Peter L. Simmons
Partner
Litigation
Peter L. Simmons is a litigation partner resident in Fried Frank's New York office. He joined the Firm in 1988 and became a partner in 1994.
Mr. Simmons handles a wide array of complex commercial, financial and securities disputes at both the trial and appellate level, and in arbitration. He has represented individuals and corporations in major nationwide class actions and multidistrict litigations; in numerous cases arising from multimillion-dollar corporate investments and acquisitions; in a variety of intellectual property disputes, including copyright, trademark, internet, trade secret and patent licensing problems; and in securities, tax, employment and real estate disputes.
In the antitrust area, Mr. Simmons has litigated and advised clients on issues involving alleged monopolization, concerted refusals to deal (including the use of joint ventures and conscious parallel behavior), pricing restrictions, restrictive covenants, blanket licensing, tying arrangements, and misuse of intellectual property.
Mr. Simmons has also been an adjunct instructor at Columbia Law School and is the author of articles in various professional publications.
 |
| Honors & Awards |
|
|
Mr. Simmons is recognized by Benchmark: Litigation.
|
|
|
Professional Associations
|
|
|
Member, American Bar Association
Member, Association of the Bar of the City of New York (Committee on Federal Courts, 2007– present; Committee on Professional Responsibility, 1998–2001; Committee on Civil Rights, 1989–1992)
Member, Federal Bar Council
Director, Office of Appellate Defender
Director and Treasurer, Selfhelp Community Services, Inc.
|
|
|
Clerkships
|
|
|
Prior to joining Fried Frank, Mr. Simmons clerked for the Hon. Lawrence W. Pierce, on the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit.
|
|
|
Bar Admissions/Licensed Jurisdictions
|
|
|
New York, United States Supreme Court, United States Courts of Appeals for the First, Second, Sixth and Ninth Circuits, United States Court of International Trade, various district courts across the country
|
Selected Representations
| Defense of a CDO manager and its affiliates in a treble damages state law securities fraud/qui tam lawsuit brought on behalf of a state pension fund and related entity to recover investment losses in the wake of the collapse of the market for structured products and claims of "pay to play" political corruption by state officials
Representation of a large hedge fund investor in litigation challenging recapitalization/going private transactions by ION Media
Defense of a hedge fund accused by a competitor of theft of trade secrets and violations of the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act
Defense of three underwriting syndicates in the Global Crossing securities litigation, including allegations of massive accounting fraud and securities law violations
Obtained dismissal of a securities class action against Deutsche Bank Securities Inc. concerning alleged inaccuracies in a pharmaceutical company's disclosure of the FDA review of its new drug
Defense of UBS Financial Services Inc. (formerly UBS PaineWebber Inc.) in securities fraud class actions and mass actions
Defense of PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP in accounting malpractice litigation
Representation of Goldman, Sachs & Co. in various securities and merger and acquisition matters
Representation of EMI Group plc in music piracy copyright litigation, with antitrust counterclaims, resulting in the largest ever recovery for a single copyright plaintiff in favor of EMI
Representation of US arm of ICAP plc, the world's largest interdealer broker, and OMX Technology in patent litigation against Cantor Fitzgerald and eSpeed involving computer systems for trading government securities, resulting in favorable trial verdict upheld on appeal
Representation of a music performing rights organization in arbitrations against all local television stations in the United States to determine reasonable license fees
Representation of a multinational management consulting firm in disputes and arbitrations involving trade secrets, battles for corporate control, a sale of substantially all of the company's assets and shareholder employment rights
Defense of GKN plc in multimillion dollar indemnity litigation arising from the sale of a US subsidiary
Representation of an international hotel chain in various trademark and internet domain name disputes
Lead trial and appellate lawyer for the Reader's Digest Association, Inc. in ERISA benefits litigation involving allegations of forged documents |
|
|
|
|
|
