Stuart Riback

As a business litigator with 40 years of experience, Stuart brings to his clients a practical sense of how to achieve their business goals in the most businesslike way — without litigation, if possible, but by winning when litigation is unavoidable. Stuart is known for his careful preparation, finely honed listening skills, well-considered strategic sense, clear presentation style, and consistent record of producing results.

Stuart handles a wide range of complex commercial, corporate, securities, intellectual property and creditors’ rights disputes for both American and international clients. He has represented clients in industries as diverse as hedge fund management, private equity, banking, entertainment, real estate, high technology, major league sports, manufacturing, biotechnology, niche lending, media, and aviation. His clients range from individual entrepreneurs and private-equity investors to publicly traded Fortune 100 companies and multinational companies based overseas.

Stuart’s cases include some highly visible, cutting-edge litigation that established new rules of law. For example:

• He argued the U.S. Supreme Court case that defined the scope of trade dress protection under the Lanham Act.
• He successfully established new law in the Eleventh Circuit about the reach of §13(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934.
• He obtained a ruling from the Delaware Court of Chancery broadening the reach of arbitration clauses.

In addition to representing clients in disputes, Stuart also serves as an arbitrator. He is on the Commercial Panel of the American Arbitration Association and qualifies to serve both as an Association-appointed arbitrator and as a party-appointed arbitrator. Being selected to serve as an arbitrator is a sign that parties to disputes trust the arbitrator to decide their controversy fairly and in accordance with the law.

Stuart writes and lectures extensively about cross-border disputes (often with a focus on US discovery for foreign disputes under 28 USC § 1782), intellectual property, arbitration, corporate privilege and work product issues, and litigation strategy. He has been named to the list of New York Super Lawyers every year since 2007.

Stuart is active in the American Bar Association Business Law Section and the Association of the Bar of the City of New York. He is immediate past  Chair of the Business and Corporate Litigation Committee in the ABA Business Law Section and is currently a member of the Business Law Section’s governing Council and of its Committee Oversight and Support Board. The President of the American Bar Association recently appointed Stuart to a three-year term on the ABA Standing Committee on Professionalism.

Stuart is a member of the American Counsel Association and has been named a Fellow of the American Bar Foundation and of the Litigation Counsel of America.

• Obtained a  judgment for over $45 million against PDVSA (Venezuela’s national oil company) on behalf of a Portuguese construction company, and successfully defended the judgment on appeal in the Second Circuit.
• Successfully defended an independent oil and gas operator from an unjustified claim for an investment banking fee and obtained an affirmance of the judgment on appeal before the Appellate Division, First Department.
• Integral part of a trial team that won a judgment totaling nearly $100 million against Deutsche Bank on behalf of a hedge fund client, in a case that centered on a breach of contract claim in a credit default swap transaction.
• Obtained summary judgment allowing the minority owner of an LLC that owns 587 Fifth Avenue to purchase the majority owner’s interest in a buy-sell transaction.
• Represented Samara Brothers, Inc. in its litigation against Wal-Mart Stores on copyright and trade dress issues, winning at the trial and appellate levels. Argued the case before the U.S. Supreme Court, which granted certiorari to consider one of the trade dress issues. The case is reported as Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. v. Samara Brothers, Inc. 529 U.S. 205, 120 S.Ct. 1339 (2000).
• Defeated an attempt by investors in a $330 million hedge fund to remove a fund manager in a private expedited special arbitration before a retired federal judge.
• Obtained a dismissal on the eve of trial of a case accusing our client of fraud and breach of fiduciary duty in connection with a buyout of interests in a New York City office building. Gourary v. Laster, 162 A.D.3d 482, 80 N.Y.S.3d 482 (1st Dep't 2018).
• Represented the 40/40 Club, a sports bar affiliated with the rapper Jay-Z, in copyright litigation arising from C.C. Sabathia’s 30th birthday party.
• Obtained 100 percent settlements for a client who purchased assets, including contracts, out of the Enron bankruptcy estate only to find that certain counterparties refused to honor the contracts. After moving to have the counterparties held in contempt of the bankruptcy court’s order approving the sale of assets, the counterparties paid what they owed, a nine-figure settlement.
• Represented the minority owners of the Tampa Bay Lightning NHL team in resolving issues arising from the sale of the team by the league to new investors.
• Obtained disqualification of a named plaintiff and his counsel in a shareholders’ derivative case against the former chairman of a defunct public company. After the disqualification, the case ultimately was abandoned by the remaining plaintiffs and then dismissed for lack of prosecution.
• Successfully argued that a dispute concerning rights under a contract that did not contain an arbitration clause had to be arbitrated because of an arbitration clause in a contemporaneous contract.
• Represented a South African biotechnology company, its officers and shareholders in a case of first impression in the Eleventh Circuit, in which the court affirmed dismissal of an alleged tender offer fraud and § 13(d) claim.

• "Supreme Court Business Review: Significant Business Cases in the October 2022 and 2023 Terms" (September 10, 2024)
• "Supreme Court Business Review: Significant Cases in the October 2021 Term and Preview of the October 2022 Term", Business Law Today (September 9, 2023)
• "Book Spotlight: Business and Commercial Litigation in Federal Courts – Fifth Edition", Business Law Today (July 21, 2023)
• "Supreme Court Once Again Issues a Pro-Arbitration Ruling", ABA Litigation Section, Alternative Dispute Resolution Committee (July 10, 2023)
• "New Delaware Chancery Court Ruling Enables Companies to "Ratify" "Defective" Corporate Acts", Business Law Today (March 15, 2023)
• "A Hole in § 365(n)", XLI American Bankruptcy Institute Journal, no. 12 (December 2022)
• "Supreme Court Business Review: Significant Cases in the October 2021 Term and Preview of the October 2022 Term", Business Law Today, Co-author (with James Aliaga and Karl O. Riley) (September 9, 2022)
• "Arbitration Agreements: No Worse Than Other Contracts But No Better, Either", Business Law Today (June 28, 2022)
• "United States Supreme Court Holds Section 1782 Discovery Cannot Be Used for Private Arbitrations", Business Law Today, Co-Author (with Scott Watnik) (June 28, 2022)
• "Supreme Court Business Review: Significant Business Cases & Trends", 2019–2020 Terms, Business Law Today, Co-Author (December 7, 2021)
• "Stuart Riback writes about the latest, significant business cases and trends before the Supreme Court" (December 7, 2021)
• "Delaware Supreme Court Overturns Itself in Holding That Stock Dilution Claims Are Solely Derivative" (October 6, 2021)
• "Getting Evidence In The US Before Commencing Litigation In Europe: Flexible Use Of 28 USC § 1782", Mondaq, Co-Author (September 3, 2021)
• "The Growing Circuit Split About § 1782 - Can It Be Used for Private Arbitration?" (December 31, 2020)
• "Navigating Intellectual Property Licensing Issues in the Bankruptcy Universe", 3 PLI Current 105 (Vol. 1 Winter 2019) (December 1, 2019)
• "Extraterritorial Application of U.S. Securities Laws: Recent Case Law", ABA Litigation Section, Commercial and Business Litigation Committee (September 30, 2018)
• "Taking Discovery in the United States for Use in Arbitration Abroad: Open Questions Under 28 U.S.C. § 1782", Business Law Today (September 19, 2018)
• "Strategizing a Case in Litigation Versus Arbitration", Business Law Today (July 16, 2018)
• "Court Expands Use of U.S. Discovery for Foreign Proceedings", ABA Litigation Section, Commercial and Business Litigation Committee by Andrew J. Kennedy (May 23, 2018)
• "Contract Boilerplate for Litigators", ABA Litigation Section, Commercial and Business Litigation Committee (2017-2019), Editor (December 1, 2017)
• "Confirming Arbitration Awards Made Abroad", ABA Litigation Section, Commercial and Business Litigation Committee (August 30, 2017)
• "How to Kill a Rule 68 Offer Once and for All: Just Say No", ABA Business Law Section, Business and Corporate Litigation Committee Newsletter (Summer 2017) (April 17, 2017)
• "Contract Boilerplate for Litigators", ABA Litigation Section, Commercial and Business Litigation Committee (2017-)
• "New York Declines To Extend Common Interest Doctrine Beyond Pending or Anticipated Litigation", ABA Litigation Section, Commercial and Business Litigation Committee (June 21, 2016)
• "IP Licenses in Bankruptcy – A Circuit Split Brings Us Back Full Circle Past § 365(n) of the Bankruptcy Code", 2016 Licensing Update (Wolters Kluwer 2016) (January 1, 2016)
• "Contractual Forum Selection Clause Enforced Against Non-party to Agreement", ABA Litigation Section, Commercial and Business Litigation Committee (August 28, 2015)
• "Taking Discovery in the United States for Use in Arbitration Abroad: Open Questions Under 28 U.S.C. § 1782", Business Law Today (May 2014)
• "Taking Discovery in the U.S. Under 28 U.S.C. § 1782 for Use in Foreign Litigation", 66 Quarterly Report of Conference on Consumer Finance Law Quarterly Report 286 (2012)
• "Measuring Materiality: New Wisdom about IP Licenses and Section 365 of the Bankruptcy Code", Licensing Journal, Vol. 31, No. 2 (February 2011)
• "Liability-Proofing Your Internet Presence", 64 Quarterly Report of Conference on Consumer Finance Law 49 (2010)
• "Is It Arbitrable? Case Developments", NY Dispute Resolution Lawyer, Vol. 2, No. 1 (Spring 2009)
• "American Discovery in Foreign Lawsuits: Are the Floodgates Now Open?", Network: The Newsletter of the Business Law Section, Committee on Business and Corporate Litigation (Fall 2004)
• "Trademark Issues in Bankruptcy", 93 Trademark Reporter 867 (July-August 2003)
• "First Argument Impressions of the Supreme Court", 5 Journal of Appellate Practice and Process 133 (Spring 2003)
• "US Banking Law - Non US Banks and Frozen Chickens", Lloyd's Shipping Economist (May 2001)
• "Is 'New Paradigm' Really so New? While Traditional Rules Still Apply, E-business Factors Do Need To Be Understood", New York Law Journal, p. S3 (with Stephen I. Siller) (November 6, 2000)
• "Product Design Trade Dress: Where Do We Go From Here?", 90 Trademark Reporter 563 (July-August 2000)

• Program Chair and Moderator, “New Frontiers in the Attorney-Client Privilege,”, ABA Business Law Section Fall Meeting (September 8, 2023)
• Program Chair and Moderator, “Supreme Court Business Review: Significant Cases in the October 2021 Term and Preview of the October 2022 Term,” ABA Business Law Section Hybrid Annual Meeting (September 16, 2022)
• Faculty Member, "Understanding the Intellectual Property License," Practicing Law Institute, 1999-2011, 2013-2022.
• Program Chair and Moderator, “Supreme Court Business Review: Significant Business Cases and Trends in the United States Supreme Court, October Terms 2019 and 2020,” ABA Business Law Section Virtual Annual Meeting (September 23, 2021)
• Faculty Member, Corporate/Litigation Track Program: “IP and Distressed Companies,” American Intellectual Property Law Association Spring Meeting (May 13, 2021)
• Faculty Member, “The § 1782 Conundrum: The American Dream or a Global Nightmare?,” ABA International Law Section Virtual Annual Meeting (June 2, 2020)
• Lecturer, “Arbitration Agreements in Business Contracts: Strategic Considerations to Bear in Mind” (Federal Bar Association/MyLawCLE, August 15, 2019)
• Host, “Unusual Litigations – Disputes that Look Different,” ABA Business Law Section podcast series
• Faculty Member, Alternative Strategies in Putative Class Actions After Campbell Ewald Co. v. Gomez (Strafford Webinars, July 18, 2019)
• Program Chair, “United States Supreme Court – A Year In Review, 2018 Term,” Association of the Bar of the City of New York (July 17, 2019)
• Moderator and Faculty Member, “Drafting Arbitration Agreements in Business Contracts,” Business Law Basics Webinar, ABA Business Law Section (April 25, 2019)
• Program Chair, “United States Supreme Court – A Year In Review, 2017 Term,” Association of the Bar of the City of New York (July 18, 2018)
• Moderator, “Strategizing Your Case In Litigation Versus Arbitration,” ABA Business Law Section Spring Meeting, Orlando, Florida (April 12, 2018)
• Program Co-Chair and Moderator, "There Is No Such Thing As Boilerplate: Issues in the Back of the Contract,” ABA Business Law Section Annual Meeting (September 8, 2016).
• Program Co-Chair and Co-Moderator, "Keeping Cool When Betting the Company: The Ethical Counsel in Corporate Crisis," ABA Annual Meeting (August 2013).
• Faculty Member, "Cross-Border Deals: State of the Art of International Negotiation, Mediation and Arbitration," ABA Annual Meeting, August, 2013.
• Faculty Member, "Perspectives from the Bench: Protecting Trade Secrets and Proprietary Information of Companies with Multi-State Operations Amidst Onboarding and Exiting of Employees," ABA Annual Meeting, August, 2013.
• Lecturer, "Taking Discovery in the U.S. for Use in Canadian Commercial Litigation," University of Manitoba School of Law, Marcel A. Desautels Centre for Private Enterprise and the Law (March 20, 2012).
• Program Chair and Moderator, "Strategic Litigation Planning and Case Assessment for the Newer Lawyer," ABA Business Law Section Spring Meeting (March 22, 2012).
• Program Chair and Faculty Member, "Discovery in Cross-Border Litigation," ABA Annual Meeting (August 5, 2011).
• Program Chair and Faculty Member, "Cutting Edge IP Issues that Every Business Needs to Know," 2009 ABA Annual Meeting (July 31, 2009).
• Faculty Member, "Annual Review of Developments in Business and Corporate Litigation," ABA Business Law Section Spring Meeting, 2008.
• Program Chair and Faculty Member, "Discovery in Transnational Litigation," ABA Business Law Section Spring Meeting, 2007.
• Faculty Member, "Title Insurance," Practicing Law Institute, 1995, 1997-2004, 2006.
• Program Chair (2003) and Faculty Member (2002 and 2003), "Protecting Intellectual Property Assets in Bankruptcy," Association of the Bar of the City of New York, June 2002, June 2003.
• Faculty Member, "Protecting Corporate Privileges," ABA Litigation Section Committee on Corporate Counsel, Midyear Meeting (February 2000).
• Faculty Member, American Intellectual Property Law Association Mid-Winter Conference, January 1997.
• Faculty Member, Practicing Law Institute, "Advanced Seminar on Trademark Law," April 1994.