Representing executives, investors, growing businesses, and entrepreneurs in high stakes and high profile matters
Based in New York City but representing clients in matters across the U.S., Brian C. Brook focuses on representing executives, investors, and entrepreneurs in all types of litigation matters involving themselves and their businesses. Brian has successfully represented clients in contract, employment, corporate governance, fiduciary duty, intellectual property, wrongful death, fraud, and criminal matters.
Brian handles cases at all stages, including trials and appeals, when necessary. His cases have been featured extensively in the media, including a lawsuit against an NFL team and its star quarterback (it settled at the courthouse on the first day of trial). But some of his greatest success stories are the ones you will never read about, because the problems were resolved quickly and inexpensively.
Happy with both the results and the value provided, several of Brian’s corporate clients asked him to get involved in virtually all of their legal matters, including transactions. Brian initially refused and instead referred the work out. That changed in 2017 — though only after a long disclosure (i.e. warning) about his lack of specific experience with pre-litigation transactions. Brian has enjoyed the opportunity to work with clients in less stressful situations to help them build their business rather than just clean up problems. Moreover, his litigation experience, particularly with breach of contract and corporate governance cases, gives him powerful insight to recognize potential problems and avoid them before they can become costly litigation matters. Brian now has several years of experience providing a wide range of business counseling, going beyond pure legal advice to strategic consulting, particularly on negotiations and public relations. He currently functions as the outside general counsel on United States legal matters for two different international companies with US entities.
Before starting this firm in 2012, Brian was associated with some of the preeminent law firms in the world. He brings the same professionalism and legal acumen to a more nimble firm model that can accommodate each client's unique needs.
When a bigger team of lawyers is necessary, Brian can turn to a host of exceptional attorneys who are eager to work with him on an ad hoc basis. He often practices outside the jurisdictions where he is admitted through cooperation with local counsel. And when cost is an issue, Brian is open to alternative fee arrangements. When appropriate, Brian is willing to bet on his ability to achieve a positive outcome for his clients, including partial deferrals or “success” fees, as well as fully contingent fees (i.e., where no fee is paid unless and until there’s a win).
No matter what the case, the key to any such relationship is trust and respect, in both directions. This is where Brian excels, and this is why has had the good fortune to be selected as lead counsel for some of the most challenging and high profile cases of the last decade, including:
■ Representing investors in suing corporate executives and trustees to recover their majority stake in a wine and liquor distributor. After a bench trial before Judge Lewis Kaplan in the U.S. District Court in Manhattan, Brian’s clients prevailed on every single issue, and in some instances recovered even more money than they sought. Not only did the company return to its rightful owners, but also the company received a judgment worth $20 million. In addition, the individual plaintiffs obtained a rare award of punitive damages in this breach of fiduciary duty case. You can read the groundbreaking, 100-page decision here.
■ Representing several individuals suing the New York Giants football team and several of its employees, including quarterback Eli Manning, in connection with allegations of fraud and racketeering. The lawsuit received national press coverage before settling on confidential terms just before a televised trial was set to begin. It appeared as the main story on the cover of the NY Post, twice, and was discussed extensively on television news, from local channels to Fox News to ESPN.
https://nypost.com/2014/01/30/eli-and-giants-created-fake-memorabilia-suit/
https://insider.foxnews.com/2014/02/06/ny-giants-and-eli-manning-fight-memorabilia-lawsuit
https://nypost.com/2017/04/13/heres-proof-eli-manning-was-in-on-giants-memorabilia-scheme/
■ Representing the former CEO of Duane Reade drugstores in both civil and criminal matters, including continuing to represent him long after losing the appeal of his conviction, but successfully overturning part of his sentence (twice) and representing him in an arbitration against his former employer.
■ Representing the parents of slain teenage sweethearts Tiffany York and Michael Roark, who were murdered in cold blood by a group of U.S. Army soldiers that were plotting terrorist attacks against the nation they had sworn to defend. Brian sued the U.S. Army in federal court in Seattle, WA for its role in negligently facilitating the terrorists, including financing them. Although the Army has almost always been found to be immune from suit, and the claims by one set of parents had even been dismissed on that basis, Brian helped these families recover $4 million — the maximum amount possible without authorization from a political appointee.
https://www.thedailybeast.com/the-georgia-militia-murders
Brian was also part of the trial team that secured an historic acquittal for a Somali official charged with aiding and abetting piracy and hostage taking for having served as a translator. Prior to trial, Brian personally argued the case before a panel of the DC Circuit Court of Appeals to prevent the government from trying his client for a conspiracy to commit piracy charge, successfully convincing the Court that international law precluded it. Never before had a court held that international law limited the application of U.S. anti-conspiracy laws.
https://www.thedailybeast.com/the-pirate-negotiator
Despite the wide variety of high profile cases, Brian enjoys using his broad experience and skill in less extraordinary — but no less important — corporate and contract cases for his clients. For example, in March 2023, Brian won a trial verdict in a breach of fiduciary duty case that resulted in an award to his clients of both valuable corporate stock and over $20 million in damages, including an exceedingly rare award of punitive damages in a business case.
He understands that for the client, there is no more important case than the one he has been entrusted to handle. For that reason, Brian keeps the number of cases that he takes low and manageable, and he relies on experience co-counsel when needed or in the client’s best interest. If Brian isn’t the right lawyer for your case, he will not hesitate to tell you so. If he is, you should expect to receive unparalleled client service.
ATTORNEY ADVERTISING: Past success is no guarantee of future results.
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100 Church Street, Fl. 8
New York, NY 10007
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