Justin Chu and W. Hans Kobelt.
"Welcoming Dan, Martin and their group of talented lawyers to our firm is an honor and a privilege," said Michael Kelly, Chairman of McCarter & English. "Their demonstrated skills in handling a wide range of complex financial services issues and executive compensation agreements, together with their strong presence in the mutual fund industry, federal securities and commodities law areas, will serve as a strong complement to the broad array of services we offer our clients. In my view they are the best at what they do. Dan Pollack is well-known in legal and business circles throughout the country."
Mr. Pollack has argued two landmark mutual fund cases in the United States Supreme Court and has been the lead trial lawyer in several of the most important advisory fee cases in the mutual fund industry. Among his long-time clients have been T. Rowe Price Group and Franklin-Templeton Group. Mr. Pollack also successfully challenged New York Attorney General Eliot Spitzer in a litigation he filed on behalf of J & W Seligman, a mutual fund company, against Mr. Spitzer for exceeding his authority in the market-timing investigations. At the time of that lawsuit, The Wall Street Journal ran an editorial entitled "Man Bites Dog," praising the courage of Seligman and Mr. Pollack for their willingness to stand up to Mr. Spitzer. Mr. Pollack first came to public notice early in his career in a lengthy trial on behalf of institutional commercial paper holders against Goldman Sachs arising out of the collapse of Penn Central. His ground-breaking work in that trial was chronicled last year in a book on Goldman Sachs entitled The Partners.
"We had an extensive history of working with McCarter in several complex trials," said Mr. Pollack. "We knew first-hand the high quality of their work and professionalism, and felt that they shared our approach of 'top down' intensive attention to the interests of clients. We have been approached over the years by a number of large law firms, but McCarter, in our minds, was the only one for us. We were never seriously tempted by any other offers. The leadership of McCarter & English under Mike Kelly, its Chairman, and Eric Wiechmann, its Managing Partner, is outstanding, and the firm has great depth of talent in all critical areas of the law. It will provide a terrific environment for us to continue our practice of the past 42 years."
Mr. Pollack is also well known for his deal-making skills in negotiating substantial executive compensation packages, numbering among his clients CEOs, Presidents and other senior executives of Wall Street firms, including Lehman Brothers, Credit Suisse, UBS, Neuberger Berman, as well as partners of several of the larger privately-held hedge funds.
Mr. Kaminsky has risen to prominence professionally for his work representing several of the more important commodities exchanges, including the Comex and the NYMEX. Mr. Kaminsky and Mr. Pollack have also both had substantial experience defending prominent law firms in a variety of types of litigation.
Mr. Pollack is a fellow of the American College of Trial Lawyers, an elite group elected by their peers, limited to 1% of lawyers in each state. He is a graduate of Harvard College, Harvard Law School and Oxford University. Mr. Kaminsky is a graduate of Yale College and Harvard Law School. Mr. McDermott is a graduate of Harvard College, the New York University School of Law and Cambridge University. Mr. Zaccaria is a graduate of Fordham University and the Fordham University School of Law. Mr. Chu is a graduate of the State University of New York at Binghamton and the Northeastern University School of Law. Mr. Kobelt is a graduate of Fordham University and the Fordham University School of Law.
About McCarter & English
McCarter & English, established more than 160 years ago, represents Fortune 500 and middle-market companies in their national, regional and local litigation and on important transactions. Its 400 attorneys are based in offices in Boston, Hartford, New York, Newark, Philadelphia, Stamford and Wilmington.
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