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Ward Merkel, Ellison (1)

Ellison Ward Merkel

Partner

ellisonmerkel@quinnemanuel.com
Direct Tel: +1 212-849-7362
New York
Tel: +1 212 849 7000 Fax: +1 212 849 7100

Ellison (Nelly) Ward Merkel is a seasoned trial lawyer who has achieved outstanding results in bet-the-company litigation.  Her practice spans a broad range of commercial disputes, including M&A litigation, securities and commodities enforcement and litigation, market manipulation claims, structured financial products disputes (including ISDA disputes), activist shareholder litigation, short seller disputes, sports betting litigation, construction disputes, and trade secret and employee mobility litigation.  She represents a diverse roster of clients, including investment fund managers (private equity funds, private credit funds, hedge funds, venture capital funds), financial institutions, major public and private corporations, creditor committees, litigation trusts, boards of directors, family offices, and high net worth individuals. 

The throughline of Nelly’s diverse practice is that clients consistently turn to her with their most complex, high stakes matters due to her strategic judgment, commercial savvy, and absolute, unrelenting commitment to obtaining a successful outcome.  Over fifteen years, Nelly has achieved wins at every stage of litigation and trial.  She has appeared before courts across the country as well as arbitral bodies including JAMS, AAA, and the LCIA, with particular experience before the state and federal courts in New York and the Court of Chancery of Delaware.

While her representations have spanned many industries, claims, and jurisdictions, Nelly has honed special expertise in financial services litigation; over the past decade she has represented clients in cases involving well over $10 billion in structured financial products, including RMBS, CMBS, CDOs, CLOs, FPAs, and more.  Nelly’s sophisticated understanding of market practice around complex products has allowed her to take apart opposing fact and expert witnesses on the stand, while presenting her clients’ stories at trial in a simple and compelling way.  Recently, Nelly has written and presented extensively on the litigation implications of the recent boom in Special Purpose Acquisition Companies (“SPACs”) and is currently advising numerous clients involved in SPAC litigation.

In addition to her thriving commercial practice, Nelly has also maintained an active pro bono practice, including partnering with the Brennan Center for Justice on several voting rights matters.  She has maintained a career-long commitment to educational equity both in practice and outside of it.  At Quinn Emanuel, she has taken on many pro bono education cases, including successfully briefing and arguing an appeal to the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit of an important issue of law under the Individuals with Disabilities in Education Act (IDEA), and currently spearheads the firm’s pro bono partnership with Advocates for Children.  She has served on the junior board of College Summit and the board of Creo College Preparatory Charter School.

Before joining the firm, Nelly clerked for Judge Francis in the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York.  Prior to that, she was the Sinsheimer Fellow at the Partnership for Children’s Rights.

  • Aerojet Rocketdyne
  • Alvarez & Marsal
  • American International Group
  • Calumet Specialty Products Partners
  • CWCapital Cobalt Vr Ltd.
  • Ducera Partners
  • House of Europe Funding I Ltd.
  • Express Scripts
  • FanDuel Group
  • Foresite Capital
  • FTAI Aviation
  • Golub Capital
  • IBM
  • KKR & Co.
  • Koch Equity Development
  • Official Creditors Committee of Lehman Brothers Holdings, Inc.
  • Madison Square Garden
  • Masimo
  • MBIA Insurance Corp.
  • MF Global Holdings
  • National Australia Bank
  • Pershing Square Capital Management
  • The Raine Group
  • Solus Alternative Asset Management
  • Sphere Entertainment Group
  • Two Sigma
  • Vellar Opportunity Fund
  • Zohar Litigation Trust
  • Zohar Fund Litigation
    • Obtained trial judgments finding Patriarch in breach of obligations to turn over books and records, and declaring ownership over certain of the Zohar Funds’ portfolio companies; engaged in ongoing representation of three “Zohar” CLO funds and their appointed litigation trustee in breach of contract and breach of fiduciary duty litigation in the Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware, seeking more than a billion in damages against the funds’ creators and prior managers, Patriarch Partners and Lynn Tilton.  
  • Eccles v. KKR
    • Obtained dismissal of direct claims against KKR at the motion to dismiss stage and obtained a favorable decision from the New York State Court of Appeals concerning the application of foreign law to the dispute; representing KKR in ongoing litigation relating to its investment in FanDuel, brought by FanDuel’s founders and other former shareholders. 
  • PartsId Litigation
    • Brought and defeated multiple motions to dismiss claims by two founders of a venture stage digital commerce company in litigations against investment firms; representing the founders in ongoing litigation in both state and federal court over claims of fraud and breach of fiduciary duty for entering into a SPAC merger.
  • Perella Weinberg Partners v. Ducera Partners
    • Defended Ducera and its founding partners against claims of employee and client solicitation in trial in the Commercial Division of New York State Supreme Court.
  • Express Scripts v. Anthem
    • Defeated a $15 billion contract dispute brought against Express Scripts by its largest client, Anthem, at summary judgment, then successfully defended the decision on appeal. 06817-00002
  • MSG v. Hunt Construction Group
    • Represented MSG in litigation concerning the construction of the Sphere in Las Vegas, defeating a summary judgment motion by the project’s former general contractor.
  • Aerojet Rocketdyne Litigation
    • Obtained a ruling from the Delaware Chancery Court following trial preserving the neutrality of the Board and preventing the expenditure of Company resources in connection with proxy contest.
  • NAB v. Goldman
    • Obtained a $100 million award for National Australia Bank in a FINRA arbitration against Goldman Sachs arising out of fraudulent misrepresentations made by Goldman in connection with the sale of $80 million in CDO securities.
  • New York University School of Law
    (J.D., cum laude, 2009)
    • New York University Law Review:
      • Managing Editor
  • Princeton University
    (A.B., Religion, 2004)
  • The State Bar of New York
  • United States District Court:
    • Southern District of New York
    • Eastern District of New York
    • Northern District of New York
    • Western District of Pennsylvania
    • Southern District of Indiana
  • United States Court of Appeals:
    • Second Circuit
    • Seventh Circuit
  • Law Clerk to the Hon. James C. Francis IV
    • United States District Court for the Southern District of New York, 2010-2011
  • Sinsheimer Children’s Rights Fellow:
    • Partnership for Children’s Rights
  • Founding Board Member, Creo College Prep
  • Education Leadership Council, College Summit