Mr. FitzPatrick is the Firm's Executive Partner for Global Dispute Resolution, a practice consisting of almost 500 litigation and arbitration lawyers around the world. He has more than 35 years of experience as a trial lawyer, focused on complex litigation and arbitration such as SEC enforcement actions, fraud claims, ERISA, securities law, RICO, antitrust, intellectual property claims, toxic torts, product liability, environmental disputes, insurance coverage (including environmental-related claims) and accountants’ liability. He has represented both plaintiffs and defendants. Mr. FitzPatrick also has extensive experience in compliance and regulatory matters including grand jury investigations and federal and state criminal and regulatory investigations by the SEC, the Department of Justice, the Department of the Treasury, the CFTC, the US Department of Labor, the New York State Attorney General, the New York State Department of Insurance and others.

Mr. FitzPatrick has experience in defending class actions of all types. He has successfully handled a number of long trials in complex cases; For example, in the late 1990s, he successfully represented two major chemical companies in a two-month trial relating to claims for indemnity for environmental liabilities. More recently, he represented a major health insurer in a ten-week trial against members of the tobacco industry and obtained a plaintiff's verdict.  Earlier in his career he obtained a defense verdict in a six-month jury trial of a large product liability claim brought by the TVA against a major steel manufacturer. He has handled many other trials and court (trial and appellate) and arbitration hearings.

A few representative matters that Mr. FitzPatrick has handled are the following:

• Counsel for pharmaceutical company in federal class actions alleging gender discrimination and "wage and hour" violation of the Fair Labor Standards Act.
• Counsel for Iraqi’s Bureau of Supreme Audit in connection with its attempt to recoup amounts diverted from U.N. Oil for Food Program;
• Counsel to healthcare industry client in connection with N.Y. State Attorney General investigation relating to insurance premiums;
• Counsel for aerospace company in multiple arbitrations regarding alleged malfunction of satellite and related insurance coverage;
• Counsel for bio-agricultural company in connection with federal class action asserting antitrust conspiracy and other violations of law relating to biologically modified seeds;
• Counsel for pharmaceutical company as plaintiff in Sherman Act claim against another drug company based on alleged fraud on the patent office;
• Counsel for drug manufacturers in defense of claims before International Trade Commission and Colorado and North Carolina State courts alleging misuse of trade secrets;
• Counsel for pharmaceutical company in defense of alleged federal class action claiming illegal violation of privacy on the Internet;
• Counsel for various companies in a series of cases seeking insurance coverage from insurance company defendants relating to environmental cleanup costs and related matters;
• Represented an herbicide manufacturer in connection with class-action settlement providing for medical monitoring of exposed class members and in connection with related insurance issues; and
• Successfully defended chemical company in connection with approximately 200 product liability lawsuits (including class actions) brought against it throughout the United States alleging liability as a result of exposure to gases emitted by urea formaldehyde foam insulation.

From 1970 to 1972 Mr. FitzPatrick was a Captain in the United States Air Force.  He served in the Pentagon in the Honors Program of the Office of the General Counsel to the Secretary of the Air Force.

Selected to the BTI "Client Service All-Star Team," 2004-2006: "He has a winning manner in the courtroom, coming across as eminently fair and reasonable, with a style that appeals to both judge and jury."

Bars and Courts
New York State Bar
US Court of Appeals for the Second, Fourth, Eighth, Ninth, Eleventh District of Columbia Circuits
US District Court for the Eastern and Southern Districts of New York

Education
JD, Columbia University School of Law, magna cum laude, Notes and Comments Editor, Columbia Law Review, 1969
BA, Manhattan College, cum laude, 1966

Professional Associations and Memberships
Director, Legal Aid Society of New York
Leadership Council, Physicians and Lawyers for National Drug Policy (PLNDP)

Awards and Recognition
Recipient of the Thurgood Marshall Award for pro bono work done in death penalty case entitled State of Alabama v. Aaron Jones.

Languages
English

Citizenship
United States