Craig S. Waldman is a Partner in the Firm’s Litigation Department. He has extensive experience representing clients in high-profile securities litigation, including class and derivative actions, in courts throughout the country. Described by sources in Chambers USA as “one of the rare lawyers who is fantastic with details but also big-picture strategy,” “thoughtful, commercial and very well steeped in securities law” and a lawyer who is “extremely knowledgeable, on the ball, and in command of his matters,” “self-executing, efficient” and “thinks outside the box” to give “crisp commercial advice,” he frequently represents leading private equity and corporate clients in transaction-related litigation, corporate governance matters, and corporate control litigations.
Select recent representations:
- Valeant Pharmaceuticals in federal securities, derivative, and RICO class action litigations;
- Bumble Inc. in federal securities and derivative litigation; and separately, in litigation over shareholder voting structure;
- Paysafe in federal securities litigation;
- Special Committee of Snap, Inc. in shareholder derivative litigation;
- Nielsen in federal securities and state court derivative litigations;
- Envision Healthcare in federal securities litigation;
- American Electric Power Company in shareholder derivative litigation;
- Blackstone in litigations related to its acquisitions of Strategic Hotels & Resorts, Inc., Extended Stay Hotels, American Campus Communities, Gramercy Property Trust, Preferred Apartment Communities, Invitation Homes, and BioMed Realty Trust;
- KKR in litigations related to its acquisitions of TXU Corp., Envision Healthcare, and PharMerica;
- Homepoint in federal securities litigation;
- NN, Inc. in federal securities litigation brought in New York state court;
- Foot Locker’s Board of Directors in derivative litigation;
- Royal Bank of Scotland in dozens of residential mortgage-backed securities litigations in courts across the country, including class actions and individual actions by institutional investors such as the Federal Housing Finance Agency;
- Hovnanian Enterprises, Inc. in defeating Solus's efforts to enjoin a refinancing transaction between Hovnanian and GSO Capital Partners, LP;
- Versum Materials, Inc. in shareholder and fiduciary duty litigation related to its acquisition by Merck; and
- Chilean conglomerate Corp Group in an international arbitration regarding shareholder rights in a Colombian bank in excess of $600 million.
Craig’s extensive trial work has included, among others, a two-week arbitration for Corp Group in its dispute regarding the sale of a Colombian bank, a multi-week FINRA arbitration for a financial services client, the defense of Travelers in Plant Insulation Co. v. Fireman’s Fund Ins. Co. (Super. Ct. San Francisco) (successful ruling after trial on alleged non-products coverage issues), and Hanwha Group and Orix Corporation in a widely followed multibillion-dollar ICC international arbitration against the Korea Development Insurance Corporation, an agency of the Korean government.
Craig is recognized as a “Leading Lawyer” by The Legal 500 in Financial Services Litigation, and is also consistently recognized as a leading securities and M&A litigator by Chambers USA, The Legal 500, Euromoney’s Benchmark Litigation, and Law360. In 2024, Craig was recognized by Law360 as an “MVP” for Securities. In its recognition of Craig, Chambers USA noted that sources describe him as a “subject matter expert” and “a strong lawyer who's good at making sure clients get what they need.”
Craig has served as chair of the Firm’s Legal Personnel and Attorney Development Committees and is a member of the boards of directors of the Marlene Meyerson JCC Manhattan, the New York Lawyers for the Public Interest, and the New York City Bar Foundation. He is also a member of the President’s Council at Tufts University and a member of the 2024 class of David Rockefeller Fellows sponsored by the Partnership for the City of New York.
He also has an active pro bono practice including representing clients in housing court, domestic violence and asylum matters. Craig recently served as the Secretary of the Second Circuit Committee on Admissions and Grievances and on the Securities Editorial Advisory Board for Law360.
Craig received his J.D., cum laude, from Cornell Law School in 2004 and his B.A., magna cum laude, from Tufts University in 2001. He completed a clerkship with the Hon. Richard M. Berman in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York. He is admitted to practice in New York.