Susan J. Schwartz

Susan J. Schwartz focuses her practice on complex commercial litigation. Sue is the former chair of the New York office’s Litigation Department, and she is a partner in the firm’s Business Litigation & Dispute Resolution and Insurance & Reinsurance Litigation Practices.

Representative Experience

• Represented a ski pass insurance company in a multidistrict class action litigation brought by season ski pass holders, involving claims stemming from the COVID-19-related closure of ski resorts; succeeded in obtaining dismissal with prejudice, which was affirmed by the 8^th Circuit. 
• Represented a credit union service organization that funded student loans for a for-profit university, in connection with coordinated settlements with the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, multiple State Attorneys General, and the school’s trustee in bankruptcy.
• Represented an insurance company in a corporate raid litigation; succeeded in obtaining summary judgment dismissing the case. 
• Represented a law firm involved in a fee sharing dispute relating to the prosecution of mass tort claims asserted on behalf of 9/11 first responders; succeeded in obtaining an arbitration award.
• Represented an acquirer of a business in a dispute with its former shareholders concerning the parties’ rights and obligations with respect to certain litigation in which the business was involved; succeeded in obtaining dismissal in federal court, partial dismissal in state court, and summary judgment dismissing the balance of the state court case.
• Represented a lyricist and composer in a dispute with a producer concerning the right to create a Broadway musical based on a motion picture.
• Represented a reinsurance company in an action relating to the hiring of several employees who had been at a competitor and who were alleged to have misappropriated trade secrets.
• Represented a monoline insurer of residential mortgage-backed certificates in disputes with the loan originator and loan servicer.
• Represented an insurance company in an arbitration brought by the trustee of several trusts comprised of subprime automobile loans, concerning the terms and conditions of a risk default insurance policy.
• Represented a secured creditor in a litigation with the debtor, involving case-within-a-case management, pension plan termination, and liquidation of collateral; succeeded in obtaining a series of partial summary judgments dismissing critical portions of the complaint.
• Represented a partner in a sunglass company in an arbitration with his partner concerning rights to the company’s intellectual property; succeeded in obtaining arbitration award.

Education

• Harvard University (J.D., 1979)
• University of Pennsylvania (B.A., magna cum laude, 1976)
  • Honors in literature
  • Phi Beta Kappa

Admissions

• New York Bar
• U.S. District Court, Southern and Eastern Districts of New York
• U.S. Court of Appeals, the Second Circuit
• U.S. Supreme Court

Professional Memberships

• The Association of the Bar of the City of New York

Community Engagement

Sue is a member of the Northeast Regional advisory board of American Friends of Magen David Adom. She also has been a long-time member of the board of trustees of the Solomon Schechter School of Manhattan.