Paul F. Corcoran is a partner in the Litigation Practice Group of Davis & Gilbert. A former federal prosecutor, Mr. Corcoran has extensive trial and appellate experience in both federal and state courts throughout the United States. He counsels clients on complex commercial litigation matters, including RICO suits, securities fraud suits, antitrust litigation, intellectual properties disputes, Sarbanes-Oxley claims, contract disputes, fraud and fiduciary duty claims, class actions, discrimination and defamation suits, partnership and real estate-related litigation.
After serving as Notes and Comments Editor on the St. John's Law Review, Mr. Corcoran began his legal career in 1972 as a law clerk to Judge Adrian Burke on the New York Court of Appeals. Thereafter, he served five years as an Assistant United States Attorney for the Eastern District of New York, where he was appointed Deputy Chief of the Criminal Division. Mr. Corcoran has been a partner at Davis & Gilbert since 1993. Mr. Corcoran serves as an Adjunct Professor at St. John's University School of Law where he teaches Federal Practice.
REPRESENTATIVE ENGAGEMENTS
- Successfully represented two global investment banks in a federal interpleader action construing a complicated indenture to define priority of payment rights after an event of default in a CDO transaction.
- Successfully defended TBWA in $42 million indemnification claim by Taco Bell alleging the agency misappropriated the ideas, concepts and images of a third-party in the Chihuahua advertising campaign the agency created for Taco Bell.
- Defeated an injunction action against a lending institution and successfully recovered $2 million in lock rate fees from a putative borrower who terminated a loan commitment raising fraud claims and contract construction issues.
- Obtained a permanent injunction defeating the efforts of infamous New York City landlord Sheldon Solow to terminate a bank’s $20 million dollar leasehold interest at 9 West 57th Street on contrived allegations of lease breaches.
- Successfully defended a Sarbanes-Oxley whistle-blower claim that an employee was improperly terminated and retaliated against for cooperating in a criminal investigation.
- Successfully defended a law firm against RICO and securities fraud suit brought by a company investor charging board members and the company’s law firm with a scheme to defraud.
- Successfully represented several advertising agency clients in a multi-billion dollar class action seeking statutory penalties for alleged labor law violations relating to the timing of wage payments to employees working on TV programs, commercials, and music videos produced in the State of California.
- Successfully represented majority shareholders against fraud and breach of fiduciary duty claims in a series of state courts action and appeals arising out of the forfeiture of a minority shareholder’s stock which had been pledged to guaranty a bank loan to the company.
- Successfully defended a $48 million dollar antitrust suit brought by Miller Brewing Company, the antitrust victim, against a supplier who previously pled guilty to the underlying criminal conspiracy to violate the antitrust laws.
- Successfully defended a bank’s law firm in a multi-million dollar class action suit alleging RESPA violations.
- Successfully defended an advertising agency and its principals in a securities fraud suit by a former executive who charged insider trading in connection with the company’s repurchase of his company stock.
- Obtained summary judgment and successfully defended on appeal the dismissal of an accounting action brought by a former partner of a defunct law firm against all of his former partners.
- Successfully obtained a reversal by the Second Circuit Court of Appeals of the federal mail fraud conviction of Jay Adolf, counsel to New York Speakers of Assembly Mel Miller, on grounds that the proof before the trial court was deficient as a matter of law.
PUBLICATIONS
Co-Author, "New York Courts, Not The Parties, Have The Last Word on Contractual Intent," D&G Litigation Newsletter, Summer 2012
PROFESSIONAL MEMBERSHIPS/AFFILIATIONS
American Bar Association
The Federal Bar Council
The New York State Bar Association
The New York Council of Defense Lawyers
Nassau County Bar Association
BAR ADMISSIONS
New York State Courts
U.S. Supreme Court
U.S. Court of Appeals, Second and Ninth Circuits
U.S. District Courts, Southern, Eastern and Northern Districts of New York
U.S. District Court, Eastern District of Kentucky
EDUCATION
St. John's University School of Law, J.D., St. Thomas More Scholar, 1971
St. Francis College, B.A., 1968
REPRESENTATIVE ENGAGEMENTS
- Successfully represented two global investment banks in a federal interpleader action construing a complicated indenture to define priority of payment rights after an event of default in a CDO transaction.
- Successfully defended TBWA in $42 million indemnification claim by Taco Bell alleging the agency misappropriated the ideas, concepts and images of a third-party in the Chihuahua advertising campaign the agency created for Taco Bell.
- Defeated an injunction action against a lending institution and successfully recovered $2 million in lock rate fees from a putative borrower who terminated a loan commitment raising fraud claims and contract construction issues.
- Obtained a permanent injunction defeating the efforts of infamous New York City landlord Sheldon Solow to terminate a bank’s $20 million dollar leasehold interest at 9 West 57th Street on contrived allegations of lease breaches.
- Successfully defended a Sarbanes-Oxley whistle-blower claim that an employee was improperly terminated and retaliated against for cooperating in a criminal investigation.
- Successfully defended a law firm against RICO and securities fraud suit brought by a company investor charging board members and the company’s law firm with a scheme to defraud.
- Successfully represented several advertising agency clients in a multi-billion dollar class action seeking statutory penalties for alleged labor law violations relating to the timing of wage payments to employees working on TV programs, commercials, and music videos produced in the State of California.
- Successfully represented majority shareholders against fraud and breach of fiduciary duty claims in a series of state courts action and appeals arising out of the forfeiture of a minority shareholder’s stock which had been pledged to guaranty a bank loan to the company.
- Successfully defended a $48 million dollar antitrust suit brought by Miller Brewing Company, the antitrust victim, against a supplier who previously pled guilty to the underlying criminal conspiracy to violate the antitrust laws.
- Successfully defended a bank’s law firm in a multi-million dollar class action suit alleging RESPA violations.
- Successfully defended an advertising agency and its principals in a securities fraud suit by a former executive who charged insider trading in connection with the company’s repurchase of his company stock.
- Obtained summary judgment and successfully defended on appeal the dismissal of an accounting action brought by a former partner of a defunct law firm against all of his former partners.
- Successfully obtained a reversal by the Second Circuit Court of Appeals of the federal mail fraud conviction of Jay Adolf, counsel to New York Speakers of Assembly Mel Miller, on grounds that the proof before the trial court was deficient as a matter of law.
PUBLICATIONS
Co-Author, "New York Courts, Not The Parties, Have The Last Word on Contractual Intent," D&G Litigation Newsletter, Summer 2012
PROFESSIONAL MEMBERSHIPS/AFFILIATIONS
American Bar Association
The Federal Bar Council
The New York State Bar Association
The New York Council of Defense Lawyers
Nassau County Bar Association
BAR ADMISSIONS
New York State Courts
U.S. Supreme Court
U.S. Court of Appeals, Second and Ninth Circuits
U.S. District Courts, Southern, Eastern and Northern Districts of New York
U.S. District Court, Eastern District of Kentucky
EDUCATION
St. John's University School of Law, J.D., St. Thomas More Scholar, 1971
St. Francis College, B.A., 1968
