Plaintiffs and Class Actions

We are trial lawyers, not just plaintiffs’ lawyers—our ranks are filled with dozens of former prosecutors, public defenders, and trial lawyers who have spent months trying complex civil and criminal cases to juries around the country. 

Our trial experience counts when a client must decide between accepting an attractive settlement or taking the case to a jury. And our experience doesn’t stop in the trial court—we have won cases in venues as diverse as the U.S. Supreme Court and the Maryland General Assembly.

We have been on the defense side hundreds of times—in matters ranging from complex civil disputes to white-collar criminal cases. Understanding the defense and the role of prosecutors and regulators, as well as the pressures on our opponents at all stages of the proceedings, gives our clients an edge in plaintiffs’ cases. 

We have worked a wide variety of cases—from an elaborate nationwide scheme to defraud customers in structured settlements, to the role of international banks in funding Middle East terrorism, to an accountant kidnapped, imprisoned and tortured in the Philippines because his employer mishandled the ransom demands. Securities fraud, wrongful death, will contest, toxic tort, professional negligence: if it’s a complex problem, we can master the subject matter and industry context, craft a compelling argument, and take it to trial.

Plaintiffs’ law firms around the country regularly look to us as partners in some of their biggest and most complex cases. We are committed to working with plaintiffs’ co-counsel in open, collaborative ways that maximize our clients’ chances for success and make economic sense. 

We represent creditors’ committees, states, businesses, classes, individuals and groups. We’ve also served on plaintiffs’ steering committees and executive committees, and worked on large, multi-firm efforts that took a decade or more to bring home.

Zuckerman Spaeder has helped shift the balance of power between health care providers and insurers—winning cases that expanded provider rights, delivered unprecedented monetary wins, and forced insurers to reform their practices. Our attorneys not only developed the legal concepts that are central to this fight, they have spent years refining their strategy and building strong relationships with government agencies, provider trade groups, and other stakeholders.

Our success is the result of a groundbreaking legal approach developed by partners D. Brian Hufford and Jason Cowart. In the two decades since they first began challenging health insurer practices—primarily through class actions over ERISA, a statute governing employee benefit plans—they have been at the vanguard of an entirely new insurance recovery legal practice.

See an overview of our pending and settled class actions.

Zuckerman Spaeder has extensive experience representing individual and institutional clients in the financial services industry in a wide range of civil litigation and class actions. Our institutional clients have included banks, hedge funds, and other financial institutions. 

Financial services executives may also find themselves facing civil actions as a result of class actions and litigation directed at financial institutions. We defend individual officers and directors against civil claims brought by regulatory agencies, securities class actions, and shareholder derivative suits. We also frequently represent individuals in related litigation to require directors and officers of insurers to advance defense costs.