Robert J Giuffra Jr

Practice Areas

Litigation; Bank Regulatory; Bankruptcy Litigation; Broker-Dealer; Commercial Real Estate; Commodities, Futures & Derivatives; Congressional Investigations; Consumer Financial Services; Corporate Governance; Corporate Governance Litigation; Criminal Defense & Investigations; Crisis Management; FCPA & Anti-Corruption; Financial Services; General Practice; Healthcare & Life Sciences; Insurance; Intellectual Property & Technology Litigation; International Arbitration and Global Dispute Resolution; Products Liability & Mass Torts; Securities & Commodities Investigations Practice; Securities Litigation; Sports & Entertainment; Supreme Court and Appellate; Tax Controversy

Career

Robert Giuffra is Co-Chair of Sullivan & Cromwell and a partner in the Firm’s Litigation Group. He has served on Sullivan & Cromwell’s Management Committee since 2007. Mr. Giuffra joined the Firm in 1989 after serving as a law clerk to Chief Justice William Rehnquist of the U.S. Supreme Court and to Judge Ralph Winter of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit. He focuses on “bet-the-company,” securities, white-collar criminal, product liability, commercial, insurance, banking and tax litigation.

For over 25 years Mr. Giuffra has represented prominent corporations and individuals in their most challenging civil and criminal cases, including at jury and bench trials, and on appeal in federal and state courts around the United States, before arbitration panels, and in investigations involving the U.S. Department of Justice, the SEC, the EPA, the Department of Homeland Security, U.S. and non-U.S. bank regulators, the U.S. Congress, all fifty State Attorney Generals, and the Internal Revenue Service. He regularly advises senior executives and boards of directors in internal governance matters.

Mr. Giuffra is currently National Coordinating Counsel for Volkswagen in its recent diesel-related matters and is lead counsel to Fiat Chrysler in its emissions issues. Mr. Giuffra has participated in litigations and government investigations arising out of the financial crisis, the bankruptcy of Enron, the restructuring of MBIA, the accounting fraud at HealthSouth Corporation, and specialist trading on the New York Stock Exchange. He has represented many of the world’s leading financial institutions, including Allianz, ABN AMRO, Bank of America, The Bank of New York, Barclays, BNP Paribas, CIBC, Citigroup, Goldman Sachs, HSBC, ING, JP Morgan, Merrill Lynch, Morgan Stanley, Natixis, RBC, RBS, Société Générale, UBS and Wachovia. His corporate clients have included Biovail, Boeing, Cablevision, Computer Associates, DISH Network, Enbridge, Ericsson, Exxon, Grupo Mexico, Kinross, Kohl’s, McKesson, Oxford Health Plans, Philips Electronics, Porsche, Tenaris, Tudor Investment Corporation, UnitedHealth Group, and Vornado Realty Trust. He has also represented the Republic of Argentina, Société Nautique de Genève, the two-time defender of the America’s Cup sailing trophy, the New York Giants and Jets NFL teams, and a major university. His individual clients have included CEOs, lawyers and senior government officials.

Mr. Giuffra has served in all three branches of the U.S. Government. In addition to his judicial clerkships, he served as Chief Counsel of the U.S. Senate Committee on Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs 1995-1996 and was a primary drafter of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, as well as in the White House. He has also been appointed by governors of both political parties to serve in New York State government, including on the New York State Commission on Public Integrity, New York State Ethics Commission and, while at Sullivan & Cromwell, as a Special Assistant District Attorney, County of New York.

He frequently speaks on securities class actions, government and internal investigations, and corporate governance, including at Yale Law School, Harvard Law School, Stanford Law School, Harvard Business School, the Wharton School and the University of Chicago Law School. He has testified before the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee and participated in many hearings of the U.S. Senate Banking Committee.

Professional Memberships

Mr. Giuffra has been a leader of the Bar. In 2017, Chief Justice John Roberts appointed him to serve on the Standing Committee on Rules of Practice and Procedure of the U.S. Courts. He has served as President of The Federal Bar Council, on the New York State-Federal Judicial Council, the New York State Commercial Division Advisory Council, the Magistrate Judge Selection Panel for the SDNY, New York’s Permanent Commission on Access to Justice, Commission to Reimagine the Future of New York’s Courts, the New York Commission on Attorney Discipline, and the Board of Editors of New York Law Journal. He is also the Chairman of the Board of Advisors of the Yale Law School Center for the Study of Corporate Law, Chair of the Board of the Historical Society of the New York Courts, Chairman of the American Swiss Foundation, Vice President of the Supreme Court Historical Society, a member of the advisory board of the RAND Center for Catastrophic Risk Management and Compensation, a member of the advisory board of the Institute of Judicial Administration at NYU School of Law, and a Trustee of the Citizens Budget Commission.

Personal

Yale Law (JD, 1987); Princeton (AB, 1983); Judicial clerk for Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist, United States Supreme Court, (1988-1989) and The Honorable Ralph K. Winter, United States Court of Appeals, Second Circuit, (1987-1988).