Holwell Shuster & Goldberg is a nationally recognized litigation boutique that litigates front-page matters in both trial and appellate courts.

A 21st Century Firm

Holwell Shuster & Goldberg was co-founded in 2012 by the Honorable Richard J. Holwell after he stepped down as a federal judge in the Southern District of New York. Judge Holwell, who had been a partner at White & Case before his judgeship, was joined by three colleagues from his former firm: Michael S. Shuster, who had been the Global Head of Commercial Litigation (succeeding Judge Holwell in that role); Daniel P. Goldberg; and Dorit Ungar Black.

An Everything Practice For On-Your-Feet Experience

HSG does it all. It handles disputes in trial courts, arbitral tribunals, and administrative agencies throughout the nation. It has handled multiple merits cases before the U.S. Supreme Court and many more appeals throughout the federal courts of appeals and state courts of last resort.

HSG staffs cases leanly and with a view toward giving associates substantive experience right away. The firm recently secured a $101 million jury verdict in Arkansas against Walmart and a verdict of over $90 million in Seattle against Boeing (post-verdict proceedings are ongoing in both cases). In both of these trials, associates took witnesses and argued in court.

Operating out of a single office in New York City, HSG comprises top-pedigree lawyers; many have held prestigious federal clerkships or worked at Am Law 100 firms before joining HSG. The firm also includes four U.S. Supreme Court clerks among its ranks.

HSG’s lawyers are generalists. The firm’s practices include antitrust, appellate, bankruptcy litigation, complex commercial litigation, distressed debt and fund litigation, intellectual property, securities litigation, transnational litigation, and white collar and internal investigations. No lawyer specializes in any single practice, and HSG routinely takes cases on both sides of the “v.”

Pro Bono

HSG has won top marks for its pro bono work, being ranked by Law360 as the number one firm for pro bono (for firms with fewer than 100 attorneys) for two years running and being named Benchmark Litigation’s 2024 Pro Bono Firm of the Year. The firm’s pro bono work is associate-driven. Associates are encouraged to take on pro bono cases and causes that they care about. No particular ideology governs; the firm welcomes lawyers of all persuasions and views, which it believes makes for better teams, better thinking, and ultimately, better results.

• HSG won a $125 million jury verdict against Walmart in the company’s home state of Arkansas, alleging that Walmart wrongfully cancelled its contract with HSG’s client, London Luxury.
• HSG has secured significant victories for Chubb, including recent key wins against Mallinckrodt and Publix in a nationwide trial and as appellate counsel in connection with the opioid crisis, respectively, and wins against Meta in a forum fight over coverage for lawsuits alleging social media addiction.
• HSG secured a significant jury verdict against Boeing in Seattle in May 2024 in a case alleging that the aerospace behemoth stole substantial trade secrets from aerospace startup Zunum Aero, Inc. Post-verdict proceedings are ongoing.
• HSG secured a unanimous victory at SCOTUS concerning the authority of a federal district court to reopen proceedings that were voluntarily dismissed. HSG partner Vincent Levy delivered the oral argument, and Justice Alito issued a unanimous opinion for the Court in February 2025.

• Band 1 firm for Commercial Litigation in New York, 2025—Chambers
• General Commercial Firm of the Year, 2025—Benchmark Litigation
• New York Firm of the Year, 2025—Benchmark Litigation
• Leading Firm for Commercial and Financial Services Litigation, 2025—Legal 500
• No. 1 in the Nation for Pro Bono, 2024—Law360