Panel Discussion on Corporate Litigation

The Harvard Law School Program on Corporate Governance is pleased to announce the availability of the video of its event on corporate litigation. The event, which was held earlier this month, is the first of the Program’s series entitled Introduction to Corporate Practice. The series’ aim is to expose students to leading practitioners and their perspective on corporate practice—What do they enjoy about their jobs? What issues do they deal with? And what does it take to succeed in their field? The videos are made public as a resource for law students and young lawyers everywhere who are considering corporate practice.

The three panelists at the corporate litigation event were:

• Theodore N. Mirvis, a partner in the litigation practice at Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz, as well as a member of the advisory board of the Program on Corporate Governance and a frequent contributor to the Blog.
• Allan J. Arffa, who is co-chair of the litigation department at Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison LLP.
• Andrew S. Tulumello, who is a vice-chair of the class action and complex litigation practice group and a vice-chair of the crisis management group at Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher LLP.

Each member of the panel gave introductory remarks, and answered questions from the audience. Allan Arffa started the event by describing the work of a corporate litigator, contrasting it with other types of corporate legal work. Andrew Tulumello added that litigators often deal with “messes”, which they have to assess and navigate for their clients, and which often result in disputes that are very difficult to settle outside of the courtroom. Ted Mirvis spoke about the unique thrills of deal litigation, such as the quick turnaround time and the highly qualified specialized judges. He also emphasized the importance of having a good reputation with these judges. The panel offered their perspectives on career planning issues, including working for a large versus a small firm, the types of characteristics they felt were central to the success of associates, and the types of courses they believed to be the most useful for aspiring corporate litigation associates.

A video of the panel discussion is available for download here.