Ronald S. Rolfe retired from Cravath?s Litigation Department on December 31, 2010. His practice encompassed major antitrust and securities cases, SEC and grand jury investigations and a wide range of commercial litigation and arbitrations and corporate governance advice for U.S. and international clients. Mr. Rolfe?s clients included IBM Corporation, PepsiCo, Sprint, Nestlé SA, British American Tobacco plc, Brown & Williamson Tobacco Corporation, Ashland Inc., Altimo Holdings and Investments Limited, Jones Apparel and Unilever. Mr. Rolfe?s practice included such high profile antitrust regulatory and litigation matters as the historic representation of IBM in the Department of Justice suit against it for monopolization and in similar civil suits by Telex, Greyhound and California Computer Products; the representation of British American Tobacco plc and Brown & Williamson in their successful acquisition of American Tobacco Company, including defense of a suit brought by the Federal Trade Commission; the representation of British American Tobacco plc and Brown & Williamson in the successful merger with R.J. Reynolds Tobacco that formed Reynolds American Inc.; and the representation of Nine West, a subsidiary of Jones Apparel Group, in defense of a class action suit and various state parens patriae clauses, alleging illegal resale price maintenance. Mr. Rolfe?s litigation matters spanned the world. They included the representation of Banco Santander and its affiliates in connection with matters related to the Madoff Ponzi scheme; Jones Apparel Group in a state court suit against Polo Ralph Lauren Corp. in the New York state courts; the outside directors of Massey Energy and the company in connection with shareholder derivative suits in West Virginia Federal and state courts; Sprint and certain of its former officers and directors in connection with a securities fraud class action in Kansas Federal court and a state lawsuit in Kansas alleging breach of fiduciary duty; Unilever United States Inc., Unilever PLC and Unilever N.V. in an antitrust class action suit in Federal court in Chicago alleging that Unilever and various of its competitors violated Section 1 of the Sherman Act and various state statutes; and Altimo Holdings and Investments and its affiliates, Russian telecommunications companies, in a variety of Federal actions involving Norwegian telecom Telenor AS, as well as in a New York based UNCITRAL arbitration. In addition to his broad based litigation practice, Mr. Rolfe also had an extensive arbitration practice in both domestic and international matters, representing such clients as Banco Santander; Witco Corporation; Altimo?s affiliate, Eco Telecom Limited; and NaturCorp Multiservicios SA. He represented Eco Telecom Limited in connection with an UNCITRAL arbitration in Geneva and NaturCorp Multiservicios SA in an UNCITRAL arbitration proceeding. Mr. Rolfe was named to Chambers USA: America?s Leading Lawyers for Business, Chambers Global: The World?s Leading Lawyers and The Best Lawyers in America, and selected by Lawdragon as one of the 500 leading lawyers in America. Mr. Rolfe serves on the Boards of Directors of Berry Global Group, Inc., Advanced Assessment Systems, Inc. and CloudLex, Inc., and on the Advisory Board of Lexvia, Inc. He previously served on the Boards of Directors of Noranda Aluminum Holding Corporation, Reynolds American Inc. and Time Inc. He is involved in the following civic activities: Columbia Law School Dean?s Council; Board of Trustees and President Emeritus of The Allen Stevenson School; Trustee Emeritus of The Lawrenceville School; Board of Trustees of De La Salle Academy; and Board of Directors of Akanksha Fund, Inc. Mr. Rolfe was born in New York, New York. He received an A.B. cum laude from Harvard University in 1966 and a J.D. magna cum laude from Columbia Law School in 1969, where he was an Editor of the Law Review, a Harlan Fiske Stone Scholar and a James Kent Scholar. After a one year clerkship with Hon. Marvin E. Frankel of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, Mr. Rolfe joined Cravath in 1970 and became a partner in 1977. Mr. Wolfe is the Co-Chair of the Board of Directors of De La Salle Academy and Chair of the Nominating and Governance Committee of Berry Global Group, Inc. and a member of the Audit Committee.
