Area of Practice: Commercial Litigation
Jeffrey M. Eilender is the co-managing partner of the firm and co-chair of the civil litigation group. His commercial litigation practice focuses on intra-corporate disputes and business separations, often when the future of the company or an owner’s net assets are at risk. These cases are usually hotly contested and, unfortunately, often involve adult siblings or heirs warring with each other over family businesses when the founder is no longer on the scene. Jeff has represented all of the players in a business divorce; the companies, majority owners, and dissenting or oppressed minority owners. He has also prosecuted and defended derivative actions. Many of his business divorce matters have resulted in groundbreaking court rulings that are often cited by other courts and are the subject of articles and blogs by other lawyers. Jeff also frequently writes and speaks on these issues.
Moreover, the scope of Jeff’s practice extends beyond intra-corporate disputes. With nearly 30 years of litigation experience, Jeff helps clients resolve virtually any kind of business conflict. He litigates all manner of real estate, contract, intellectual property, trade secrets, employment, fraud, and other business tort cases. Jeff represents large public entities, family businesses, and high net-worth individuals and celebrities such as AXA, Verizon, Oath (formerly AOL), ALP, Inc. (the company founded by artist Peter Max that owns and commercializes all of his art), Judith Regan, Perez Hilton, the Chetrit real estate family, the Lighthouse Group, Albert Einstein Medical School, Canon, and Ashkenazy Acquisition Corp.
A master of procedure, Jeff is noted for devising innovative solutions that other lawyers often don’t think of, which is why clients turn to Jeff for their most significant business matters.
Jeff regularly serves as lead counsel in trials and hearings in federal court, the commercial divisions of New York’s state courts, arbitral forums, and other venues around the nation, including in the Delaware Chancery Court.
As Jonathan Etra, a Partner at Nelson Mullins describes him, “Jeff Eilender, is a litigation powerhouse unto himself.”
Jeff has chaired the New York State Judiciary Committee for the Commercial and Federal Litigation Section of the New York State Bar Association. He also served on the Commercial Division (New York County) Advisory Committee, which advises the Bar Association’s Commercial Division on its practices. A frequent lecturer at the New York State Bar’s Commercial Litigation Academy and a panelist on commercial litigation issues, Jeff regularly edits and writes the firm’s New York Commercial Division Blog and has contributed to Bloomberg BNA’s 2017 Supplement to Litigating the Business Divorce.
