Christopher M. Green

Partner
Armonk

t: 914 749 8244
f: 914 749 8300

cgreen@bsfllp.com

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Areas of Practice

Litigation

Sports Law

Education

University of Virginia School of Law, J.D., 1996; Virginia Law Review

University of Kentucky, B.A., English, 1993

Admissions

New York

United States Courts of Appeals: Second, Fourth, and Ninth Circuits

United States District Courts: Southern, Eastern, and Northern Districts of New York

Chris Green's main practice area is complex civil litigation. He has represented clients in state and federal trial and appellate courts and before federal regulators in numerous complex commercial litigation matters involving many areas of substantive law.

In 2009-2010, Mr. Green was a member of the team of firm lawyers that represented Barclays Capital Inc. in adversary proceedings brought by the debtor and others in the Lehman Brothers bankruptcy and SIPA liquidation proceedings concerning a multi-billion dollar dispute over Barclays' purchase of Lehman Brothers Inc. during the financial crisis of 2008.

In 2008-09, Mr. Green was a member of the team of firm lawyers that successfully defended American Express in the fourteen-week bench trial of a nationwide consumer class action seeking over $500 million for alleged unfair business practices, breach of contract and conversion in connection with travel insurance services offered to cardholders. In that case, the court entered judgment in favor of American Express on all claims and ordered the class representatives to pay almost $400,000 in costs.

In 2007, Mr. Green led a team of firm lawyers that tried claims for breach of fiduciary duty, fraud and conversion in a case concerning the undisclosed sale of syndicate shares and breeding rights in leading thoroughbred stallions. After an eight-day trial in federal court in Las Vegas, the firm's client, the plaintiff, obtained a jury verdict in the amount of $795,000 in compensatory damages and $1.6 million in punitive damages. When the trial court reduced the jury's punitive damages award by almost half, Mr. Green argued the plaintiff's appeal before a panel of the Ninth Circuit, which reversed the trial court, remanding the case with instructions to the trial court "either to reinstate the $1.6 million punitive damages award or to specifically explain its basis for limiting the award."

Since joining the firm in 1999, Mr. Green has also worked on a variety of other matters, including representation of a hedge fund founder in litigation and regulatory investigations arising from investment losses by the fund; litigation concerning the non-payment of a finder's fee earned in connection with the acquisition of a preeminent NFL franchise; litigation arising out of the NFL's failure to approve the sale of another franchise; defense of a national stock car race sanctioning body in an antitrust challenge to its methods of allocating racing events; antitrust litigation concerning illegal relationship licensing and other anticompetitive practices in the movie theater business; defense of a large multinational corporation against claims that its wholesaler incentive program violated the antitrust laws; an internal investigation of whistleblower accusations by the records management director of a leading consumer services provider; securities fraud and breach of contract litigation involving hedge fund call option agreements in which the firm sought and obtained emergency injunctive relief; and a citizen's suit seeking damages and declaratory relief under the Clean Air Act.

Mr. Green has represented numerous clients on a pro bono basis, and served for three years as the pro bono coordinator for the firm's Armonk office. In one case, another law firm sought to evict an aged widow from her home based upon a default judgment it had obtained against her for not paying a contingency fee in a matter in which it originally agreed to represent her pro bono. After Mr. Green and other firm lawyers successfully moved to vacate the default judgment and sought discovery of the other law firm's pro bono files, the eviction action was dismissed and the case settled. Mr. Green represented the legal guardians of minor victims of sexual abuse in a civil suit against one of the perpetrators that resulted in a $1 million settlement for the victims -- substantially all of the defendant's known assets. He has also worked with other firm lawyers on a number of cases brought on behalf of prisoners seeking to be proven innocent through post-conviction DNA testing. In one such case, the United States District Court for the District of New Hampshire found in 2008 that "there is a federal constitutional right to post-conviction access to genetic material evidence for DNA testing purposes." This holding rejected the conclusions of three U.S. Courts of Appeals which have each declined to find such a constitutional right.

From 1996 to 1999, Mr. Green was an associate in the law firm of Debevoise & Plimpton where he helped defend a major insurance company in state and federal court against claims of improper sales practices, and helped lead the defense of a New York State statute allocating natural resources against a constitutional challenge by a neighboring state. Prior to 1992, he spent more than fifteen years in the thoroughbred horse business as an owner, breeder and trainer.

Selected Professional Awards and Associations

2008 Thurgood Marshall Award for Capital Representation, presented by The Committee on Capital Punishment of the Association of the Bar of the City of New York, in recognition of the contribution of time and legal expertise in the representation of inmates under a sentence of death.

2006 Partner in Justice Award, presented by the Board of Directors of Legal Services of the Hudson Valley, for excellence in and commitment to the provision of pro bono legal services to indigent residents of New York’s Hudson Valley.

New York State Bar Association

New York City Bar Association

American College of Equine Attorneys

Selected Publications and Presentations

Note, Justice Scalia and Ancillary Jurisdiction: Teaching a Lame Duck New Tricks in Kokkonen v. Guardian Life Insurance Company of America, 81 Va. L. Rev. 1631 (1995)

CLE Presentation, Ethical Issues Arising in Settlement Negotiations, WESFACCA Chapter, Association of Corporate Counsel (Oct. 20, 2011)