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Derek T. Ho

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Derek T. Ho litigates high-stakes commercial cases with often billions of dollars at stake. He has helped clients obtain billions of dollars through trial or settlement. As both an experienced trial litigator and a seasoned appellate lawyer, Mr. Ho represents plaintiffs and defendants in all phases of litigation.

While maintaining a broad commercial litigation practice, Mr. Ho has particularly deep experience in antitrust litigation, complex litigation (class actions and MDL proceedings), and False Claims Act litigation. In addition to securing substantial victories for his clients, his cases have established important legal precedents in those areas.

Mr. Ho has also has extensive experience representing litigation finance firms, having represented major players in that industry since its inception. Mr. Ho’s successful representations include seminal cases establishing the legality of litigation funding arrangements and the protection of litigation funding agreements and communications from discovery.

Mr. Ho has served as lead appellate counsel in cases in nine federal circuits, as well as in
several state appellate courts. He has been the principal drafter of more than 25 merits and amicus briefs in the U.S. Supreme Court.

Mr. Ho maintains an active pro bono practice focused on civil rights litigation. He serves on the Board of Trustees of The Roxbury Latin School and on the Board of Directors of the Lawyers’ Committee on Civil Rights Under Law and the American Constitution Society.

Noteworthy Representations

  • Represent former shareholders of Argentina’s national oil company, YPF, in lawsuit against the Argentine Republic for breach of corporate bylaws. After a multi-day trial, the district court recently rendered a $16.1 billion judgment for Mr. Ho’s clients.  The case is ongoing.  Petersen Energía Inversora v. Argentine Republic, No. 15-cv-2739 (S.D.N.Y.); Eton Park Capital Management, L.P. v. Argentine Republic, No. 16-cv-8569 (S.D.N.Y.).

  • Serve as MDL co-lead counsel and interim class counsel in a major antitrust MDL against the two leading providers of dealer management systems, CDK Global, LLC and The Reynolds & Reynolds Company.  The district court has denied defendants’ motion for summary judgment. See In re Dealer Management Systems Antitrust Litigation, MDL No. 2817 (N.D. Ill.).

  • Represent litigation finance company Burford Capital in international arbitration dispute with Sysco Corporation. After a multi-day evidentiary hearing, the arbitral panel issued a preliminary injunction in favor of Burford, and the parties then settled.  Glaz LLC, et al. v. Sysco Corp., 225609 (London Ct. Int’l Arb.).

  • Represent large national restaurant chain and purchasing cooperative in antitrust matters arising from bid rigging and other anticompetitive conduct among suppliers of broiler chickens. 

  • Represent Viamedia Corporation in an antitrust suit alleging unlawful tying and exclusive dealing in the local cable advertising representation market.  The case is ongoing. See Viamedia Inc. v. Comcast Corp., No. 16-cv-05486 (N.D. Ill.).

  • Represented Arizona Automobile Dealers Association in successfully defending constitutional challenge to Arizona consumer protection and competition law. After multi-day evidentiary hearing, the district court held the statute constitutional, and the Ninth Circuit affirmed.  CDK Global LLC, et al. v. Brnovich, CV-19-04849 (D. Ariz.); CDK Global, LLC v. Brnovich, 16 F.4th 1266 (9th Cir. 2021).

  • Obtained jury verdict and then reinstatement on appeal of more than $250 million judgment in False Claims Act litigation involving fraudulent upcoding at Florida skilled nursing facilities. S. ex rel. Ruckh v. Salus Rehabilitation, 963 F.3d 1089 (11th Cir. 2020)

  • Obtained complete dismissal of plaintiffs’ class-action claims against telecommunications carrier and successfully defended dismissal on appeal.  See Stuart v. Global Tel*Link Corp., 956 F.3d 555 (8th Cir. 2020).

  • Established the principle that communications between a litigant and a litigation funder are protected by the attorney-client privilege and/or work-product doctrine.  See In re Dealer Mgmt. Sys. Antitrust Litig., MDL No. 2817, Dkt. 1113 (N.D. Ill. Aug. 17, 2020);Viamedia, Inc. v. Comcast Corp., No. 16-C-5486, 2017 WL 2834535 (N.D. Ill. 2017); In re International Oil Trading Co., 548 B.R. 825 (Bankr. S.D. Fla. 2016); Charge Injection Techs., Inc. v. E.I. DuPont De Nemours & Co., No. 07C-12-134-JRJ, 2015 WL 1540520 (Del. Super. Ct. Mar. 31, 2015); Devon IT, Inc. v. IBM Corp., No. CIV.A. 10-2899, 2012 WL 4748160 (E.D. Pa. Sept. 27, 2012). 

  • Successfully defended against allegations that litigation funding arrangements violate state-law champerty and maintenance doctrines.  See Charge Injection Techs., Inc. v. E.I. DuPont De Nemours & Co., No. 07C-12-134-JRJ, 2016 WL 937400 (Del. Super. Ct. Mar. 9, 2016).

  • At the Supreme Court, helped secure victories in important cases involving antitrust law (Ohio v. American Express Co., 138 S. Ct. 2274 (2018), and American Express Co. v. Italian Colors Restaurant, 133 S. Ct. 2304 (2013)), class action law (Tyson Foods, Inc. v. Bouaphakeo, 136 S. Ct. 1036 (2016), and Amgen, Inc. v. Connecticut Retirement Plans, 133 S. Ct. 1184 (2013)), and False Claims Act law (Universal Health Services v. United States ex rel. Escobar, 136 S. Ct. 1989 (2016)). 

Speaking Engagements and Publications

  • Panelist, Ethics Bias/Diversity CLE: Do mandatory bar associations stifle freedom and diversity of thought in the legal profession? Federalist Society (April 20, 2023)
  • Panelist, LF Dealmakers’ Forum, “Ask the Experts,” (Sept. 29, 2021)
  • Panelist, Federal Bar Association 2021 Qui Tam Conference, “Defense Strategies” (February 19, 2021)
  • Panelist, Global Class Actions Symposium 2020, “Settlements of Global Disputes” (June 25, 2020)
  • Panelist, Third International Conference on International Mass Dispute Resolution, University of Haifa, “Establishing the Existence of a Class by Surveys and Statistics” (March 2019)
  • Presenter, Fifth Circuit Bar Association Appellate Advocacy Seminar, “The Attorney’s Perspective on Briefs and Oral Argument:  Substantive Tips on Brief Writing and Oral Argument” (Oct. 2, 2017)
  • Panelist, Perrin Class Action Conference, “Supreme Court Update,” (May 31, 2017)
  • Panelist, American Conference Institute Class Action Conference, “The Use of Representative or Statistical Evidence to Substantiate Class Claims Post-Tyson Foods v. Bouaphakeo” (Apr. 3, 2017)
  • Panelist, Perrin Class Action Conference, “Supreme Court Update,” (May 17, 2016)
  • Panelist, Bridgeport CLE Conference, “Consumer Class Action Litigation” (January 8, 2016)
  • Panelist, Strafford CLE webinar on “Defeating Rule 23(b)(3)'s Predominance Requirement Using Defenses and Counterclaims” (Aug. 25, 2015)Co-author, Penalizing Tax Petitions:  Why the Erroneous Refund Penalty in Section 6676 Violates Taxpayers’ First Amendment Rights, The Tax Lawyer, Vol. 68, No. 3 (Spring 2015)
  • Invited Guest Speaker, Georgetown University Law Center (2014, 2015), Harvard Law School (2014)

Education

Harvard Law School, J.D., magna cum laude, 2001

  • Treasurer, Harvard Law Review, 2000-2001
  • Finalist, Ames Moot Court competition

Yale University, M.A., 1998

Harvard College, B.A., magna cum laude, 1996 

  • Phi Beta Kappa

ACHIEVEMENTS

LawDragon’s 500 Leading Litigators of America

LawDragon’s 500 Leading Plaintiff Financial Lawyers

Best Lawyers - Best Lawyers in America®: Litigation – Appellate (2020-2024)

Law.com Litigator of the Week for obtaining $16.1 billion judgment for YPF shareholders against the Argentine Republic for breach of YPF’s bylaws. (2023)

Law.com Litigator of the Week Runner Up for obtaining summary judgment on liability on behalf of plaintiffs in Petersen (2023)

Global Competition Review’s - Litigator of the Week - Obtained a rare preliminary injunction in a federal antitrust case. (July 2017)

Clerkship

Law Clerk, Justice David H. Souter, U.S. Supreme Court, 2002-2003

Law Clerk, Judge Michael Boudin, U.S. Court of Appeals, First Circuit, 2001-2002


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