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Alexander Shapiro

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  • Partner

Mr. Shapiro is a seasoned litigator who represents professionals and businesses in complex commercial disputes and in white collar regulatory and criminal investigations. Over the course of his career, Mr. Shapiro has counseled and advised clients on a broad range of issues, including breach of contract, securities fraud, money laundering, competition and confidentiality, spoliation, false advertising, discovery in aid of foreign litigation, whistleblower claims, and compliance and policy development. Mr. Shapiro has extensive trial experience, having personally led and/or directed numerous trials in federal and state courts, as well as before administrative tribunals such as FINRA and the NLRB. Mr. Shapiro is also an accomplished appellate lawyer, having briefed and argued numerous appeals in federal circuit courts across the country. In the white-collar arena, Mr. Shapiro successfully defended a client in a criminal matter involving allegations of money laundering, leading to the dismissal of the indictment and release of millions of dollars in funds held for forfeiture.

Before entering private practice in 2001, Mr. Shapiro served as a trial attorney in the United States Department of Justice and then for six years as an Assistant U.S. Attorney in the United States' Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York, where he successfully prosecuted numerous cases, ranging from complex commercial frauds to an international art theft conspiracy. In the course of his government career, Mr. Shapiro was the recipient of numerous awards, including the prestigious Attorney General's John Marshall Award and the Chief Postal Inspector's Award. Mr. Shapiro has also spent over a decade managing litigation, internal investigations and compliance policies as senior in-house counsel for three Fortune 500 companies, The Bank of New York Mellon, Cablevision Systems Corporation (now Altice USA), and DXC Technology, Inc. At Cablevision, Mr. Shapiro held the position of Head of Litigation and Compliance Policy, while at DXC Technology, Mr. Shapiro was the Global Head of Litigation and Investigations.

Mr. Shapiro speaks and lectures regularly on topics in litigation and in-house compliance and case management. He has been a featured speaker at the Marcus Evans Chief Litigation Officer Summits and participated in CLE panels at the New York City Bar Association, Proskauer Rose LLP, the Connex Group Legal Executive Meeting, the ABA Section on International Law, and LegalTech. Mr. Shapiro also writes on issues of current legal interest and has published a number of articles in the Outside Counsel column of The New York Law Journal. Mr. Shapiro is currently a member of the New York City Bar Association's European Affairs Committee.

Bar Admissions

  • New York
  • District of Columbia
  • U.S. District Court Southern District of New York

Education

  • Yale Law School, New Haven, Connecticut
    • J.D. - 1991
  • Yale University
    • B.A. - 1986
    • Honors: summa cum laude
    • Honors: With Distinction
  • Cambridge University
    • M.Litt - 1989

Past Employment Positions

  • U.S. Department of Justice, Civil Division, Trial Attorney
  • U.S. Attorney’s Office, Southern District of New York, Assistant U.S. Attorney
  • Kornstein, Veisz, Wexler & Pollard, LLC, Partner
  • Allegaert, Berger & Vogel LLP, Partner
  • Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher, LLP, Of Counsel
  • The Bank of New York Mellon, Senior Managing Counsel
  • Cablevision Systems Corp., Head of Litigation and Compliance Policy
  • DXC Technology, Inc., Global Head of Litigation and Investigations

Representative Cases

  • Won motion to dismiss for all defendants in Rule 10b-5 action filed by institutional investor in federal court in San Jose, California against a private media company and two of its officers.
  • Successfully defended Mexican national in a criminal money laundering investigation brought by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York leading to the dismissal of the indictment and release of millions of dollars in funds held for forfeiture.
  • Achieved favorable settlement on behalf of CEO/founder of tech startup in corporate governance dispute with other founders in Delaware Chancery Court, securing exclusive control of company for client, and robust IP, non-compete and non-solicitation protections
  • Achieved favorable settlement on behalf of international art curator in breach of contract dispute relating to Banksy art exhibition in Los Angeles after filing for emergency injunctive relief in California State Superior Court.
  • Won motion seeking leave to amend complaint alleging securities fraud in counterclaim filed in federal court in New York City by individual investor against public company after Court had previously granted motion to dismiss and significantly limited the scope of any further pleading.
  • Won motion to compel inspection of books and records of a federal stock association subject to federal law on behalf of New York hedge fund in lawsuit filed in federal court in Rochester, New York.
  • Representing Greek national in loan recovery lawsuit against four New York LLCs and their principals pending in New York State Supreme Court.
  • Representing private media company in investigations by SEC and the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York.

Honors and Awards

  • Phi Beta Kappa
  • Henry Fellowship
  • U.S. Attorney General’s John Marshall Award
  • The Chief Postal Inspector’s Award

Published Works

    • “Judicial Cross-Currents in Debtor and Creditor Law § 278,” The New York Law Journal, July 9, 2021
    • “Second Circuit Stands its Ground in Construing 28 U.S.C. §1728,” The New York Law Journal, November 10, 2020
    • “Diversity Jurisdiction in the Second Circuit: The ‘Tagger’ Decision,” The New York Law Journal, August 19, 2020 
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    • The Consolations of History: Themes of Progress and Potential in Richard Wagner’s Götterdämmerung. New York, NY: Routledge, 2020
    • “Uplifting Experiences,” Book Review of Joseph Horowitz, Moral Fires: Musical Portraits from America’s Fin de Siècle (2012) in The Wagner Journal, Vol. 7, No. 1 (2013)
    • “McEwan and Forster, The Perfect Wagnerites.” The Wagner Journal, Vol. 5, No. 2 (2011)
    • “Political Theory and the Growth of Defensive Safeguards in Criminal Procedure: The Origins of the Treason Trials Act of 1696.” Law and History Review, Volume 11, No. 2 (Fall 1993)
    • “‘Drama of an Infinitely Superior Nature’: Handel’s Early English Oratorios and the Religious Sublime.” Music & Letters, Vol. 74, No. 2 (May 1993)
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