Boies Schiller Flexner LLP announced today that Geoffrey J. Derrick has joined the Washington, D.C. office as a partner focused on asset recovery litigation and the enforcement or defense of judgments and arbitration awards.
Geoff brings substantial experience developing litigation strategies in connection with the cross-border monetization of commercial and sovereign bonds, loans, judgments, and arbitral awards. He has handled multinational matters involving fraud and misconduct, having run collection efforts spanning more than a dozen countries on five continents. In those matters, he uses his investigatory skills as a former federal public defender to design and execute global asset recovery strategies.
“I’m thrilled to join BSF at a moment of robust demand for high stakes judgment enforcement and asset recovery work,” said Geoff. “The firm’s track record of pairing courtroom readiness with creative strategies makes it an ideal platform from which to build a strong practice with global reach.”
Geoff’s international litigation work includes the creative use of bank discovery to assemble factual and legal leverage in support of clients’ enforcement goals, including interim remedies. He has recently won several novel cases. For example, earlier this year he secured a summary judgment ruling that gave bondholders standing to sue issuers and guarantors in New York, an important development for international investors facing nonpayment of debt. He has also won civil contempt sanctions that imposed personal liability on the directors of corporations facing judgments after those corporations refused to turn over assets to satisfy the judgments.
“Geoff’s arrival strengthens our ability to provide clients with effective, innovative solutions to enforce their rights globally,” said Chairman Matthew L. Schwartz, who also leads the asset recovery and judgment enforcement practice. “His experience with asset recovery, his victories in complex litigation, and his creative use of U.S. courts to secure relief for clients will be of tremendous value.”
Geoff, who joins BSF from another international disputes firm, has also maintained an active pro bono practice fighting on behalf of clients who were wrongfully convicted and seeking compensation for those defendants. Earlier in his career when he worked as a public defender, he helped exonerate three wrongfully convicted clients who had served a combined 59 years in prison.