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Leigh Nathanson is a persuasive trial lawyer and valued advisor whom clients entrust with their most challenging and important legal issues.  Leigh helps clients achieve pragmatic, creative solutions to a broad range of complex commercial disputes, including antitrust, market manipulation, RICO, class action and multidistrict, and distressed investment litigation.  She represents financial institutions, companies, and individuals as both plaintiffs and defendants in high-stakes matters in federal and state court, regulatory proceedings and investigations, and crisis and risk advising.

Ranked in Chambers and Partners for Commercial Litigation, named a Rising Star by New York Law Journal and Law360, and featured multiple times in The American Lawyer’s Litigator-of-the-Week series, Leigh has achieved winning outcomes in a wide range of high-value, high-profile matters, including:

  • Winning an asset-preserving injunction on behalf of asset manager Leadenhall Capital Partners prosecuting RICO and fraud claims against a borrower, 777 Partners, engaged in an alleged Ponzi scheme;
  • Dismissing, narrowing, or favorably resolving claims on behalf of Barclays in class action and multidistrict litigations alleging manipulation of LIBOR;
  • Defending HSBC in multidistrict litigations alleging manipulation of the precious metals markets, including achieving a full dismissal of one action;
  • Winning a trial judgment for Barclays in New York state court to defeat a $1+ billion contract claim brought by hedge fund BDC arising from total return swap transactions;
  • Winning partial dismissal for The RealReal against federal trademark claims brought by Chanel involving the luxury secondhand market and prosecuting antitrust counterclaims; 
  • Representing DraftKings against regulatory and civil litigation challenging the legality of daily fantasy sports, including resolving civil claims through a coupon settlement;
  • Winning dismissal, affirmed by the Seventh Circuit and the Indiana Supreme Court, of a class action  challenging DraftKings' use of college athlete names and statistics; 
  • Negotiating a favorable resolution and prosecuting counterclaims for EarthLink in a vendor breach of contract action; and
  • Representing an airline in a federal investigation, civil litigations, and crisis counseling arising from management misconduct.

Leigh has been described as "unflappable, versatile and everything you could want in a litigator."

Full Bio

Credentials

J.D., New York University School of Law

A.B., Harvard University

New York

U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit

U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit

U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York

New York City Bar Association

Litigation: General Commercial, Up and Coming


Chambers and Partners, 2025

Rising Star


New York Law Journal, 2018 (one of 29 lawyers named in New York region)

Rising Star


Law 360, 2018

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Recognition

Litigation: General Commercial, Up and Coming


Chambers and Partners, 2025

Rising Star


New York Law Journal, 2018 (one of 29 lawyers named in New York region)

Rising Star


Law 360, 2018

Matters

Representing asset manager Leadenhall Capital Partners in $1.8 billion RICO action against 777 Partners and Advantage Capital Partners alleging that defendants conspired to defraud Leadenhall by double-pledging or fictitiously pledging more than $600 million of collateral and Second Circuit appeal involving asset-freezing injunction

Representing individual defendant in securities class action and fraudulent/preferential transfer cryptocurrency claims arising from Celsius bankruptcy

Representing Barclays in class action multidistrict litigation and parallel regulatory proceedings alleging manipulation of LIBOR and price fixing in related derivatives markets, including Second Circuit and Supreme Court appeals

See more

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Matters

Representing asset manager Leadenhall Capital Partners in $1.8 billion RICO action against 777 Partners and Advantage Capital Partners alleging that defendants conspired to defraud Leadenhall by double-pledging or fictitiously pledging more than $600 million of collateral and Second Circuit appeal involving asset-freezing injunction

Representing individual defendant in securities class action and fraudulent/preferential transfer cryptocurrency claims arising from Celsius bankruptcy

Representing Barclays in class action multidistrict litigation and parallel regulatory proceedings alleging manipulation of LIBOR and price fixing in related derivatives markets, including Second Circuit and Supreme Court appeals

Representing HSBC in class actions and multidistrict litigation alleging manipulation of the markets for gold, silver, and platinum and palladium, including multiple Second Circuit appeals

Representing The RealReal in federal trademark action brought by Chanel involving the luxury secondhand market and prosecuting antitrust counterclaims

Representing DraftKings in state attorney general action and 50-state consumer class action challenging the legality of daily fantasy sports

Winning dismissal, affirmed by the Seventh Circuit and the Indiana Supreme Court, of a class action challenging DraftKings' use of college athlete names and statistics

Winning a trial judgment for Barclays in breach of contract action brought by hedge fund BDC arising from total return swap transactions

Representing EarthLink in breach of contract action brought by, and prosecuting counterclaims against, vendor Open-Xchange

Representing an airline in a federal investigation, civil litigations, and crisis counseling arising from management misconduct

Matters

Representing asset manager Leadenhall Capital Partners in $1.8 billion RICO action against 777 Partners and Advantage Capital Partners alleging that defendants conspired to defraud Leadenhall by double-pledging or fictitiously pledging more than $600 million of collateral and Second Circuit appeal involving asset-freezing injunction

Representing individual defendant in securities class action and fraudulent/preferential transfer cryptocurrency claims arising from Celsius bankruptcy

Representing Barclays in class action multidistrict litigation and parallel regulatory proceedings alleging manipulation of LIBOR and price fixing in related derivatives markets, including Second Circuit and Supreme Court appeals

See more

Close

Matters

Representing asset manager Leadenhall Capital Partners in $1.8 billion RICO action against 777 Partners and Advantage Capital Partners alleging that defendants conspired to defraud Leadenhall by double-pledging or fictitiously pledging more than $600 million of collateral and Second Circuit appeal involving asset-freezing injunction

Representing individual defendant in securities class action and fraudulent/preferential transfer cryptocurrency claims arising from Celsius bankruptcy

Representing Barclays in class action multidistrict litigation and parallel regulatory proceedings alleging manipulation of LIBOR and price fixing in related derivatives markets, including Second Circuit and Supreme Court appeals

Representing HSBC in class actions and multidistrict litigation alleging manipulation of the markets for gold, silver, and platinum and palladium, including multiple Second Circuit appeals

Representing The RealReal in federal trademark action brought by Chanel involving the luxury secondhand market and prosecuting antitrust counterclaims

Representing DraftKings in state attorney general action and 50-state consumer class action challenging the legality of daily fantasy sports

Winning dismissal, affirmed by the Seventh Circuit and the Indiana Supreme Court, of a class action challenging DraftKings' use of college athlete names and statistics

Winning a trial judgment for Barclays in breach of contract action brought by hedge fund BDC arising from total return swap transactions

Representing EarthLink in breach of contract action brought by, and prosecuting counterclaims against, vendor Open-Xchange

Representing an airline in a federal investigation, civil litigations, and crisis counseling arising from management misconduct

Credentials

J.D., New York University School of Law

A.B., Harvard University

New York

U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit

U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit

U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York

New York City Bar Association

Litigation: General Commercial, Up and Coming


Chambers and Partners, 2025

Rising Star


New York Law Journal, 2018 (one of 29 lawyers named in New York region)

Rising Star


Law 360, 2018

Close

Recognition

Litigation: General Commercial, Up and Coming


Chambers and Partners, 2025

Rising Star


New York Law Journal, 2018 (one of 29 lawyers named in New York region)

Rising Star


Law 360, 2018