Litigation Leaders: Simpson Thacher’s Jonathan Youngwood
on Building a High Talent, Low Ego Litigation Culture
Youngwood, the global co-chair of the firm’s litigation department, says that the firm culture “not onlymakes Simpson Thacher a great place to practice law, but also provides our clients a team with a distinct
advantage–collaborating on solutions and sharing information and resources is natural for us.”
By Ross Todd

Welcome to another edition of our Litigation Leaders series,
featuring the litigation practice leaders of the biggest firms inthe country.
Meet Jonathan Youngwood, the global co-chair of thelitigation department of Simpson Thacher & Bartlett.
Youngwood, who is based in New York, leads the firm’s civil
securities practice and has more than 25 years of experiencein complex commercial litigations, arbitrations, investigations, and regulatory matters.
Litigation Daily: Tell us a little about yourself—
beyond what’s in your law firm bio.
I lead the firm’s litigation department as global cochair, along with Paul Curnin, and I’m also a memberof the firm’s executive committee.
Beyond our work for our long-standing clients, one ofthe things that I am most passionate about is the firm’s
pro bono work. I believe law firms are uniquely positioned to effect real change on issues that truly matter.
Recently, along with our pro bono partners and an outstanding team of lawyers at Simpson Thacher, we havetaken on high-impact pro bono class action litigation
to reform policing practices and expand voting rights,
secured a “historic” decision allowing veterans to bringclass actions against the U.S. Department of Veterans
Affairs, and successfully overturned a wrongful murderconviction and secured the release and a declaration of
factual innocence of a client after 18 years behind bars,among many others. I was especially proud of our teamwho, in October 2019, worked alongside the American

Civil Liberties Union andthe ACLU of Mississippi
to secure a groundbreaking consent decree in Mississippi in a class action
which seeks to prevent theMadison County Sheriff’s
Department from engaging
in racially motivated policing practices. The firm was Jonathan Youngwood ofhonored as Benchmark Liti- Simpson Thacher & Bartlett
gation’s “Pro Bono Firm of the Year” in 2020 and also
received Benchmark’s “Impact Case Award” for our workon this case.
It is a privilege to be able to spend time on pro bonowork. I always encourage all lawyers, from junior associates to partners across practice groups, to get involved. It
will strengthen your practice, broaden your perspective
and enrich your life.
How big is your litigation department and where aremost of your litigators concentrated geographically?
Simpson Thacher has some 250 litigators. While themajority of these attorneys are based in the U.S., we also
have litigators across Asia, Europe and Latin America.
In what three areas of litigation do you have thedeepest bench?
I am fortunate to work with so many talented colleagues, and we continue to invest in our bench in multiple areas, including securities and investigations, anti-Courtesy Photo

April 19, 2021

trust and insurance, to ensure we’re meeting the dynamic
needs of our clients. For the last 25 years I have primarily
focused on securities litigation and regulatory matters,in addition to other complex commercial litigation andarbitration, and I’m proud that the department is oneof an elite few practicing in these areas. Our securities
litigators work closely with our premier government andinternal investigations practice, in particular on matterswhere we have parallel proceedings or investigations
that precede or follow securities litigations, as well asother enforcement issues. We’re fortunate to have sucha highly-talented team of former senior government
officials from the SEC, DOJ and FTC, and former U.S.
federal prosecutors, in addition to our strong bench ofnationally recognized litigators.
Our antitrust and trade regulation team is also verystrong and we continue to invest in this area. For
example, we recently announced that we will open an
office in Brussels this summer, which will primarily focus
on antitrust and competition matters and will complement our presence in London. Given the increase in
the review of foreign direct investment into the U.S.,
the accelerating regulation of digital and technology
companies on both sides of the Atlantic, and an increasein other cross-jurisdictional enforcement, this was a particularly important development for us.
In addition, our insurance litigation practice is wellknown as one of the go-to firms for insurers for complex andnovel issues, and this year they were very busy confronting
some of the unique issues arising from the pandemic.
As head of the department, what are some of yourgoals or priorities?
One of our main goals is ensuring that our team is best
positioned to efficiently serve clients and guide themto the best possible outcomes. Achieving this means
dedicating the time and resources to formal and informal
training, and building a robust knowledge management
function. For example, the firm frequently employs AI
technologies that enable our litigators to conduct earlycase assessment, prioritize electronically stored information in discovery and, when relevant, provide highly
effective investigatory functionality.
We train our litigation associates to be trial lawyers
with exposure to different practice areas–this allows them

to become nimble advisors who are able to draw upon
their varied experience to develop creative solutions forclients as they become more senior. We also encourage
our associates to take on pro bono engagements, whichoften provide early opportunities for young lawyers to takedepositions and gain valuable courtroom experience.
What do you see as hallmarks of your firm’s litigators? What makes you different?
I feel very fortunate to have the opportunity to lead,along with my co-chair Paul Curnin, such a wonderfully
talented group. On any given day our litigators are working on some of the most interesting and complex issues
for a diverse range of clients. In addition to the nature of
the challenging work we do, our collaborative approachcontributes to an environment that is both exciting
and rewarding. One of my partners characterizes ourculture as “high on talent, but low on ego,” which not
only makes Simpson Thacher a great place to practicelaw, but also provides our clients a team with a distinct
advantage–collaborating on solutions and sharing information and resources is natural for us.
In addition, we believe it is critical to understandhow our clients operate, what their market and businessobjectives are, where they can avoid or mitigate risks,and ultimately how we can add value.
How many lateral litigation partners have you hiredin the last 12 months? What do you look for in lateralhires?
Although the vast majority of our litigators havespent their entire career at the firm, we have broughtin laterals, as needed, who have a particular expertise orbackground to supplement our deep bench of talent. Lastweek, we announced that Marc P. Berger, who was mostrecently the Acting Director of the SEC’s Enforcement
Division, will join the firm’s New York office in June andwill focus on investigations, enforcement and criminal
defense. We also recently welcomed Antonio Bavasso,
a highly-regarded antitrust practitioner, to the London
office. He is U.K. and Italy-qualified and will be very
involved in helping to expand our antitrust and competition capabilities in Brussels.
What were some of your firm’s biggest in-court winsin the past year, and can you cite tactics that exemplify
your firm’s approach to success?

The firm is very proud of our successful results again
this year. Although it would be difficult to highlighteverything, several victories include advising:• Velocity Financial in the first dismissal of a pandemicrelated securities class action;• 
Valeant Pharmaceuticals in obtaining dismissals in
multiple securities fraud suits;• Travelers in an appellate victory affirming its dismissalfrom long-running asbestos litigation;• Deutsche Bank in a proposed class action alleging
conspiracy to fix prices in the Mexican bond market;• Hilton and Hilton Hotels Retirement Plan in thedismissal of a renewed motion for class certification;• 
Tyson Foods in the dismissal of an antitrust classaction alleging a decades-long conspiracy to fix wages;• PAAMCO and Prisma in the dismissal of Kentucky
Retirement Systems derivative litigation; and• Bayer in a rare reversal of a National Advertising
Division (NAD) decision.
Our record of success is due, in part, to our ability tocraft and execute strategic plans to successfully resolve
matters as efficiently as possible—be it through aggressive motion practice, developing innovative legal arguments, setting the stage for potential settlement discussions, or our ability to engage the bench and achieve
great success in the trial courtroom.
In addition, our clients appreciate our ongoing risk
management counseling, where we draw upon our deep
experience and institutional knowledge to help themavoid the risks and financial and reputational costs associated with litigation and regulatory enforcement.
Where are you looking to build or expand in the nextyear?
Assisting our clients, effectively and efficiently, isalways our paramount priority. Clients turn to us in timesof crisis, because we approach our relationship as a true
partnership. We strive to understand their businesses
and work tirelessly to achieve their objectives. As ateam, we thrive on the challenge and complexity of thework, which, in turn, continuously results in successful

work for our clients. This has been true throughout theCOVID-19 pandemic, where our long-standing clients
have turned to us to help address some of their biggest
challenges amidst a very unusual environment. This
next year will continue to be both interesting and challenging, especially as we continue to navigate how best
to litigate in a remote or hybrid-remote environment.
Training and mentoring will also continue to be botha challenge and opportunity for the entire legal profession. Because of our strong culture and collaborative andcreative approach to finding solutions, I’m optimistic wewill address the needs of our junior attorneys and continue to deliver the best results for our clients.
How are you coping with the current economic
downturn?
We have the privilege of being a firm that clients lookto as they tackle some of their most difficult and uniquechallenges. Clients appreciate our ability to identify
trends on the horizon and value our practical and commercial guidance.
The market turmoil and the complicated issues that
arose from the COVID-19 pandemic are similar in many
ways to the kind of work we saw following the financial
crisis—many of our long-standing clients have similarly
now tapped us to advise on some of their most importantand complex matters. For example, the firm’s insurance
and reinsurance practice is at the center of defending
the insurance industry against claims stemming fromthe pandemic, while the firm’s government and internal
investigations practice is very involved with crisis-related
work and other sensitive matters. The rest of the firm’slitigation department also remains very busy, advising on
matters that were active before the pandemic, as well as
new matters that have come in recently.
Ross Todd is the Editor/columnist for the Am Law Litigation
Daily. He writes about litigation of all sorts. Previously, Ross
was the Bureau Chief of The Recorder, ALM's California
affiliate. Contact Ross at rtodd@alm.com. On Twitter: @Ross_Todd.

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