Avi Weitzman

Practice Areas

Avi Weitzman is co-chair of the Complex Litigation and Arbitration practice and a partner in the Investigations and White Collar Defense practice at Paul Hastings, based in the firm’s New York office. Avi has successfully served as lead trial counsel in some of the country’s highest-profile white collar and civil trials, both while an assistant United States attorney in the Southern District of New York and in private practice since then.

Avi is an experienced and sought-after litigator and trial lawyer, who has participated in and led nearly twenty trials and arbitrations over his 25+ year career. Clients, colleagues and adversaries have described him as a “smart, tenacious” and “quick-witted litigator,” with “an unparalleled dedication to figuring out every angle that he can present for clients” because he “leaves no stone unturned.” Avi has been singled out by Chambers (among may other major legal publications) for his “first-rate legal skills,” “keen judgment” and “dedication” to his clients.

Avi was co-lead trial counsel in the high profile, 10-week trial of New Jersey Sen. Robert Menendez, charged in an 18-count indictment by the U.S. Attorney’s Office (SDNY) with public corruption and obstruction of justice offenses. This was an unprecedented case in which the government, for the first time ever, charged a member of Congress with acting as an agent of a foreign country (Egypt) in violation of the Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA). Commentators noted Avi’s creative and forceful representation of Sen. Menendez, with the New York Times noting that Avi’s opening jury address “shook the courtroom awake.”

Avi was also lead trial counsel in the six-year defense of Kaleil Isaza Tuzman, a former CEO of a public company charged by the U.S. Attorney’s Office (SDNY) and SEC with accounting fraud and market manipulation. After his two-month trial, the government sought a 20+ year prison sentence. With a tenacious defense, which the court described as a “scorched earth strategy [that] ... truly left no stone unturned,” Avi persuaded the court to impose a sentence of no time in prison, a request the legal press described as “bold” and “audacious.”

Avi also obtained a complete defense victory, with a rare pretrial dismissal, of a federal indictment filed by the U.S. Attorney’s Office (SDNY) against his client, the founder of a publicly traded pharmaceutical company, charged with insider trading for allegedly tipping friends and family in advance of a $3.5 billion tender offer.

In addition, Avi has had leading roles in a number of high-profile civil trials and matters. Most recently, he represented Incyte, a global biopharmaceutical company, in its $1 billion royalty dispute with Novartis over the blockbuster pharmaceutical product Jakafi — which resolved favorably on the eve of trial. He is also been involved in several high-profile founders’ disputes. Previously, Avi represented Chevron Corporation in a two-month federal RICO trial barring the enforcement of a $9 billion Ecuadorian judgment that The American Lawyer called “The Case of the Century”; represented the Office of the Governor of New Jersey in an independent investigation of the “Bridgegate” matter; and represented VOOM HD Holdings in its multibillion dollar trial against DISH Network, which resulted in a mid-trial settlement valued at well over $1 billion. Avi has also represented a large media company in a defamation lawsuit, and both financial institutions and media companies in employment disputes.

From 2005 to 2012, Avi served as an assistant United States attorney in the Southern District of New York, where he tried twelve federal criminal jury trials to verdict. As a member of the Securities and Commodities Fraud Task Force, Avi investigated and prosecuted a wide range of federal securities fraud offenses and coordinated parallel civil proceedings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Avi was a member of the team that led the government’s investigation dubbed “Operation Perfect Hedge,” which resulted in the conviction of over 60 individuals for insider trading offenses. He played a leading role in many of the government’s highest-profile insider-trading cases, including having successfully defended the government’s use of wiretaps in the Raj Rajaratnam case, serving as lead counsel in the first “expert network” insider trading trial (United States v. Winifred Jiau) and having led the government’s investigation of SAC Capital portfolio manager Mat Martoma, which resulted in the largest single-trade insider trading scheme ever charged. For his work on the Rajaratnam case, Avi received the attorney general’s Distinguished Service Award in 2012.

Avi has an active pro bono practice. Among other things, Avi filed Supreme Court amicus briefs in recent Second Amendment cases, including representing 139 Democratic members of the House of Representatives in N.Y. State Rifle & Pistol Association v. City of New York, and members of the business community in N.Y. State Rifle Association v. Bruen. These amicus briefs challenged petitioners’ efforts in these cases to expand the Second Amendment to include a purported right to carry firearms outside the home and to require more lax concealed carry laws.

Personal

Harvard Law School, J.D.

University of Kentucky, B.A.