David Elsberg, a co-founder of the litigation firm Selendy Gay Elsberg, just launched a new Wall Street boutique named Elsberg Baker & Maruri. The firm also includes two partners from his original operation, Michael Duke and Vivek Tata. Elsberg Baker & Maruri will engage in both plaintiff and defense work and is poised to take on five trials and arbitrations this year, according to Elsberg.
Elsberg, who departed from Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan to start Selendy Gay in 2018, became a named partner in 2022. His former firm established itself as a distinguished litigation firm, despite having fewer than 80 lawyers. Past representation includes Assured Investment Management for accusations of fraud by its funders and a plaintiff claiming patent infringement by Apple Inc..
In a new venture, Elsberg sets out to make Elsberg Baker & Maruri as successful as Selendy Gay was. The firm plans to take an aggressive approach, devising creative solutions for complex issues and forming good, close relationships with other firms known as good co-counsel.
Joining the firm are other name partners, Rollo Baker and Silpa Maruri, hailing from Quinn Emanuel. Baker was co-chair of Quinn Emanuel’s corporate governance practice and Maruri was co-chair of the Delaware practice. Maruri was part of the legal team representing Elon Musk when he sought to acquire X, the platform formally known as Twitter.
Also on the Elsberg Baker & Maruri team are Tata and Duke, who were promoted to partner at Selendy Gay in November. They represent UMB Bank, which alleges Bristol-Meyers sought to dodge a $6.4 billion contractual obligation by purposely delaying FDA approval of a cancer drug. Tata has defended Alphabet Inc.’s Google and YouTube against allegations of an illegal ‘automatic renewal’ subscription scheme.
Elaborating on the growth plan for the firm, Elsberg anticipates hiring 14 associates within the next two months. The firm will focus on organic growth— by being discerning with talent acquisition and willing to turn away work if it surpasses the bandwidth and compromises the quality of work. The firm will offer associates equity partnerships on a seven-year promotion track and will use a modified lock-step partner compensation.
Elsberg noted that he will continue to work on investment fund disputes and litigation matters like breach of fiduciary obligations and bankruptcy. His past representation includes the investment fund Fairfield Sentry Ltd. and global energy corporation Vitol Inc., the latter seeking arbitration against a company for non-payment for their delivered product.
The new firm will offer alternative fee arrangements for certain clients and legal matters, but will primarily rely on the traditional billing hour. Elsberg stated that the firm feels most comfortable with revenue from hourly cases. [Read More]