Rachel Lavery is an associate in the New York office of Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher. She is a member of the Firm’s Litigation Practice and is a member of its Securities Enforcement, Securities Litigation, and White Collar practice groups. She has represented clients in proceedings before federal and state courts across the country, the Securities and Exchange Commission, and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission in matters involving state and federal commercial, securities, commodities, derivatives, and competition law.
Ms. Lavery’s practice focuses on complex finance, trading, and investment adviser litigation and compliance, including investigations by government agencies. She also specializes in complex civil litigation and class actions involving securities and antitrust issues as well as general commercial litigation.
Recent significant engagements include:
- Representation of Royal Bank of Canada entities in a suit brought in Wisconsin by five Wisconsin school districts alleging fraud in the sale by RBC of $200 Million in synthetic CDOs, and a cross-claim by placement agent Stifel Nicolaus relating to those CDOs.
- Representation of The Bank of New York Mellon in several actions in California federal court arising out of the revelation of Medical Capital Holdings as a multi-billion dollar Ponzi scheme, where the Bank served as trustee for Medical Capital investor funds.
- Winning the dismissal of a case against Trust Company of the West brought by China Development Industrial Bank, alleging fraud-based claims in connection with CDOs.
- Counseling a major bank on a securities and trading compliance program.
- Representation of investment advisers in regulatory investigations.
Ms. Lavery earned a Juris Doctor from Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law with cum laude honors and was elected to the Order of the Coif. She served as Associate Editor of the Cardozo Law Review. During law school, she earned a Certificate in Comparative and International Business Law from Bucerius Law School in Hamburg, Germany.
Ms. Lavery earned her Bachelor of Arts degree in 2003, summa cum laude, from New York University, where she was enrolled as a Sir Harold Acton Scholar, College of Arts and Science Scholar, and National Merit Scholar. At NYU, she was elected to Phi Beta Kappa.