Profile details
About Linda H. Martin
Linda is a partner in the firm’s dispute resolution practice. She is co-head of our US commercial litigation practice and co-head of our global class and collective actions group.
She has extensive experience resolving complex and cross-border commercial disputes across a broad range of industries and practice areas, and in all stages of business dispute resolution, including litigation, arbitration and mediation. Based in New York, she appears regularly in federal, state and bankruptcy courts across the United States.
Linda’s clients are global in scope, and she is particularly adept at helping them navigate multinational challenges, especially those arising from the overlapping and sometimes conflicting procedural, factual and regulatory regimes in which they operate. She also works frequently with our transactional and finance teams in advising corporate executives and boards on transaction-related litigation risk and corporate governance matters.
Recent work
- Representing Varex Imaging, in connection with US and German disputes involving a joint venture partner;
- Representing a Nordic financial technology company in providing advice on corporate governance and restructuring matters, as well as in connection with disputes involving the company’s major shareholders;
- Representing Rio Tinto plc in a federal climate change class action and follow-on litigation filed by the municipalities of Puerto Rico, alleging RICO, antitrust and state consumer fraud violations, in which plaintiffs are seeking compensation from numerous oil, gas, and mining defendants for damages caused by the devastating hurricanes of 2017;
- Representing a group of institutional investors regarding litigation and regulatory risk, as well as strategic planning, in connection with an adversarial corporate restructuring of a systemically important financial institution;
- Representing a Canadian-based global investment group, regarding litigation and regulatory risk arising from allegations in the US of fraud and financial misconduct involving one of its portfolio companies;
- Representing an international insurance company in court proceedings in Florida brought by an aircraft leasing business in connection with losses suffered from the Russia-Ukraine war and aircraft stranded as a result;
- Representing a London-based private equity firm in connection with post-acquisition disputes involving US-based portfolio companies, including disputes involving earnout provisions, service agreements and purchase price adjustments;
- Representing Clairvest Group in achieving dismissal of an action by Caesars Entertainment alleging breaches of certain representations and warranties in connection with the $1.7 billion sale of two gaming facilities;
- Representing Rio Tinto in a federal climate change class action in Puerto Rico against several oil, gas, and mining defendants, including Rio Tinto plc;
- Representing a global private equity firm. in defending against applications for document discovery and depositions under 28 U.S.C. § 1782, filed by Polygon Global Partners LLP, seeking discovery for use in lawsuits in Spain attempting to undo the multi-billion dollar privatization of Másmóvil;
- Representing PepsiCo, Inc. and Bottling Group, LLC in the United States District Court for the Southern District of Iowa, in dismissing nine-figure claims for violations of the Sherman Antitrust Act, Robinson Patman Act, Lanham Act and Iowa competition law, as well as litigating to successful resolution claims for business defamation, breach of contract, and tortious interference;
- Represented the International Court of Arbitration of the International Chamber of Commerce in submitting an amicus brief to the Supreme Court of the United States in addressing the circuit split regarding the use of 28 U.S.C. § 1782 in private commercial arbitrations. Notably, Linda represented Abdul Latif Jamaal in creating the split of authority which ultimately resulted in the Supreme Court granting certiorari on the issue. Linda also represents numerous other clients, both offensively and defensively, in filing and responding to Section 1782 applications;
- Representing Air Products and Chemicals in defending against a cross-border lawsuit asserting claims of breach of contract, tortious interference, conversion, and breach of fiduciary duty arising from a dispute over construction of an $8 billion joint venture in Saudi Arabia;
- Advising WEX, Inc., as part of a cross-border team, in successfully defending against landmark COVD-19 related MAE claims filed in England & Wales; the dispute arose in connection with the $1.7 billion agreement by WEX to purchase an online B2B payments company with numerous clients in the travel industry;
- Representing Alcoa Inc. in defending against tortious interference, unfair competition and unjust enrichment claims brought by Samsung seeking more than $200 million in damages based on alleged interference in connection with Alcoa’s supervision and management of a $1 billion construction joint venture;
- Representing Volkswagen Group in connection with its global diesel emissions exposure, including coordination of US and rest-of-world civil, criminal and regulatory matters, as well as representing the Company in connection with its January 2017 $4.3 billion resolution with the US Department of Justice and other government agencies of certain criminal and civil proceedings;
- Representing KLX, Inc., a world-leading aerospace and energy services company, in navigating Delaware shareholder demands and litigation pursued in connection with the company’s $4.2 billion sale of its aviation parts and services business to Boeing Co. and the spinoff of its energy business;
- Representing KLX, Inc., in successfully dismissing a federal securities fraud class action litigation in the Southern District of Florida, elating to a $640 million GAAP impairment charge taken by the company in 2015;
- Representing Breeze-Eastern's officers and directors in defeating a purported federal class action in the Southern District of New York, alleging claims under Section 14(e) of the 1934 Act and for breach of fiduciary duty, in connection with the sale of Breeze-Eastern's outstanding shares through an all-cash tender offer;
- Representing UBS as lead agent on the $8 billion contested DIP financing in Lyondell Chemical Company’s Chapter 11 case, and as defendant in a $1.6 billion fraudulent conveyance litigation arising out of the Lyondell/Basell merger;
- Representing TD Bank, NA in the successful defense of a contract reformation action arising out of a $200 million financing for an ethanol plant for Bionol Clearfield;
- Representing JPMorgan Chase in a $370m breach of guarantee trial victory against Motorola, and a related $243m capital call litigation against international telecom providers and investors, arising out of the failure of global satellite telecommunications provider Iridium LLC; and
- Representing Accenture (formerly Andersen Consulting) in its historic ICC arbitration, in which it defeated Arthur Andersen and Andersen Worldwide’s $15bn counterclaims and achieved a cost-free separation from the global Andersen network.
Qualifications
Education
- JD, cum laude, Duke University School of Law, United States; editor for the Duke Law Journal
- BA, cum laude, Harvard University, United States
Professional
- Admitted to practice in the State of New York; the United States District Courts for the Southern, Eastern and Western Districts of New York; the United States District Court for the Northern District of Oklahoma; the United States District Court for the District of Columbia; the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit; the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit; and the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit.
Service
- Chairperson Emeritus, Board of Directors, Children’s Tumor Foundation, a not-for-profit organisation dedicated to funding research and finding a cure for neurofibromatosis
- Former Board of Visitors, Duke University School of Law
- Former President, Board of Directors, Duke University Law Alumni Association
- Former Co-Chair, Board of Directors, DukeNY, a tri-state alumni association for graduates of Duke