Our Practice
Reid Collins & Tsai handles all types of complex litigation on both sides of the docket. Our senior lawyers have handled numerous jury trials both as federal prosecutors and since returning to private practice. We have prosecuted and defended a wide variety of claims, including breaches of fiduciary duty, professional malpractice, insolvency related cases, white collar defense, intellectual property disputes, banking litigation, securities law matters, bad faith insurance, and Federal Tort Claims Act cases, just to name a few. Although the subject matter varies, our extensive trial experience, creative blend of strategies, and proven track record, has allowed us to successfully represent many different clients in federal and state courts across the country.
Our firm offers a unique and refreshing approach to commercial dispute resolution. Recognizing that hourly-fee engagements are becoming a thing of the past, at least on the plaintiffs' side of the docket, we employ an extremely flexible approach to financing litigation. In today's business climate, clients are employing hourly-fee plaintiffs' counsel less frequently because clients recognize the economic conflict of interest created by such an arrangement. In the end, clients want results, but the hourly-fee lawyer is motivated to perpetuate litigation inefficiently rather than resolve it. Our practice is to analyze and develop the case before the engagement, and then present a flexible, mixed-fee, flat-fee, or other common sense approach that is tailored to meet the particular client's needs for the case at hand. The fact that we rarely replicate exactly the same deal terms for any two cases underscores this point.
There are many inventive tools that are now commonplace in the commercial trial arena, such as the use of outside consultants for witness preparation, focus groups, shadow juries, trial graphics, and other novel advances in case presentation. For many years now, we have been utilizing jury consultants throughout the entire litigation process because we are focused on trial from the start. Often times, we conduct our jury focus work at the outset of litigation in order to develop our themes prior to discovery so that we know how we want to present the case to a jury before we take key depositions. At the conclusion of discovery, we then test the case and the discovery we have developed with the objective of determining how to present the case to the jury. Of course, during trial, we use trial consultants, shadow juries, and other tools to ensure that our message is clear and persuasive.
Another innovative and valuable resource we have employed is the use of separate settlement counsel on matters of significance. We have utilized outside attorneys to act as settlement counsel with great success in a number of substantial cases. Experience has shown that our role as an advocate is enhanced by limiting ourselves to a prosecutorial role. By carving out the negotiation function for a lawyer outside our firm, skilled in conciliation, whose job it is to cultivate settlement options and maintain an open dialogue, we optimize our clients' settlement prospects and maximize the opportunities for resolution. All too often, parties suffer from what we call the "first-overture dilemma," where, even though a settlement or business resolution is in both parties' best interest, neither side is willing to initiate the negotiations for fear that taking the first step will be viewed as a sign of weakness.
The employment of settlement counsel facilitates resolution in a favorable range when the time is ripe, and this tactic also helps identify cases that will simply have to be tried. As settlement discussions evolve, if it becomes clear that a trial will be necessary, we as trial counsel remain focused on preparing and trying the case without distraction. This approach enhances our effectiveness as trial lawyers, particularly in the heat of the battle, and sends the appropriate signal to the opposing side that our efforts as trial counsel are dedicated to litigating the matter aggressively and proficiently while others attend to potential settlement scenarios.
Cross-Border Issues and Insolvency Lititgation
Our lawyers have extensive experience working on cross-border insolvency litigation on behalf of foreign liquidators in pursuing third-party claims against professionals and insiders who have defrauded their clients. We have worked on cases with parallel proceedings in the Cayman Islands, Bermuda, Italy, the United Kingdom, Uruguay, Argentina, and Colombia. Through our membership in INSOL and our work in cross-border cases over the years, we have developed an international network and working relationship with lawyers, liquidators, accountants, and experts in this area.
Just recently, we served as experts on U.S. insolvency law in the SPhinX proceedings in the Cayman Islands. Over the years, our lawyers have been involved in some of the most notorious cross-border frauds of the past decade, including Enron/LJM2, Parmalat, Refco/SPhinX, Trade & Commerce Bank, and InverWorld. We have an appreciation and understanding of the comparative law issues that arise in cross-border litigation, and we know how to work up and plead these cases to avoid the many pitfalls. We also know how to follow the money when it crosses over many foreign borders, which is often the case in large financial frauds.
On the domestic front, we have extensive experience representing bankruptcy trustees, plan administrators, liquidating trustees, and creditor committees in the pursuit of bankruptcy related litigation. We have successfully prosecuted third-party claims for breach of fiduciary duty and professional malpractice as well as fraudulent transfers on behalf of various constituents.
Professional Malpractice and Fiduciary Liability Cases
Our firm handles a docket of malpractice and fiduciary cases across the country. Although many of these cases stem from our representation of foreign liquidators and domestic trustees in Ponzi scheme litigation, we also have handled a wide variety of fiduciary claims on behalf of shareholders. In the professional liability context, we typically handle claims against four groups of defendants: accountants, lawyers, bankers, and corporate insiders.
Several of our lawyers are former accountants, and we have used this experience to prosecute accounting malpractice cases. Likewise, we have substantial experience prosecuting legal malpractice cases against law firms that either knowingly or negligently assist in their client's fraudulent activity, as well as aiding and abetting claims against financial institutions and other wrongdoers. Lastly, we have successfully prosecuted a number of cases against directors and officers who have harmed their companies, creditors, and investors.
These cases require thorough investigation, careful pleading, and a continued reliance on our institutional knowledge as to what we need to demonstrate in order to avoid the typical traps and make recoveries for our clients. Through the years, we have worked with a vast array of experts who have knowledge in key areas, including GAAS/GAAP accounting experts, legal ethics scholars, securities law experts, banking practice experts, and commercial damages experts. Our team, and our network of investigators and experts, has the experience and knowledge to prosecute all types of professional and fiduciary claims.
International Money Laundering
Reid Collins & Tsai handles a diverse docket of domestic and foreign money laundering cases, both as trial counsel and liaison counsel to various foreign clients and their foreign lawyers. Through our strategic relationship with the world's leading money laundering experts, we have developed an expertise in "following the money" and more importantly, developing and pursuing claims against a variety of third parties. With the assistance of leading experts, our firm is in the process of representing several foreign sovereign nations in the pursuit of civil RICO money laundering claims involving hundreds of millions of dollars in losses. Additionally, we are representing various foreign nationals and foreign liquidators in money laundering related claims.
Intellectual Property Disputes
Our lawyers have substantial experience prosecuting and defending intellectual property cases, including those involving copyrights, trademarks, trade secrets, and licensing agreements. Our lawyers have represented national software companies and other businesses in intellectual property disputes involving tens of millions of dollars against some of the largest companies in the world. In doing so, we have used and developed working relationships with both onshore and offshore resources who can efficiently and effectively review voluminous code and documents. As with our other areas of practice, we apply our streamlined and efficient approach to save our clients time and money in litigating large intellectual property matters.
Prior results do not guarantee a similar outcome.