Thomas Welling

Thomas J. Welling is a member of the firm’s Litigation Group, representing clients in complex commercial disputes. He handles a wide range of cases, with a focus on the financial services, real estate, insurance, and digital marketing industries, as well as nonprofit organizations.

Thomas has extensive experience with federal securities laws, corporate governance, class actions, insurance coverage, and bankruptcy. He also advises clients on managing litigation risks in connection with complex mergers & acquisitions, real estate, and other business transactions.

Thomas brings to his client relationships and practice experience with litigation in federal and state courts in New York and throughout the United States, and in private mediations and arbitrations. He has handled numerous temporary restraining orders, depositions, trials, and appeals.

Thomas has particular experience representing financial institutions, private equity firms, hedge funds, and broker-dealers in civil litigation, including individuals and companies facing securities law claims brought by the government or plaintiffs’ bar.

This experience includes being on the teams involved in mortgage-backed securities litigation. Thomas began his career at Simpson Thacher & Bartlett LLP, where he was a litigation associate for six years.

There he gained valuable trial experience through his involvement in such matters as a $100 million-plus jury trial, a multi-billion-dollar non-products asbestos coverage dispute fought in a multiphase bench trial, and a bankruptcy confirmation hearing of a 524(g) plan on behalf of the same insurer.

During law school, Thomas worked at the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of New York and for a judge in the Southern District of New York.

Experience :

• A major U.S. financial institution, against class action securities law claims arising from the collapse of commercial real estate lending practice;
• A major government contracting company, against fraud and breach of contract claims arising from the sale of its subsidiary;
• A Chinese company, its principals, and U.S. affiliates, against fraud, RICO, and corporate theft claims arising from a cross-border commercial contract dispute involving rare earth metals;
• An email marketing firm in connection with a potential class action under the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA);
• A community nonprofit corporation and its board of directors against breach of fiduciary duty and other corporate governance claims;
• A foreign representative of an insolvent Swiss company in bankruptcy litigation against a claim for an unpaid margin call arising out of liquidation of futures positions allegedly held by the Swiss company;
• A New York government agency in defeating preliminary injunction and obtaining dismissal of claims it violated the State Environmental Quality Review Act (SEQRA) in connection with financing of apartment development in Brooklyn, New York;
• Private-equity firms and financial service providers, against various shareholder and derivative class action lawsuits related to tender offers and other mergers & acquisition transactions.

Education :

• J.D. cum laude Brooklyn Law School 2007
• B.A. Williams College 2002

Bar Admissions : New York

Court Admissions :

• U.S. Supreme Court
• U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York
• U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York

Professional Memberships :

• Director, Brooklyn Law School Alumni Association Board of Directors
• American Bar Association
• Federal Bar Council

Community :

• Thomas was honored by Legal Services of New York City from 2008 to 2011 for his valuable pro bono service. He is currently the lead attorney in a pro bono representation of an individual seeking political asylum, based on physical abuse and imprisonment, from a dictatorship in Africa. He also represents several tenants in bringing a Fair Housing Act claim against the City of Ridgeland, Mississippi, seeking to invalidate a zoning ordinance that sought to eliminate their apartment complexes.
• Thomas’s prior pro bono work included obtaining legal status for an asylum client and her daughter fleeing domestic violence, representing multiple clients in New York City housing court, and representing over 20 families in connection with obtaining relocation assistance from the City of New York after their apartment complex was taken via eminent domain.
• Thomas has contributed to Venable’s Class Action Alert newsletter, most recently as author of “The Supreme Court’s Decision in Amgen Reshapes the Securities Class Certification Battlefield.”