Daniel P. Cunningham

 

New York Office
Tel: 212-849-7000
Fax: 212-849-7100
danielcunningham@quinnemanuel.com

Practice Areas
Banking and Financial Institution Litigation
Bankruptcy and Restructuring
Investment Fund and Fund Advisor Litigation
Securities Litigation
Structured Finance and Derivatives Litigation

Education

 

Harvard Law School (J.D., magna cum laude, 1975)
     Harvard Law Review:
          Developments Editor, 1974-1975
          Editor, 1973-1974

 

Princeton University (A.B., cum laude, 1971)






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Biography

 

Daniel Cunningham joined the firm as a litigator in July 2009 with more than 30 years of experience in New York and London advising on risk assessment issues of various types.  In addition to substantial transactional experience, he has significant experience working on litigation and arbitration matters.  He also has advised Boards of Directors of major corporations on issues that combined the pursuit of strategic business goals with litigation either as a tool to reach those goals or a threat to their attainment.

 

Dan has represented major clients as lead lawyer in virtually every kind of financing and acquisition transaction and, as a result, has an understanding of such transactions that few litigators have.  He has participated in all types of capital markets transactions, including equity and debt offerings for U.S. and non-U.S. issuers, and in particular has extensive experience representing financial institutions.  He was lead counsel on a number of transformational M&A transactions that required the solution of novel issues under the laws of the US and other jurisdictions in Europe and Asia.  Chambers named him US capital markets lawyer of the year in 2006.

 

Dan is one of the most knowledgeable lawyers in the world regarding derivatives and other types of structured finance instruments.  He was U.S. counsel to ISDA from its inception.  He is widely recognized as a principal architect of the ISDA Master Agreements and related ISDA credit derivatives and other definitions.  In addition to his comprehensive understanding of the Securities Act of 1933 and the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, Mr. Cunningham understands the intersection of derivatives and the Commodity Exchange Act, having advised ISDA on the Commodity Futures Modernization Act of 2000.  Moreover, he advised ISDA for many years on the preparation of US insolvency legislation creating and improving safe harbors for swaps and other capital markets products under various US insolvency regimes.






Notable Representations

 

Obtained successful resolution for a major US bank of a dispute with an insolvent Hong Kong counterparty with litigation in Hong Kong and New York involving close-out procedures under an ISDA Master Agreement.

 

Obtained recoveries in excess of $400 million for a major US bank in disputes with five financial institutions from South Korea arising out of complex leveraged currency derivatives.

 

Obtained excellent commercial and financial results for a major European airline as a result of a purchase of a 20% interest in a major US airline that led to governance disputes, litigation in New York and Delaware and ultimately a sale of the equity back to the issuer and the creation of a successful, long-term trans-Atlantic alliance that benefits from antitrust immunity.

 

Structured a commercial arrangement that settled US patent litigation brought by a generics company that attacked a US patent for a prominent antibiotic held by a large European pharmaceutical company.

 

Obtained a favorable settlement for a major European manufacturing company in an arbitration with a US auto manufacturer arising out of a sale of a manufacturing business to the European company that encountered unexpected inventory issues shortly after the closing of the sale.