Gary A. Bornstein is a partner in Cravath’s Litigation Department. His practice focuses on M&A litigation and other high‑stakes commercial disputes, including antitrust and securities litigation.
In the past several years, Mr. Bornstein has represented buyers, sellers and lenders in contested M&A transactions, as well as corporations and directors in disputes with activist hedge funds and other shareholders. Mr. Bornstein also regularly represents clients in litigation, arbitration and other disputes arising out of complex contractual and joint venture arrangements. In addition to litigation, Mr. Bornstein frequently provides antitrust, fiduciary duty and other transaction‑related advice.
Representative recent matters include several high‑profile M&A disputes, in both hostile and negotiated transactions, as well as litigation around competitive proxy contests; various cases defending directors and officers in fiduciary duty litigation; securities and ERISA litigation for various clients in federal and state courts across the country; antitrust litigation and investigations in the United States, Europe and Asia; multiple FCPA investigations; contract disputes relating to matters including pharmaceutical royalties, real estate transactions and syndicated loan agreements; and a successful First Amendment challenge to FCC regulations.
Mr. Bornstein was named one of New York Law Journal’s Rising Stars in 2013. In 2012, he was recognized by Law360 as one of five outstanding attorneys in the nation under 40 in the securities arena for his M&A litigation work. The Legal 500 also recommended Mr. Bornstein in the area of M&A litigation in 2012. In 2013, he and his colleagues earned the Firm distinction as “Law Firm of the Year” in mergers and acquisitions litigation in the U.S. News & World Report‑Best Lawyers survey of the best law firms in the United States. Mr. Bornstein has been recognized by Benchmark Litigation every year since 2009 for his litigation work.
Mr. Bornstein serves as the Firm’s Litigation Hiring Partner.
Mr. Bornstein was born in Merrick, New York. He received a B.A. magna cum laude in architecture from Yale University in 1994 and a J.D. magna cum laude from Harvard in 1997, where he was a Notes Editor of the Law Review and a winner of the Ames Moot Court Competition. After graduation, Mr. Bornstein served a clerkship with Hon. Amalya L. Kearse of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit. He joined Cravath as a summer associate in 1996, returned to join the legal staff in 1998 and became a partner in 2005.
Mr. Bornstein is conversant in Spanish, French and Russian.
Mr. Bornstein may be reached at 212‑474‑1084 or by email at gbornstein@cravath.com.