Mr. Pell's areas of practice include complex commercial litigation, securities litigation, litigation involving foreign sovereigns and their state-owned entities, litigation involving issues of public international law, and bankruptcy litigation.  Mr. Pell also has extensive experience representing corporations and financial institutions in connection with investigations by the SEC, the DOJ, and state banking regulators, and the litigation that may arise from such investigations. Mr. Pell has conducted internal investigations for corporations and financial institutions, including with regard to FCPA, fraud, lender liability, and historical reparation issues.

Mr. Pell recently represented Deutsche Bank in class and other securities and bankruptcy actions relating to the collapse of Enron, and is representing UBS in Enron bankruptcy-related litigation.  He also has represented corporations and sovereigns with regard to their non-U.S. activities, including representation of TNK-BP, the third largest oil company in Russia, in a RICO action in New York federal court.  These cases often raise issues relating to the extraterritorial reach of U.S. law.

Mr. Pell recently made a presentation to SEC staff, attorneys and economists titled The Exploding Fiduciary: Can Integrated Financial Institutions Really Manage Fiduciary Risk? The presentation explored the expansion of financial institution exposure to liability based on the complex array of competing roles and duties inherent in their businesses, and the shift in the identity of investors in today's public markets.  Specifically, active/innovative business lines increasingly may conflict with traditional fiduciary or market monitoring business lines, especially as financial institutions integrate the management of client relationships and transaction approval. 

Mr. Pell also has handled cases in the growing area of corporate social responsibility, including by representing Citigroup in class actions relating to the bank's activities in South Africa during the former apartheid regime, and J.P. Morgan Chase in class actions relating to a predecessor bank's alleged connections to African slavery in the United States. Mr. Pell also represented The Chase Manhattan Bank and Crédit Commercial de France in class actions arising from the activities of the banks in France during World War II, and participated in the successful negotiations between the United States and France to resolve those cases. Mr. Pell also has represented and advised foreign sovereigns and their state-owned entities in numerous proceedings, including the successful defense of Poland in litigation relating to alleged property expropriations immediately after World War II.

Mr. Pell has extensive bankruptcy experience, having represented equity investors, lenders, bondholders, and a major credit rating agency in numerous complex bankruptcy proceedings. Mr. Pell has litigated issues relating to equitable subordination, lease rejection, fraudulent conveyance, preference and substantive consolidation, and in several of these matters, also led internal corporate investigations regarding potential claims. Mr. Pell also has represented bankruptcy examiners appointed by the courts.
 
Recently, Mr. Pell formulated a proposal for creating a title-clearing and dispute resolution entity to address claims relating to works of art looted from individuals during the Holocaust. The proposal has received attention because it does not rely on the negotiation of a treaty for implementation, which would allow speedier formulation and establishment of the proposed entity. Hearings with regard to Mr. Pell's proposal were held in the European Parliament, and on December 17, 2003 the European Parliament adopted 487-10 a resolution supporting further study of Mr. Pell's proposal by the European Commission.  Mr. Pell has published widely on the subject of Holocaust-looted art, including in the DePaul Journal of Art and Entertainment Law and the papers of the Permanent Court of International Arbitration.  Mr. Pell also was recently invited to present a public lecture to the New York State Court of Appeals relating to Holocaust-looted art claims.

Significant Cases

• Successful representation of TNK-BP, the third largest oil company in Russia, in US $1.5 billion RICO action in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York.  See Norex, Inc. v. Access Indus., Inc., 540 F.Supp.2d 438 (S.D.N.Y. 2007). 
• Successful representation of The Lebanese Company for the Development and Reconstruction of Beirut Central District SAL in which a US District Court Judge for the District of Delaware refused to enjoin a Paris-based ICC arbitration brought against our client, holding that the US Federal Arbitration Act (FAA) does not authorize a US court to enjoin a foreign arbitration. URS Corp. v. The Lebanese Company for the Development and Reconstruction of Beirut Central District SAL, 512 F.Supp.2d 199 (D. Del. 2007).
• Successfully defended JP Morgan Chase against class action claims premised on the bank's historical connection to predecessor banks allegedly connected to African slavery in the United States prior to 1865.  In re African-American Slave Descendants Litig., 471 F.3d 754 (7th Cir. 2006).
• Successful representation of Deutsche Bank in various actions arising from the collapse of Enron Corp. including a securities class action lawsuit.  In re Enron Corp. Sec. Litig., 310 F.Supp.2d 819 (S.D. Tex. 2004) and 529 F.Supp.2d 644 (S.D. Tex. 2006). 
• Successfully represented the Republic of Poland and its Ministry of State Treasury in a class action seeking return of and damages for property expropriated from the plaintiffs in Poland after World War II. Garb v. Republic of Poland, 440 F.3d 579 (2d Cir. 2006).