Christopher M. Joralemon is a partner in the New York office of Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher. He is a member of the firm's Securities Enforcement, Securities Litigation and White Collar Defense and Investigations Practice Groups.
Mr. Joralemon represents major financial institutions, multinational companies and senior executives in regulatory and criminal proceedings, civil litigation and internal investigations. He has advised clients on a broad range of complex matters, and maintains expertise in the securities laws, fraud-based statutes, the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act, the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act and the False Claims Act.
Most recently, Mr. Joralemon achieved a significant victory on behalf of TCW Asset Management Company by defeating a $250 million suit by an international bank alleging fraud in connection with CDO investment losses. Mr. Joralemon presently is representing several other clients in CDO-related matters stemming from the 2008 financial crisis, including The Royal Bank of Canada.
Mr. Joralemon has successfully defended a number of global institutions in high-profile matters involving some of the most noteworthy financial cases of the last fifteen years, including:
- Favorably resolving on behalf of Morgan Stanley and The Bank of New York Mellon a $5 billion civil litigation relating to the collapse of Adelphia Communications Corporation;
- Obtaining summary judgment on behalf of Citigroup in a $13 billion class action litigation arising out of the failure of Parmalat;
- Defending Merrill Lynch in connection with a broad range of Enron-related hearings, investigations and proceedings; and
- Securing on behalf of SMBC Capital Markets the dismissal of a federal False Claims Act qui tam action—affirmed in a seminal Second Circuit decision—involving the municipal bond market “yield burning” scandal.
Mr. Joralemon also recently attained an important win on behalf of a former mutual fund executive in a closely watched “market timing” enforcement action by the Securities and Exchange Commission. Following an appeal by the SEC from an order dismissing the action, an en banc panel of the First Circuit Court of Appeals rejected the SEC’s efforts to expand the scope of Rule 10b-5 primary liability based on an actor’s “central role” in the securities markets. The decision was widely lauded by the business and financial communities.
Throughout his career, Mr. Joralemon has remained committed to pro bono and charitable activities, including supervising young attorneys handling criminal appeals on behalf of the District Attorney’s Offices for Kings and Queens Counties, representing the Republic of Liberia in various disputes involving diplomatic operations in New York, and organizing a group of lawyers to monitor polling locations in several states as part of a non-partisan voter protection effort. He also has coordinated fundraising efforts through law firm participation in corporate sporting events on behalf of My Sisters’ Place, a charitable organization dedicated to preventing domestic abuse and providing a safe haven for victims of domestic violence.
Mr. Joralemon graduated magna cum laude from Boston University School of Law, where he served as Editor of the Boston University Law Review.