In Significant Expansion of New York Litigation Practice, Ropes & Gray Adds Two Prominent Partners

Global law firm Ropes & Gray LLP announced today that two prominent litigators David B. Hennes and Gregg L. Weiner have joined the firm as business & securities litigation partners in New York, as the firm continues to expand in the nation’s financial capital to help its clients meet challenges and seize growth opportunities around the world. Both were previously partners with Fried, Frank, Harris, Shriver & Jacobson LLP.

With more than 300 lawyers in New York, Ropes & Gray is now one of the 20 largest law firms in the city. Ropes & Gray also recently welcomed John Sorkin, who on October 6 joined the firm’s mergers & acquisitions practice in New York, also arriving from Fried Frank.

David B. Hennes

David Hennes brings to Ropes & Gray extensive experience handling a wide range of corporate disputes and complex commercial litigation, including transactional cases, corporate control disputes, enforcement work, federal securities class actions and state law derivative actions, on behalf of the world’s leading companies, investment banks, private equity firms, and financial institutions. Mr. Hennes is regularly lead counsel in all forms of sophisticated corporate litigation and recently successfully concluded a multi-week trial in the Delaware Court of Chancery, which resulted in a finding of no liability for his client.

A versatile litigator and trial lawyer, Mr. Hennes is praised by Chambers USA “for his ability to handle a wide range of corporate, securities, and white collar litigation,” and is described as having a “great ability to argue and convince regulators of his position.” He is regularly recognized by Chambers USA as a leading individual in general commercial litigation, as well as by Benchmark Litigation and Legal 500.

Mr. Hennes spent two decades in leadership roles at Fried Frank. He previously clerked for Chief Judge Jerome B. Simandle of the U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey, he received his J.D. with honors from the University of Pennsylvania Law School and his B.A. with high distinction from the University of Michigan.

“The complexity and the significance of the matters handled by Ropes & Gray litigators in New York is what drew me to the firm,” Mr. Hennes said. “The caliber of the firm’s partners and the client base of the firm’s litigation practice are unparalleled.”

Gregg L. Weiner

Gregg Weiner is an accomplished and recognized New York litigator, with experience representing financial institutions, including investment banks, real estate developers, Fortune 500 companies, hedge funds and other sophisticated clients in their most significant complex commercial disputes. The matters Mr. Weiner has handled as lead counsel include cases involving the federal securities laws, mergers & acquisitions, real estate, corporate governance, and bankruptcy disputes.

In the past month Mr. Weiner completed a week-long arbitration in which his client prevailed and was awarded its attorneys’ fees. In a ruling last month, Mr. Weiner also prevailed on a motion to dismiss in a federal district court action on behalf of a Fortune 20 company that had been sued on claims arising from a multi-billion-dollar Ponzi scheme.

Mr. Weiner was the Vice Chair of Fried Frank’s global litigation department and co-head of its real estate litigation group, and is regularly recognized in Chambers USA as a leading individual in commercial litigation and in The Legal 500 in the area of securities litigation. 

“Ropes & Gray’s litigation platform, domestically and globally, provides me with a great opportunity to work with my existing clients and Ropes’ existing clients on their most challenging litigation matters,” Mr. Weiner said. “The breadth and quality of Ropes & Gray’s practices and litigators is extraordinary and was a key factor in my decision to join the firm.”

Mr. Weiner received his J.D. from Columbia Law School, where he was a Harlan Fiske Stone Scholar, and his B.A. with high distinction from the University of Michigan, where he was a James B. Angell Scholar.