In the News

LBKM is once again ranked as a leading firm worldwide for Asset Tracing & Recovery in the 2024 edition of Chambers and Partners Litigation Support. Chambers noted the firm’s “particularly strong networks in Latin America, the Middle East and the UK,” and clients described the firm as “extremely responsive and on the ball.”

ABF Fellows are a global honorary society of attorneys, judges, law faculty, and legal scholars whose public and private careers have demonstrated outstanding dedication to the highest principles of the legal profession and to the welfare of their communities.

Chambers and Partners has again ranked LBKM as a leading law firm in the area of insurance, highlighting its "strong reputation for advising both London and US insurers in significant coverage cases and reinsurance disputes" as well as "[i]ts strong track record cover[ing] environmental liability and health hazard cases as well as arbitration and advice in relation to regulatory matters such as compliance with sanctions."

LBKM partner Art Middlemiss was quoted extensively in a Salon.com article on the factors that will affect the former president's criminal sentencing.

"It's always wise for the defendant not to rant about unfairness and innocence if he wants to get any sort of leniency at sentence," Marc Scholl of Lewis Baach Kaufmann Middlemiss PLLC, a former prosecutor in the New York County District Attorney's Office, told Law360.

Marc Frazier Scholl commented in the New York Times on New York's prohibition against jurors being provided with a copy of the written legal instructions.

Adam Kaufmann appeared on NBC News to discuss the verdict in Donald Trump's criminal trial.

Marc Frazier Scholl, commenting in the New York Times, discussed the complex instructions given to jurors in Donald Trump's criminal trial.

Julian Assange, charged with ten counts under the Espionage Act in a highly politicized case, won a crucial victory today that postponed his extradition to the United States. 

LBKM’s Eric Lewis advised the Assange UK defense team with respect to the law and procedure of foreign nationals asserting rights under the First Amendment as a defense in criminal trials.

Marc Frazier Scholl was quoted in the New York Times commenting on the prosecution's opening statement in the criminal trial of Donald Trump.

The prosecutor's pending request represents "an additional remedy that the judge could use to cajole compliance," noted former New York prosecutor Marc Scholl of Lewis Baach Kaufmann Middlemiss PLLC.

The judge might also deny the request and warn Trump that, if he violates the gag order again, he could face cross-examination on the issue, which "should encourage a reasonable person to avoid a further contempt finding and provide Trump with ample notice to modulate his behavior," Scholl said.

In this article, Solomon B. Shinerock and Alex Bedrosyan analyze international humanitarian law through the context of the crisis in Gaza.

As opening arguments were underway in Donald Trump's criminal "hush money" trial, Adam Kaufmann spoke to Anderson Cooper live on CNN.

Marc Scholl was quoted in Law360 on defense attorney Todd Blanche's opening arguments in Donald Trump's criminal hush-money trial.

Reuters quoted Adam Kaufmann on the possibility of Donald Trump testifying in his criminal trial. 

South Africa's case against Israel before the International Court of Justice must identify legal elements of genocide sufficient to prevail, but reporting on the proceeding largely fails to clearly articulate what a case for genocide alleged in the context of war requires.

Solomon Shinerock and Alex Bedrosyan discuss the key legal rules and principles by which the parties to the conflict ultimately will be judged by the international community.

Who's Who Legal (WWL) has again recognized Cristián Francos as a global leader in the field of investigations. WWL highlights lawyers at the forefront of the investigations field, spanning white-collar crime, corporate compliance and regulatory enforcement.

Adam Kaufmann was quoted in CBS News on the potential repercussions for Donald Trump if the former president fails to pay his $464 million civil fraud judgment.

Adam Kaufmann returned to NY1 to discuss the $454 million civil fraud judgment against Donald Trump.

On Tuesday, La Dolce Vita laid out a detailed argument supporting its request to seize the paintings, saying New York-based Christie's records confirm that Zhang was the successful bidder for the artworks and that Christie's considered Zhang the "true client," and not Apex.

While La Dolce Vita noted that Christie's wrote a "to whom it may concern" letter in January 2015 to "confirm" that Zhang's shell company had "paid in full for their purchases and is the owner" of the artworks, it also said that Apex failed to take possession of the paintings because "Christie's was not fooled" and refused to deliver them.

If Trump were to try to blame Cohen during the hush money trial, prosecutors could argue that Trump should have known that his attorney "might ignore the law" based on Cohen's history, according to former New York prosecutor Marc Scholl of Lewis Baach Kaufmann Middlemiss PLLC.

Eric Lewis and Solomon Shinerock successfully petitioned OFAC to remove a vessel from the SDN list. The vessel was listed pursuant to Executive Order 14024, relating to the Russian sanctions program, due to a misidentification of ownership.

LBKM filed an amicus brief in support of the Republic of Argentina with the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit in Petersen v. Argentina and a related appeal. LBKM represented OFEPHI, an organization of ten Argentine provinces, arguing that the district court misconstrued Argentina's expropriation law, and that complex questions of Argentine law should be left to Argentine courts.

Carol Van Cleef provided analysis in Money Laundering Bulletin on attempts by regulators to bring the cryptocurrency sector under AML/CFT control.

Taking a backseat to Bragg's case also carries potential risks for Smith. Having the hush money trial go first could "put less pressure on the Supreme Court to handle the D.C. Circuit immunity appeal quickly," former New York prosecutor Marc Scholl of Lewis Baach Kaufmann Middlemiss PLLC told Law360.

With just 30 days for Trump to settle a hefty penalty exceeding $350 million following Friday's civil fraud trial ruling in New York City, attorney Adam Kaufmann emphasized the mounting pressure.

Carol Van Cleef was quoted in Money Laundering Bulletin on the dynamic compliance frontline of sanctions enforcement.

Chambers has again lauded Tim Taylor KC for his expertise in Dispute Resolution in the United Arab Emirates. The 2024 Global Guide notes Tim's "many years' experience of litigation work in the DIFC Courts, taking on the full gamut of international disputes, and serving clients from such sectors as financial services, hospitality, and food and beverages."

"As an overall matter, this is an exhaustive opinion that dissects and rejects Trump's arguments," former New York prosecutor Marc Scholl of Lewis Baach Kaufmann Middlemiss PLLC told Law360.

The 57-page opinion "makes plain the irony implicit in a president, whose solemn constitutional duty is to take care that the laws of this country be 'faithfully executed,' seeking to make himself the sole exception from obeying the law," Scholl added.

The National Black Lawyers is an invitation-only professional development and networking association comprised of the top African American attorneys from across the country.

Former New York prosecutor Marc Scholl told Law360 that Judge Chutkan is "well-equipped" to make calls on whether Trump violated either of the requirements in question in the gag order based on the statements themselves, the "context in which any potentially violative statements are made, and any evidence that the parties wish to present."

An acid attack on Pakistan’s former anti-corruption minister outside his Hertfordshire home is a timely reminder of the risks that political dissidents can face.

Trump's anticipated appeal would go to the intermediate New York Supreme Court Appellate Division, First Department, which has the "extraordinary power to review not just the law, but also the facts," Scholl noted.

While it would be "unusual" for the First Department to "overrule a credibility finding of the trial judge, who is acting as judge and jury," the appellate court could "find the facts differently from Justice Engoron," he added.

Investigations into the protests and acts of violence at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, have breathed new life into laws passed during the Reconstruction era, the period between 1865-1877 when significant reforms were passed in the wake of the Civil War.

A prominent Middle East-based lawyer sets out a prescription for progress in the intractable Israeli-Palestinian conflict. New economic opportunities based on a kind of UAE free zone development model could bring benefits to the Gaza Strip—and the Palestinian people at large—thus removing anti-Jewish animus.

Lawyers for the longest-held prisoner in the U.S. war against terrorism have begun a new legal offensive in multiple courts aimed at securing his release from Guantánamo Bay.

"Unlike in the last case, here, the government is alleging substantial payments made to Menendez and his wife in the form of cash, gold bars, and other direct gifts, such as a luxury car, by three businessmen," Scholl said. "Further, the government is alleging that it has better proof of direct things that Menendez and his wife did for those who paid them."

Marc Scholl told Law360 that because the "evidence could be viewed to show that Avenatti threatened to ruin Nike's reputation for personal gain, the extortion counts were necessarily affirmed."

In light of the severe consequences of running afoul of OFAC's directives, there has not been enough meaningful opportunity to challenge the scope and basis of OFAC's decision making, Solomon Shinerock and Annika Conrad argue in Law360.

New York federal prosecutors have asked a judge to sentence the minority owner of a financial institution to two years of probation for his failure to make sure the institution was following anti-money laundering regulations, saying he was less culpable than the company's compliance officer.

On July 21, 2023, an Annulment Committee at the International Centre for the Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID), revived the claims of Mr. Edmond Khudyan against the Republic of Armenia.  The Committee also ordered Armenia to pay Mr. Khudyan’s legal fees and costs.  Only 5% of ICSID awards have been annulled in part or in full.

Rudy Giuliani's admission that he falsely accused two Georgia poll workers of rigging the 2020 election likely won't shield him from discovery requests in the defamation case and could even aid federal prosecutors in their election-interference probe of former President Donald Trump, experts say.

Marc Scholl of Lewis Baach Kaufmann Middlemiss PLLC [said], "It raises questions as to why Giuliani made these concessions and what discovery material that Giuliani has failed to produce may hold as to his culpability and the culpability of others, including Trump."

An arm of the private equity firm CVC Capital Partners is trying to seize two paintings, including one by Andy Warhol, to satisfy $142 million in arbitral awards that it claims the Chinese restaurateur Zhang Lan has sought to avoid by concealing her assets.

Chambers Litigation Support 2023, a guide to leading litigation professionals, has again ranked Lewis Baach Kaufmann Middlemiss in its Global-Wide Asset Tracing & Recovery category.

"Willful blindness"? Marc Frazier Scholl was quoted in Law360 discussing potential arguments and counterarguments in the event Donald Trump is indicted in relation to the January 6 investigation.

Adam Kaufmann returned to NY1 to discuss the letter Donald Trump claims to have received informing him that he is a target of the DOJ's investigation into efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election.