Louis A.Chaiten

Louis Chaiten's practice focuses on class action defense, appellate matters, and financial institutions litigation. He has successfully defended scores of class actions and other high-stakes matters collectively seeking hundreds of billions of dollars in alleged damages. He has argued before the U.S. Supreme Court and numerous federal and state trial and appellate courts. Louis is co-leader of Professional Services for the Firm.

Recent representative matters include: defeating class certification in a multibillion dollar putative class action brought by investors in mortgage-backed securities; successfully defending an international manufacturer in multijurisdictional, multibillion dollar class action litigation without any class being certified; successfully defending a financial services company and accounting firm in a $900 million investor class action; and obtaining dismissal of claims against multiple financial institutions in litigation seeking hundreds of millions of dollars over their securitization activities. Louis also commits substantial time to pro bono work, including winning an appeal on behalf of an Ohio man wrongfully convicted of murder, leading to the man's release after more than a decade in prison.

Louis previously clerked on the U.S. Supreme Court (for Justice Antonin Scalia) and the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit (for Judge Jeffrey Sutton). He also served in the Office of Legal Counsel at the U.S. Department of Justice, which is responsible for advising the president, the attorney general, and other executive branch officials on complex issues of constitutional, statutory, and international law. Louis serves on the board of directors of The City Club of Cleveland, one of the nation's oldest non-partisan free speech forums.