On October 7, 2016, Shapiro Arato filed its opening brief in the criminal appeal of former New York State Senator Dean Skelos, who was convicted of federal corruption charges. At trial, the government argued that Mr. Skelos pressured companies to employ or pay his son in exchange for “official action” in their favor. This “official … Read more
As described more fully here, on October 5, 2016, Alexandra Shapiro argued before the Supreme Court of the United States in Salman v. United States, No. 15-628, the first insider trading case that the Court has heard in nearly two decades. Ms. Shapiro’s argument has since received widespread news coverage. Below are some of the … Read more
On September 26, 2016, Judge Andrew L. Carter of the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York granted Shapiro Arato’s motion for summary judgment, dismissing all claims in plaintiff Dwayne D. Walker’s lawsuit regarding the Roc-A-Fella Records logo. Walker claimed that in 1995, he designed the logo used by Roc-a-Fella Records, … Read more
On October 5, 2016, Alexandra Shapiro argued before the Supreme Court of the United States in Salman v. United States, No. 15-628, the first insider trading case that the Court has heard in nearly two decades. Our client, Bassam Salman, was convicted in the Northern District of California of trading on inside information that he … Read more
On October 4, 2015, Bloomberg BNA published a profile of partner Alexandra Shapiro on the eve of her first argument before the Supreme Court in Salman v. United States, the first insider trading case the Court has heard in 20 years. The article explains that her “securities law work has played a pivotal role in … Read more
On September 27, 2016, the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit upheld the dismissal of a lawsuit against the ex-wife of comic book artist Wallace Wood, which claimed that valuable comic book artwork in her possession should be turned over to Wallace Wood’s biographer. Shapiro Arato partner Cynthia Arato argued in the … Read more
Partner Alexandra Shapiro was recently featured in the first part of a documentary series focused on third-party candidates in the 2016 presidential election. “Third Candidates” is a documentary produced by John Farrell and Jake Simms that examines why it is rare for a U.S. election to have more than two major candidates for president. The … Read more
On September 15, 2016, Shapiro Arato LLP filed an amicus brief on behalf of the Recording Industry Association of America (“RIAA”) in the Supreme Court of the United States in the long-standing “dancing baby” case. In that case, a video depicting a child dancing to a copyrighted song was removed from YouTube for alleged infringement. … Read more
Partner Cynthia S. Arato has been appointed to a three-year term as Chair of the Copyright & Literary Property Committee of the New York City Bar Association. The Copyright & Literary Property Committee addresses a wide variety of issues of concern to the copyright bar and to industries that are focused on content creation, distribution … Read more
On August 29, 2016, Southern District Magistrate Judge Ronald L. Ellis awarded Shapiro Arato’s clients over $8,000 in attorney’s fees arising from plaintiff Dwayne Walker and his counsel’s refusal to produce discoverable text messages in connection with the plaintiff’s lawsuit regarding the Roc-A-Fella Records logo. Judge Ellis initially granted Shapiro Arato’s motion for sanctions on … Read more