Leading New York-based trial attorneys recently achieved back-to-back, precedent-setting victories on behalf of clients.

We are pleased to welcome partners Kenneth M. Breen and Phara A. Guberman to our White Collar Defense and Investigations Group in New York.

Ken and Phara are highly experienced trial attorneys who join Cadwalader from Paul Hastings, where Ken most recently served as head of Paul Hastings' New York white collar group after 10 years as chair of the firm's global investigations and white collar defense team. Their practice focuses on defending corporations and senior executives in high-stakes investigations, trials, and appeals.

Together, they recently achieved major back-to-back victories for clients in two of the highest profile white collar matters in the United States. In a precedent-setting appellate victory in U.S. v. Connolly, et al., the Second Circuit Court of Appeals overturned all counts of conviction and directed a judgment of acquittal in favor of their client, Matthew Connolly, the lead defendant in the case and the first U.S.-based trader to be charged with alleged manipulation of LIBOR. Ken and Phara represented Mr. Connolly at trial and on appeal. Their win represents the only LIBOR-related criminal case in the U.S. or U.K. to be overturned on sufficiency of the evidence and sets an important standard for all future wire fraud prosecutions. For this they were recognized by The American Lawyer as Litigators of the Week, which referred to the Connolly appellate success as a "remarkable turnaround" and recognized that the "decision is the second white-collar appellate reversal [Breen and Guberman] have won in as many years." Global Investigations Review short-listed the Connolly trial as its "Most Important Case of the Year" for its impact on future investigations and Law360 honored them for securing a sentencing ruling without any period of incarceration for Mr. Connolly, though the government was seeking 15 years.

The duo also represented David Gibson, former Chief Financial Officer of Wilmington Trust Corporation, in U.S. v. Gibson, et al., at trial and on appeal in a matter involving accounting and securities fraud brought by the U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Delaware. Mr. Gibson's conviction was overturned on all counts in a matter of first impression for the Third Circuit Court of Appeals, and the remanded counts were dismissed by the District of Delaware. The Gibson case sets a precedent for false statement prosecutions in the Third Circuit. The American Lawyer deemed this win a "stunning reversal of criminal convictions... in a case dating back to the Great Recession."

Ken is a first-chair trial attorney who has been consistently recognized among the leading white-collar attorneys in the country. Prior to private practice, Ken served as a federal prosecutor in the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of New York, where he was Deputy Chief of the Business and Securities Fraud Section, and in the U.S. Department of Justice's Tax Division. He has tried 48 cases to verdict and argued 12 appeals as a federal prosecutor and defense attorney.

Phara is a highly regarded, versatile litigator considered a next-generation leader in the field. She was recently honored by Benchmark Litigation as one of the Top 250 Women in Litigation and by Global Investigations Review as one of 100 notable Women in Investigations.

The arrival of Ken and Phara represents the next phase of the expansion plan for the white collar and global litigation groups. Over the past 18 months, Cadwalader has added leading litigators Nicholas Gravante, Philip Iovieno, Larry Brandman, and Helen Maher in New York; Phil Khinda, Doug Gansler, and Rachel Rodman in Washington; and Mark Beardsworth and Kevin Roberts in London.