Kevin A. Janus is a founding member of Quinn Emanuel’s New York office. Kevin has over twenty-five years of experience representing both plaintiffs and defendants in complex domestic and international litigation and arbitration. His experience includes antitrust, class actions, Delaware Chancery litigation, business acquisition and M&A-related disputes, structured finance, securities, contract disputes, intellectual property (copyright, trademark, rights of publicity and privacy), and civil rights/constitutional litigation.
Kevin has tried cases in both federal and state court, as well as before arbitration panels such as the ICC, JAMS, and FINRA. He has represented a broad array of clients in the financial services, food and agriculture, biotechnology, medical/health, consumer products, and media/entertainment industries.
Kevin also coaches public high school students in moot court and mock trial.
He served as a law clerk to the Honorable Lawrence M. McKenna in the Southern District of New York.
- Defending one of the largest beef producers in the United States in a series of civil antitrust cases alleging a conspiracy among beef producers to constrain output and raise prices, including achieving an unprecedented victory by defeating an attempt by cattle ranchers to certify a $3 billion antitrust class action.
- Represented a major private equity fund in an ICC arbitration with the seat of arbitration in London in connection with claims related to accounting misrepresentations and fraud involving a $1 billion post-M&A dispute.
- Represented a physician inventor through trial in a confidential JAMS arbitration against an international medical equipment manufacturer related to disputed royalty payments owed under a patent license agreement, obtaining an eight-figure damages award.
- Represented a biotechnology company and its controlling stockholder in Delaware Chancery Court appraisal and fiduciary duty litigation arising from the acquisition of an immunotherapy company focused on the treatment of cancer, viral infections, and inflammatory diseases, defeating plaintiffs’ efforts to enjoin the transaction, obtaining summary judgment on certain claims, and securing favorable settlements resolving all claims prior to trial.
- Represented a biotechnology company, its controlling stockholder, and other directors in Delaware Chancery Court class and derivative litigation arising from the company’s purchase of a controlling stake in another biotechnology company focused on cancer therapeutics and diagnostics. Successfully moved to dismiss a number of the plaintiff’s claims, and resolved all remaining claims through settlement.
- Represented convertible bondholders of Luckin Coffee in prosecution of claims in the Grand Court of the Cayman Islands based on fraudulent financial statements and offering documents, resulting in a settlement anticipated to result in the recovery of more than 90% of the bondholders’ principal investment.
- Represented the class in the ISDAfix Antitrust Litigation, alleging that certain defendant banks conspired to manipulate the ISDAfix benchmark interest rate. In approving settlements totaling over $500 million, Judge Furman of the S.D.N.Y noted that the ISDAfix proceeding was “one of the most complicated—if not the most complicated case—that this Court has handled,” that “counsel did an extraordinary job” and “an extraordinary service to the class,” and that he could not “really imagine how complicated it would have been if I didn’t have counsel who had done as admirable a job in briefing it and arguing as you have done.” Quinn Emanuel was awarded the American Antirust Institute’s “Outstanding Antitrust Litigation Achievement in Private Law Practice” for its work on the case.
- As co-lead class counsel, obtained a landmark civil rights settlement of claims that the New York City Police Department issued more than 900,000 criminal summonses without probable cause as a result of quotas that the NYPD imposed on police officers. As part of the settlement, the City of New York agreed to pay up to $75 million, and to take significant steps to address NYPD quota, discipline, and officer evaluation policies. Before the City settled, it was subject to sanctions for destroying critical evidence. In the opinion approving the settlement, the court noted, “This civil rights class action is the paradigm of change and progress achievable in a society undergirded by the rule of law.”
- Represented AIG in a $10 billion fraud suit against Bank of America and its affiliates arising out of AIG’s purchase of billions of dollars in residential mortgage-backed securities (“RMBS”), obtaining a favorable global settlement.
- Represented AIG in connection with the evaluation and prosecution of litigations against counterparties arising out of AIG’s RMBS portfolio.
- Represented Morgan Stanley at trial in the Southern District of New York in a $250 million dispute against Barclays arising out of a credit default swap on a collateralized debt obligation.
- Represented Ramius Capital Group in a long-running FINRA arbitration against Bear Stearns, with the Panel finding that Ramius had established its fraud claim against Bear Stearns in connection with the purchase of notes in a collateralized bond obligation.
- Represented Platinum Equity through trial in the Superior Court of Delaware, and appeal to the Delaware Supreme Court, in defense of claims arising from an asset purchase agreement, including certain material adverse change clauses.
- Represented ING Bank N.V. in a $500 million fraud action arising out of ING’s purchase of asset-backed debt instruments issued by National Century Financial Enterprises, recovering in excess of $210 million for ING Bank.
- Represented AIG in connection with a dispute against former employees and their new company for violation of employment and separation agreements.
- Represented The Scotts Company LLC in defense of antitrust and breach of contract claims brought by AgrEvo Environmental Health, Inc. stemming from Scotts’ purchase of a consumer herbicide business from AgrEvo.
- Represented the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, including enforcing its intellectual property rights to protect Oscar statuettes from commercial exploitation.
- New York University School of Law
(LL.M., 2001) - University of Toronto, Faculty of Law
(J.D., 1999) - University of Toronto
(B.A., Honors, 1996)
- The State Bar of New York
- French
- Law Clerk to the Honorable Lawrence M. McKenna:
- United States District Court for the Southern District of New York
- The Public Domain in Copyright Law: A Tactical Approach - Part II, (December 2000) 15 Intellectual Property Journal No. 1
- The Public Domain in Copyright Law: A Tactical Approach - Part I, (September 2000) 14 Intellectual Property Journal No. 3
- Artistic Endeavours in Charity Law (1999) 15 The Philanthropist No. 1