Michael A. Paskin is a partner in Cravath’s Litigation Department. He has a broad commercial litigation practice, which in recent years has focused on securities class actions and related litigation, antitrust litigation, bankruptcy litigation and corporate governance litigation relating to mergers and acquisitions. In addition, Mr. Paskin has extensive experience representing corporations and boards of directors in connection with internal investigations and external investigations by the SEC, DOJ and other governmental agencies.

Mr. Paskin’s recent clients and cases have included:

• State of New Jersey and its Division of Investment v. Sprint Corporation, et al.: Won summary judgment for Sprint Nextel Corporation and certain of its former officers and directors in a securities class action in Federal District Court in Kansas. Plaintiffs claimed that Sprint’s March 2001 and March 2002 proxy statements were materially false and misleading because they included statements that Sprint’s then-CEO (William Esrey) and President (Ronald LeMay) had entered into new employment agreements designed to ensure the executives’ long-term employment. The case was significantly limited on an earlier motion to dismiss, and in December 2010 the court granted summary judgment on plaintiffs’ only remaining theory of liability on the ground that Sprint’s challenged statements were not false or misleading.
• Big Lots, Inc. v. Retail Intelligence Group, LLC: Represented Big Lots in an action asserting violations of Florida’s Uniform Trade Secrets Act, tortious interference and aiding and abetting breach of fiduciary duty in connection with the methods used by Retail Intelligence Group (RIG) to obtain confidential information from Big Lots employees and publish it in “research reports” to RIG’s investor clients. Pursuant to a settlement reached in February 2011, RIG agreed to cease and desist from contacting Big Lots employees or from publishing reports based on such information, in addition to providing certain confirmatory discovery.
• In re Beazer Homes USA, Inc. Securities Litigation: Representation of Beazer Homes and its officers and directors in securities class action and related litigation, including shareholder derivative and ERISA cases, in Federal District Court for the Northern District of Georgia. The cases alleged improper practices within Beazer’s mortgage origination subsidiary and accounting improprieties designed to obscure the impact on Beazer’s business of the declining U.S. housing market. While the potential exposure from the various litigations could have been crippling, Mr. Paskin navigated the client through intense mediations and successfully negotiated settlements of the securities class action, a related “opt-out” case and the shareholder derivative action, while minimizing Beazer’s financial contribution to the settlements.
• Morgan Stanley v. Discover Financial Services: Won partial summary judgment for Morgan Stanley in breach of contract action in New York State Supreme Court. The case was based on Discover’s refusal to pay, pursuant to the agreement by which it was spun-off from Morgan Stanley, a special dividend of approximately $800 million, out of the proceeds of Discover’s settlement of an antitrust case against Visa and Mastercard that had been filed when Discover was owned by Morgan Stanley. Discover counterclaimed that it was excused from performance and for damages based on alleged interference by Morgan Stanley in the settlement of the antitrust case. Shortly after Morgan Stanley won partial summary judgment that Discover was not excused from performance under the separation agreement, the case settled for $775 million.
• Official Committee of Unsecured Creditors v. Credit Suisse, et al. (In re Tronox Incorporated): Representation of Credit Suisse and other secured lenders in an adversary proceeding filed by the Official Committee of Unsecured Creditors in the Tronox Incorporated bankruptcy in the Southern District of New York. The adversary complaint sought to avoid transfers and obligations pursuant to a $200 million secured debt facility, among other claims. Following motion practice and limited discovery, a settlement was reached pursuant to which Mr. Paskin’s clients agreed to waive default interest and recovered all but $5 million of the amounts due under the secured debt facility.
• In re Aftermarket Filters Antitrust Litigation: Mr. Paskin has represented Cummins Inc. and its subsidiaries on various litigation matters, including in connection with this MDL proceeding pending in Federal District Court in Chicago, based on allegations of price fixing in the aftermarket for automotive replacement filters. The consolidated proceeding includes putative class actions brought on behalf of direct and indirect purchasers, as well as other related price-fixing actions and a qui tam action brought by a purported whistleblower asserting violations of the False Claims Act and related state statutes.

Mr. Paskin was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He received a B.A. cum laude from the University of Pennsylvania in 1992 and a J.D. from Fordham School of Law in 1995, where he was a member of the Law Review. Following graduation, Mr. Paskin served as law clerk to Hon. Paul J. Kelly, Jr. of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit. He joined Cravath in 1996 and became a partner in 2003.

Mr. Paskin may be reached by phone at 212-474-1760 or by email at mpaskin@cravath.com.