Biography

Gordon M. Shapiro has more than thirty years of experience as lead counsel in jury trials, bench trials, and arbitration actions for financial institution, business, and real estate clients. He has been recognized by a national legal publication as the lead counsel handling a case called a "Top Defense Win" nationally and is honored to have been recognized by his peers as a "Best Lawyer" in Commercial Litigation. Mr. Shapiro has been a lead special independent investigator multiple times on Sarbanes-Oxley investigations, involving accounting and corporate issues.

Mr. Shapiro coordinated the firm's financial institution litigation practice during a time of great turmoil in Texas banking. Mr. Shapiro and the firm successfully handled hundreds of cases for institutions and entities that acquired assets from failed banks, or as a result of asset transfers against defaulting borrowers and guarantors who alleged a wide variety of lender liability-type defenses. The firm continues to represent national, regional, and local financial institutions in class action defense, lender liability, defensive actions, operations matters, credit card litigation, letter of credit, contract disputes, and in the prosecution of collection matters.

Mr. Shapiro's selected financial institution representations have included:

Represented senior lender in litigation filed by multiple junior lenders and holders of mezzanine debt over a $7 billion collateralized mortgage backed obligation. Senior lenders were sued in multiple jurisdictions, including Texas, during an attempted restructure of the obligations with the borrower. Junior lenders sought to enjoin the restructuring agreement.

Represented as lead counsel a national bank in a class action brought under the Fair Credit Reporting Act for alleged violations of the Act that are claimed to have caused injury to a nationwide class of persons.

Represented as lead counsel a national bank in temporary injunction hearing involving foreclosure on oil and gas assets and proceeds where temporary injunction denied.

Represented a national bank in defense of a putative class action seeking relief for alleged breach of Delaware's implied duty of good faith and fair dealing in the alleged imposition of finance charges on certain credit cards. Action dismissed on the pleadings.

Handling as lead counsel the so-called "MSlim" litigation against three former failed national bank affiliates. The MSlim litigation involved the prefailure transfer of about $442 million of loan participations. The transferee institutions filed multiple lawsuits against the acquiring bank. Ultimately, he obtained a summary judgment favorable to the bank under a provision of the National Bank Act rarely utilized since the Great Depression. This ruling enabled our client to resolve favorably the remaining related actions.

Representing as lead counsel the acquirer of failed bank assets in obtaining a judgment for over $22 million following the debtor's bankruptcy in the Southern District of New York and heavily contested state court litigation. Following entry of judgment, the client was paid the entire sum due in cash.

Handling as lead counsel hundreds of defensive and collection actions for acquirers of failed bank assets without a single adverse verdict or judgment. These actions included injunctions, receiverships, and a wide variety of tactical strategies necessary to maximize recovery to the client.

Represented as lead counsel a financial institution claimed by government regulators to have engaged in fraud, RICO violations, and conspiracy in the sale of certain assets before failure. The multiple related actions were ultimately settled on terms favorable to the defendants. The subject asset sales were vindicated.

Mr. Shapiro served as lead trial counsel in an international business dispute, tried to a jury in United States District Court. In this case, Mr. Shapiro represented a Japanese public company sued for $90 million by a Texas company for alleged fraud, breach of contract, breach of fiduciary duty, and deceptive trade practices. The case arose from an athletic shoe distributorship agreement covering Japan. After a ten-week trial, the jury returned a take-nothing verdict in favor of Mr. Shapiro's client and the Court entered a take-nothing judgment. Mr. Shapiro and the trial team received national recognition when the case was named a "Top Defense Win" by the National Law Journal. The U.S. Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals later affirmed the judgment.

Mr. Shapiro was lead trial counsel for the interstate pipeline defendant in multiple cases arising out of a gasoline pipeline spill. The spill was alleged to be one of the largest spills impacting land and surface water in the United States. The cases involved allegations of MtBE contamination in municipal water supplies and upon land. Suits were filed in state and federal court by the City of Dallas and by numerous private land owners. Multiple suits sought class action status. All but one of the cases were resolved by summary judgment in the pipeline's favor or by settlement. Notably, two putative class actions filed under the Oil Pollution Act and a multi-plaintiff group case were dismissed by summary judgment in favor of the pipeline with costs awarded in the pipeline's favor, an extremely rare and favorable result in such actions. The City of Dallas action was settled two weeks into a jury trial for an amount more than $10 million less than pretrial settlement demands. As an outgrowth of the spill, litigation was filed by Mr. Shapiro and co-counsel against the pipe manufacturer, who later settled the case. The defendants requested confidentiality of the terms.

Mr. Shapiro is co-chair of the firm's Special Investigations practice. He serves as independent investigator in Sarbanes-Oxley type special investigations that have involved accounting issues, including Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, revenue recognition, inventory and expense accounting, booking of reserves, revenue "management," internal controls, "tone at the top" issues, and deferred revenue.

Mr. Shapiro's special investigations have included:

An analysis of Foreign Corrupt Practices Act accounting and control issues for a global acquirer and manager of financial assets and portfolio pools. This engagement also involved review of the valuation calculations under GAAP for portfolio of acquired assets.

An extensive investigation of a wide variety of accounting issues in a subsidiary of a major multinational international corporation.

An investigation of certain GAAP accounting and control issues at a national telecommunications company.

An investigation of accounting issues at an affiliate of a non-public industry standards corporation.

Mr. Shapiro has worked closely with chief legal officers and audit committees to scope and complete the investigations. A hallmark of his special investigations is close and regular communication with the client, client's counsel, and their outside accounting firm. Mr. Shapiro has produced voluminous detailed reports or summary presentations of findings, as required by the circumstances.

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More about Gordon M. Shapiro: Involvement | Recognition | Speeches / Publications | News

Organization Membership

Mr. Shapiro was selected by his peers as a Life Fellow of the Texas Bar Foundation and a Fellow of the Dallas Bar Foundation. He was invited to serve as an outside faculty member for training expert witnesses on damage testimony and as a faculty member in the National Institute of Trial Advocacy (NITA) Southern Deposition Program. Mr. Shapiro is a former Barrister in the Dallas Inn of Court. He has served as Subcommittee Chairman of the Fee Disputes Committee for the Dallas Bar Association. He is a member of the American Bar Association, the Texas Bar Association, the Dallas Bar Association, the Texas Association of Defense Counsel, the Dallas Association of Defense Counsel, and the Bar of the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals.

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More about Gordon M. Shapiro: Biography | Recognition | Speeches / Publications | News

Peer Recognition

Mr. Shapiro is listed in The Best Lawyers in America under Commercial Litigation (2006-2012) and under Litigation - Banking & Finance, Environmental and Securities (2012). He was lead trial counsel in a ten-week federal jury trial recognized by a national legal weekly, The National Law Journal, in a national survey as a "Top Defense Win." He was named a "Super Lawyer" by Thomson Reuters (2003-2008, 2010-2011). He was also honored by Super Lawyers, Corporate Counsel Edition for being a "Super Lawyer in Business Litigation."

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Speeches / Publications

Mr. Shapiro delivered a presentation called "E-mail Discovery and Privilege" at the Texas Association of Bank Counsel 28th Annual Convention. An article written on this presentation was later published in 23 Corporate Counsel Review 201 (2004) and in another widely read civil litigation journal, 30 The Advocates Quarterly 258 (2005). Portions of the article were reprinted in Kevin R. Johnson, Catherine A. Rogers and John Valery White, Complex Litigation: Cases and Materials on Litigating for Social Change 652-656 (2009). Mr. Shapiro has written and spoken on a variety of lender liability litigation strategies and issues, including "Legal Defense: Issues and Strategies in Electronic Discovery;" "State of the Art Litigation;" "Legal and Practical Issues Applicable to Liquidation of Publicly Traded Stock Collateral;" "Jury Consultants, Mirror Juries, Video Impeachment;" "Defense Strategies in Litigation Against Foreign Corporations;" and "A Primer to the Handling of Lender Liability Suits." He was co-author of an article contained in an annual survey of Texas law, "Gordon M. Shapiro, Dena L. Mathis & Kimberly O'D. Thompson, Banking Litigation," 45 SW.L.J. 1297 (1992).

Mr. Shapiro was a panelist at KPMG's Audit Committee Institute, Audit Committee Fundamentals Seminar, speaking on the topic "Audit Committee Interactions and Setting the Audit Committee Agenda." At seminars held in Chicago, Dallas, Washington, D.C., and Florida on the impact of new accounting rules on asset retirement obligations (FIN 47), he spoke on "Whistleblowers and Investigations under Sarbanes-Oxley."

Links to Publications

• Texas Case Law Update
• UCC Case Law Update
• Whistleblowers and Investigations Under Sarbanes-Oxley
• E-Mail Discovery and Privilege

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