Fabien M. Thayamballi

Fabien is an experienced litigator who focuses on appeals, complex civil litigation, and white-collar defense.  He represents clients in a wide range of matters, including commercial and intellectual property disputes, antitrust and consumer litigation, and criminal and regulatory proceedings.  His clients have included major corporations, business executives, government officials, and prominent entertainment figures.

Fabien has litigated in federal and state courts across the country, including the Supreme Court of the United States.  Among other things, he has won a jury acquittal on all counts in a criminal fraud trial and won reversals of adverse judgments on appeal.  He has been instrumental in obtaining favorable results ranging from summary judgment in hard-fought civil cases to the dismissal of a federal criminal indictment.  He has argued major motions in high-profile litigation between Hollywood celebrities and a federal RICO prosecution.

Prior to joining the firm, Fabien clerked for two federal judges and worked at a leading international law firm, where he was part of a trial team that successfully overturned a state regulatory program as preempted by federal law.

Representative Matters

Key Trials, Appeals, and Proceedings

• Represented actor Justin Baldoni and related parties in federal civil litigation brought by Blake Lively arising from It Ends With Us movie.  Briefed and argued motions to exclude experts on social media manipulation at pretrial hearing.
• Won acquittal on all counts, as sole counsel for client, in five-defendant criminal jury trial concerning allegations of fraudulent Medicaid claims.
• Won appeal in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit affirming dismissal of putative class action against healthcare company and compelling arbitration.
• Won appeal in the New York Appellate Division’s First Department reversing dismissal of apparel company’s claims in trade-secret misappropriation case.
• Won appeal in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit reversing dismissal of civil rights claims and remanding with instructions to enter summary judgment for our client.
• Co-authored briefs in Second Circuit appeal of former New York Senate majority leader Dean Skelos, resulting in vacatur of all counts and remand for new trial.
• Co-authored briefs in Second Circuit and U.S. Supreme Court appeals from wire-fraud prosecution, resulting in vacatur and remand from U.S. Supreme Court.
• Part of trial team that defended neuroscientist in arbitration proceeding brought by former employer, a biotechnology company. The arbitrator rejected all claims that our client had misappropriated trade secrets or other confidential information.

Intellectual Property Litigation

• Defended pharmaceutical and financial research companies in federal actions for alleged misappropriation of trade secrets, co-authoring successful motions to dismiss and for summary judgment.
• Obtained preliminary injunctions for corporate clients in the healthcare and apparel industries to halt the theft of confidential business information.
• Part of trial team that defended executive in preliminary injunction hearing over non-competition covenant, which resulted in denial of preliminary injunction.
• Represented major entertainment company in multi-jurisdictional trademark and copyright infringement litigation against mobile app developer, which resulted in summary judgment and consent judgment in client’s favor.
• Represent major record label in multi-jurisdictional copyright infringement litigation against fashion company.
• Co-authored merits amicus brief for several technology companies in Oil States Energy Services, LLC v. Greene’s Energy Group, LLC, a Supreme Court challenge to the constitutionality of inter partes review of patents.
• Co-authored cert-stage amicus brief for the RIAA in Universal Music Corp. v. Stephanie Lenz, which involved issues of standing and liability under the DMCA’s notice-and-takedown procedure.

Commercial Litigation

• Prosecuted multimillion-dollar breach of contract actions on behalf of advertising technology company, which were successfully resolved.
• Prosecuted and defended breach of contract actions in courts across the country on behalf of major entertainment companies, which were successfully resolved.
• Successfully resolved commercial dispute involving contractual and statutory claims on behalf of foreign manufacturer of agricultural equipment.

Antitrust and Consumer Litigation

• Represent individual defendant in multi-district antitrust litigation involving the pharmaceutical industry, including class actions and state enforcement actions.
• Won order compelling arbitration of potential negligence/product liability action against healthcare company.
• Successfully resolved consumer lawsuits alleging violations of California Invasion of Privacy Act (CIPA) based on features of corporate client’s website.

White-Collar Defense

• Represented former pharmaceutical executive in federal prosecution for alleged Sherman Act antitrust violations and false statements.  Our team convinced the government to dismiss the indictment with prejudice.
• Represented former state politician at federal criminal jury trial on charges of honest-services fraud, federal-program bribery, and violations of the Hobbs Act.
• Represented businessman at federal criminal jury trial on charges under the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act and other bribery and money laundering statutes.
• Represented defendant in federal prosecution under RICO statute related to the NXIVM organization.

Professional Activities and Honors

• Authored article on “State Law Challenges in Enforcing Arbitration Clauses,” which was published in Law360 (July 14, 2025).
• Gave presentation on “Non-Compete Litigation: Essentials and Recent Developments” for the Federal Bar Council (July 10, 2025).
• Recognized by Super Lawyers as a “Rising Star” in the New York Metro area (2021-2022).
• Member, Federal Courts Committee of the New York City Bar Association (2018-2021).
• Secretary, Copyright & Literary Property Committee of the New York City Bar Association (2016-2019).