Jeremy Wallison

Wallison & Wallison LLP focuses on business controversies that, due to novelty, complexity or risk, require uncommonly creative and aggressive advocacy. We take pride in our ability to litigate such matters efficiently and effectively, and, whenever possible and appropriate, offer fee structures that prioritize results, including contingency fee and other alternative fee arrangements.

Jeremy Wallison’s practice focuses on trial court, appellate and arbitral litigation of complex business disputes.  For his work in this area, Mr. Wallison, since 2014, has been named to the New York Super Lawyers list, a Thomson Reuters publication honouring the top 5% of lawyers in New York in particular practice areas based on a variety of factors, including peer review and professional achievement.  At both Wallison & Wallison and, prior to that, as a business litigation partner at Foley & Lardner LLP, Mr. Wallison has achieved remarkable results for clients across diverse industries and areas of law. 

Notable victories include:

• Obtained rare vacatur from Second Circuit Court of Appeals on appeal of summary judgment dismissal of tortious interference claim brought by Paris art dealer against prominent New York art gallery;
• Obtained substantial recovery for unsecured creditors of failed hedge funds in litigation to rescind a strict foreclosure transaction between the hedge funds and their secured lender on the ground that the secured lender improperly exploited its bargaining leverage to obtain a $200 million windfall in the transaction;
• Secured total dismissal at the pleading stage of fraud and breach of contract case arising out of acrimonious business divorce;
• Secured total dismissal at the pleading stage of breach of contract, promissory estoppel, unjust enrichment, quantum meruit and fraud claims arising out of alleged oral finders' fee agreements;
• Recovered $3.9 million of a $4 million judgment obtained against an empty shell corporation by using veil-piercing and fraudulent conveyance claims to recover that amount from the judgment debtor’s owner and affiliates;
• Obtained near-complete recovery for a prominent hedge fund in breach of contract litigation; 
• Used Delaware's information rights statute to secure from the private corporation the financial information needed to allow former CEO to sell her shares in the company;
• Helped lead the trial team to a substantial recovery on behalf of bondholders in an attack on restructuring transactions involving billions of dollars in publicly-traded debt;
• Obtained judgment against defaulted borrower for full amount of outstanding debt, then obtained dismissal of borrower's countersuit for fraud and breach of contract, then won judgment against borrower for the full amount of legal fees incurred in defending the countersuit (as an indemnified cost of "enforcement" of the contract), and then successfully defended dismissal and legal fees award on appeal;
• Won dismissal of securities fraud class action suit on the basis of an argument the court termed a "novel theory" – that the likely failure of the fraudulent scheme alleged precludes an inference of fraudulent intent;
• Obtained appellate court reversal holding that oral acceptance of a competitive bid gives rise to contractual liability even when the parties contemplated subsequent negotiation and preparation of definitive deal documents;
• Won arbitration of complex commercial lease dispute by establishing that GAAP, for purposes of calculating an amount due under a private contract, permits accounting methodologies inconsistent with those used in the client's general purpose GAAP financial statements; and
• Obtained appellate court reversal establishing a corporation's right to assert attorney-client privilege protection against a corporate director suing solely in a shareholder capacity.

In addition to the above, Mr. Wallison has litigated a diverse range of claims involving contract formation and breach, appraisal rights for dissenting shareholders, business divorce (both corporate and partnership), director and officer liability for breach of fiduciary duty, illegal dividends and illegal stock repurchases, creditors' rights (including debt collection, Foreign Sovereign Immunity Act issues specific to sovereign debt, fraudulent conveyance and breach of indenture), securities and common law fraud, clearing agent liability, antitrust violations, art law, false advertising, defamation, tortious interference with contract, trademark and copyright, employment-related issues (including ERISA claims, violations of non-competition agreements, and retaliation), product liability, sales and secured transactions under the Uniform Commercial Code, judgment enforcement and professional malpractice.

Mr. Wallison also has substantial experience litigating international disputes and the issues that frequently arise therein, including conflicts of law and cross border discovery. In the past five years, he has represented clients located in France, Canada, Argentina, Italy and the United Kingdom, and has co-counselled with law firms located in France, the United Kingdom, and Switzerland.

Mr. Wallison also is an active participant in professional and civic organizations — including New York American Inn of Court, New York City Bar Association, International Bar Association — and writes and lectures regularly on emerging issues in business law.  Recent publications and presentations include:

• “Cross-border discovery in International Disputes,” presented at the 10th Winter Seminar of Union Internationale des Avocats, February 26, 2015;
• “Valuing Contingent or Disputed Assets And Liabilities in Solvency Opinions,” The Review of Banking & Financial Services, Vol. 30, No. 5 (May 2014);
• “Valuation of Contingent and Disputed Liabilities and Assets in Solvency Determinations,” co-presented at Valcon 2013, February 20, 2013; and
• “Traps for the Unwary in LOIs, NDAs and Other Preliminary Agreements — A Litigator’s Perspective,” co-presented at the New York Chapter of the Association of Corporate Counsel, February 23, 2012.
• “Getting redress for victims – prosecutors, liquidators and civil fraud lawyers,” co-presented at Asset Recovery Americas 2018, an event organized by KNect365.

Mr. Wallison received his A.B., cum laude, from Harvard University, where he was awarded the Harvard College Scholarship, and his J.D. from the New York University School of Law, where he was a Leslie and Edmund Glass Fellow.