Current Employment Position(s)

Partner

Lawyer Overview

Gerald Fields is a partner in the Litigation practice of Paul Hastings. He concentrates his practice in a broad range of business litigation, including securities matters, hostile acquisitions, corporate governance matters, partnership disputes, antitrust, corporate opportunity suits, brokerage or investment banking fee claims, suits arising out of claims of interference with employee contracts or violations of non-compete provisions, and trust and estate litigation. Mr. Fields defended the target company in the precedent-setting takeover case in which the federal Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit established the applicability and contours of the business judgment rule in the context of the sale of stock to a “white knight” to ward off a hostile takeover (Treadway v. Care, 638 F.2d 357, 2d Cir. 1980). Mr. Fields represented the limited partners in New York’s Helmsley Palace Hotel and obtained relief – rarely granted in an arbitration – appointing a Receiver to oversee operations of the Hotel and wind up the Partnership’s business (Lepercq v. Helmsley, 562 N.Y.S.2d 113, App. Div. 1990). Mr. Fields also represented The Empire State Building Company, the operating subleasee to 2076 of the Empire State Building, in thwarting a takeover attempt by the Building’s fee owner (a partnership controlled by Donald Trump) to break the master lease and gain control of this landmark Building (Empire State Building Associates v. Trump Empire, 710 N.Y.S.2d 819, App. Div 2000). Other of his prominent reported decisions are: Freedom National Bank v. Daniels & Bell, 528 F. Supp. 680, (SDNY 1981) (takeover); Rothschild v. Liggett, 474 A.2d 133 (Del. Sup. 1984) (shareholder rights); Xanthopoulos v. Thomas Cook, Inc., 629 F. Supp. 164 (SDNY 1985) (banking); Thompson Everett v. Cable Media, 57 F.3d 1317 (4th Cir. 1995) (antitrust); Kostolany v. Davis, 1995 WL 662683 (Del.Ch.) (Delaware internal affairs doctrine); Springwell v. Falcon, 16 F. Supp.2d 300 (SDNY 1998) (finders’ fee); Ecoban Finance v. Grupo Acerero Del Norte, 108 F. Supp.2d 349 (SDNY 2000) (international comity). Most recently, Mr. Fields represented the State of Connecticut in its highly publicized and successful action against the private equity firm, Forstmann Little & Co. Mr. Fields is a Fellow of the New York Bar Foundation. He served as a member of the Judiciary Committee of the Association of the Bar of the City of New York from 1989 to 1997, and as a member of that Association’s Council on Judicial Administration from 1996 to 1999. Mr. Fields graduated (Phi Beta Kappa) from Kenyon College in 1962, where he is Vice Chair of its Board of Trustees, and graduated from the Yale Law School in 1965.

Areas of Practice

• Copyright
• Financial Litigation
• Litigation
• Securities Litigation and SEC Enforcement

West Practice Categories

Copyrights, Banking & Finance Law, Litigation & Appeals, Securities Law, Securities Regulation

Bar Admissions

• New York, 1966
• U.S. Court of Appeals 2nd Circuit, 1969
• U.S. District Court Eastern District of New York, 1968
• U.S. District Court Southern District of New York, 1968
• U.S. Supreme Court, 1980
• U.S. Tax Court, 1986

Professional Associations and Memberships

• American Arbitration Association (Panel of Arbitrators)
• Association of the Bar of the City of New York, 1989 - 1992 (Member, Judiciary Committee)
• New York State Bar Association (Member)
• Kenyon College, Trustee and Secretary to the Board, 1988 - Present

Education

• Yale Law School, New Haven, Connecticut, 1965
  LL.B., Bachelor of Law
• Kenyon College, Gambier, Ohio, 1962
  B.A., Bachelor of Arts
  Honors: magna cum laude
  Honors: Phi Beta Kappa

Address

Park Avenue Tower
75 E. 55th Street
First Floor
New York, NY 10022

Phones

(212) 318-6290

Faxes

(212) 319-4090

Emails

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Websites

http://www.paulhastings.com