Jonathan Frank

Jonathan Frank has extensive trial and appellate experience and has acted as counsel in numerous high-profile business litigations and international arbitrations. He handles a variety of complex commercial disputes, including real estate, bankruptcy and securities litigations, cross-border litigations and related white collar criminal matters.

Mr. Frank joined Skadden in 1999 after years as an executive assistant district attorney, special prosecutor and homicide prosecutor in Brooklyn, N.Y. As a prosecutor, Mr. Frank successfully tried numerous high-profile murder cases and was nationally recognized for his work.

Mr. Frank, likewise, has been nationally recognized for his commercial litigation work at Skadden, being listed in Chambers USA: America’s Leading Lawyers For Business where he is described as “wicked smart.” He also is named in the Legal 500 U.S. as one of only 14 attorneys in the U.S. who are “leading lawyers” in commercial litigation.

His practice at Skadden is focused on a variety of complex commercial disputes, including real estate, bankruptcy and securities litigations, as well as related white collar criminal matters, emphasizing the creation and execution of litigation strategies and tactics; trial, international and U.S. arbitral proceedings; the assessment of claims; and settlement negotiations. He has acted as counsel in numerous high-profile business litigations and arbitrations.

Mr. Frank was a lead member of the trial team that won a defendant’s verdict on all claims in favor of DaimlerChrysler AG against Tracinda Corporation, owned by Kirk Kerkorian. The trial in the U.S. District Court of Delaware involved securities fraud claims of more than $1 billion, making it the largest securities case ever tried in federal court. The National Law Journal awarded the team the “2005 Top Defense Win of the Year.”

In the fall of 2008, Mr. Frank parachuted in as part of the team hired two weeks before trial to defend Freedom Communications, following the court’s determination to instruct the jury that Freedom and its newspaper The Orange County Registerhad willfully destroyed relevant documents.

The class action lawsuit, which alleged violations of California labor laws, threatened to put the Register out of business with the loss of hundreds of jobs. After eight weeks of trial, the matter was successfully settled, keeping the newspaper in business, with no admission of liability.

In a domestic arbitration, Mr. Frank represented Deutsche Bank in its claims against General Electric Capital Corporation and obtained a successful settlement in the midst of the arbitral hearings. In the summer of 2017, as lead trial counsel, he secured a victory on behalf of a commercial real estate client after a hearing.

Education:

• J.D., Boston University School of Law, 1983
• B.A., University of Wisconsin, Madison, 1979

Admissions :

• Massachusetts
• New York

Associations:

• Co-chair, Practising Law Institute Seminar, “Current Developments in Federal Practice,” Practising Law Institute, Annually 2007-2017
• Federal Bar Council Committee on Bankruptcy Litigation