Commercial Litigation

Venable's Commercial Litigation Group is a nationwide team of skilled trial attorneys who aggressively pursue and protect their clients' interests with winning and cost-effective strategies across a wide spectrum of high-stakes business disputes.

Venable's commercial litigators represent a diverse array of clients in complex commercial disputes. We prosecute and defend claims involving breach of contract, fraud, breach of fiduciary duty, unfair competition, trade secret misappropriation, and other business torts. We defend consumer-facing businesses in class actions challenging their advertising, marketing, and data privacy practices.

With an established track record of representing leaders in the financial services, hospitality and leisure, technology, defense contractor, real estate, digital advertising, media and entertainment, nonprofit, insurance, specialty chemicals, and consumer products fields, our coast-to-coast practice has a broad reach. We regularly litigate disputes involving complex financing and investment transactions; real property transactions; mergers, acquisitions, and asset purchase agreements; hotel management contracts; insurance policies; franchise agreements; and employment and technology services agreements. Our team also represents clients in lawsuits involving advertising and marketing, data privacy, and rights of publicity. We routinely consult firm colleagues with the subject-matter expertise that is the best fit for our litigation clients' needs.

Clients come to us to address disputes involving critical issues, including those that may threaten their existence as a business. Some of those disputes require swift resolution; others require resolution at trial or in the appellate courts. Leveraging our philosophy that every court is our "home court" and the war is won (or avoided) by knowing the arena, Venable's seasoned litigators know how to position a case strategically to the client's advantage. Hiring Venable trial lawyers sends a powerful message to our clients' litigation adversaries.  Indeed, our litigators are often hired to add strategic thinking and muscle to a case team that has been preparing for trial, or to replace existing litigation counsel entirely.  

Government Experience
+

  • Co-chair, Baltimore Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake Transition Team
  • Lead monitor, Baltimore Police Department Consent Decree
  • Legal Intern, Consumer Financial Protection Bureau
  • Assistant United States Attorney, Criminal Division, United States Attorney’s Office, Eastern District of Pennsylvania
  • Special Agent, Federal Bureau of Investigation
  • Paralegal, Federal Trade Commission
  • Regulatory and policy intern, Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN), U.S. Department of the Treasury
  • Assistant Chief, Fraud Section, Criminal Division, U.S. Department of Justice
  • Security operations analyst, Office of Infrastructure Protection, Department of Homeland Security
  • Executive Director, President Obama’s Financial Fraud Enforcement Task Force, Office of the U.S. Deputy Attorney General, U.S. Department of Justice
  • Chairman, Public Safety/Policies Committee, Baltimore Mayor Catherine Pugh Transition Team
  • Candidate for Lieutenant Governor, State of New York
  • Intelligence officer, United States Air Force
  • Assistant United States Attorney, United States Department of Justice, District of Maryland
  • Trial Attorney, United States Department of Justice, Honors Program, Civil Division (Attorney General's Honors Program)
  • Staff member, United States House of Representatives, Office of Representative Barbara Lee
  • Aide, United States House of Representatives, Office of Representative Todd Platts (R-PA)
  • Assistant United States Attorney, U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York
  • Legal Intern, U.S. House Judiciary Committee
  • Former town council member, Village of Pelham, New York
  • Mayor, Village of Pelham, New York
  • Former deputy mayor, Village of Pelham, New York

Recognition
+

  • Chambers USA
    • Litigation: General Commercial, New York, 2021 – 2024
    • Litigation: General Commercial, Maryland, 2006 – 2024
    • Litigation: General Commercial, Virginia, 2004 – 2007, 2016 – 2024
  • U.S. News – Best Lawyers
    • Best Law Firms, Commercial Litigation (Tier 1), National, 2022
    • Best Law Firms, Commercial Litigation (Tier 1), Baltimore, 2011 – 2020, 2022 - 2023
    • Best Law Firms, Commercial Litigation (Tier 1), Los Angeles, 2022
    • Best Law Firms, Commercial Litigation (Tier 1), Washington, DC, 2011 – 2020, 2022 - 2023
  • The Best Lawyers in America, 2006 – 2022 (Venable attorneys selected for inclusion)