Attorneys

ZEB LANDSMAN is a partner of the Firm and a member of the litigation practice group. He is a recipient of LexisNexis/Martindale-Hubbell's highest ranking ("Preeminent AV") for legal ability and ethics.

Yale Law School, J.D., 1990
Colgate University, B.A., 1987 (Phi Beta Kappa)

Experience

Mr. Landsman's experience includes litigation arising from commercial disputes, including RICO, business torts, breach of contract, employment discrimination, non-competition agreements, theft of trade secrets, and oppression of minority shareholder rights. Mr. Landsman routinely appears in state and federal courts on behalf of the firm's domestic and foreign clients. Arbitration, both domestic and international, also makes up an important part of Mr. Landsman's practice. Steering clients away from unproductive litigation, and counseling them in advance of litigation, is also important part of Mr. Landsman's daily practice as well.

A sampling of Mr. Landsman's engagements includes:

-On behalf of a Dutch client, Mr. Landsman acted as coordinating counsel in connection with multi-district products liability cases. Besides coordinating the litigations, Mr. Landsman's involvement included negotiating with the client's insurers for payment of legal fees and liability.

-On behalf of several domestic clients, Mr. Landsman routinely appears in court in connection with allegations of the theft of business secrets. This work often involves motions for preliminary injunctions. In the recent past, Mr. Landsman secured a temporary restraining order and preliminary injunction on behalf of the firm's client, WebMD LLC, to stop former employees of WebMD from working for a competitor.

-On behalf of a European financial company, Mr. Landsman has been involved in a decades-long class-action dispute with the company's U.S. based clients involving the alleged breaches of insurance contracts. The matter has involved a two-week trial in federal court -- which the firm won for the client -- and motion practice involving multiple questions of New York and foreign law.

-On behalf of a domestic marketing and sales company, Mr. Landsman handled an arbitration before the American Arbitration Association between the client and the Chinese manufacturer with whom the client conducted business. The matter was evenually settled prior to the full arbitration hearing.

-On behalf of a multi-national institutional investor, Mr. Landsman handled an UNCITRAL arbitration concerning the meaning of a put-option under the laws of Ecuador. The firm's client prevailed in the arbitration.

-On behalf of an Austrian manufacturer, Mr. Landsman has defended allegations by a U.S. plaintiff that the product was defectively designed and successfully sued a codefendant for indemnification.

-On behalf of a telecommunications company located in Brazil, Mr. Landsman sued a U.S. based company for failing to meet its contractual obligations to build a specialized voicemail system.

-On behalf of a minority shareholder in a non-public corporation, Mr. Landsman brought an action to prevent oppression by the majority shareholders.

-On behalf of a domestic client, Mr. Landsman defended the client against claims of gender and religious discrimination.

-On behalf of a Mexican textile manufacturer, Mr. Landsman handled a dispute with the manufacturer's U.S. distributer.

-On behalf of a French manufacturer, Mr. Landsman handled a contract dispute with an American firm that the French manufacturer had commissioned to produce specialized parts.

-On behalf of a media personality, Mr. Landsman has handled a dispute with the personality's talent agent.

Prior to joining the firm, Mr. Landsman was an associate in the litigation department of Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison, a staff attorney at the Criminal Appeals Bureau of the Legal Aid Society, and a Town Councilman in the town of Telluride, Colorado, where he wrote and sponsored significant anti-discrimination and land preservation legislation.

Mr. Landsman occasionally teaches Constitutional Law in a New York City high school. 

Education

Mr. Landsman graduated from Yale Law School (J.D. 1990) and Colgate University (B.A. 1987, magna cum laude, Phi Beta Kappa). 

Memberships

Mr. Landsman is a member of the Association of the Bar of the City of New York.