Julia T.M. Wood

A partner in the Litigation Department, Julia Tarver-Mason Wood has experience litigating a wide array of civil and criminal matters, including securities, bankruptcy, patent and antitrust litigation, white collar criminal defense cases, professional representations and complex international arbitrations. She has considerable trial experience and has also done extensive pro bono work in the area of the death penalty.

Experience

An experienced trial lawyer, Julia has conducted or participated in trials in federal and state courts around the country. She has taken two jury cases to verdict, and has helped to settle others on the eve, or in the midst, of trial. In addition, she has argued complex apellate matters before U.S. courts of appeal.

A sample of her litigation experience includes the representation of clients such as:

• Credit rating agency, Fitch Ratings, in numerous lawsuits arising from the collapse of the U.S. mortgage-backed securities market, including the successful dismissal of lawsuits asserting negligence-based claims against Fitch;
• Large financial institution, Citigroup, in its Enron-related litigation, including nationwide class action litigation arising out of Enron's collapse, as well as in U.S. bankruptcy court defending against avoidance actions;
• Public regulator, the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) in a lengthy bankruptcy trial involving an alternative plan for the Chapter 11 reorganization of utilities giant Pacific Gas & Electric (PG&E);
• Insurance company, AIG, in its multi-billion dollar federal antitrust, securities class action, and derivative cases;
• Credit card company, MasterCard, in preparation for its defense in a multi-billion dollar federal antitrust trial arising from claims brought by rival credit card company, Discover;
• Medical device manufacturers and pharmaceutical companies in commercial litigation and regulatory investigations;
• Prominent law and accounting firms in sensitive, high profile matters;
• Large corporate and individual clients in high-profile government investigations; and
• International clients in arbitration worldwide.

Julia's opinions have been sought by numerous television news programs and respected magazines, newspapers and journals, including The Washington Post, The New York Times, The Los Angeles Times, American Lawyer, The New York Law Journal, CBS News, and Fox News, among others. She is a frequent public speaker at various bar association events, including at American Bar Association conferences, the American Society of International Law, the Association of the Bar of the City of New York, Columbia Law School, and others.

Julia served as managing editor of the Columbia Law Review, was a Harlan Fiske Stone Scholar and was awarded Columbia Law School's two highest prizes for trial advocacy. Julia is a former secretary of the New York City Bar Association's Committee on Capital Punishment. In 2000, Julia received the New York State Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers' Gideon Award for her representation of attorneys in a lawsuit challenging New York's capital counsel fees. She has since been honored for her pro bono representation of detainees held at the U.S. Naval Station at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

Practices

• Litigation
• Antitrust
• International Arbitration
• IP Litigation: Patent & Other Scientific
• Securities Litigation
• White Collar Crime & Regulatory Defense
  

Education

• J.D., Columbia Law School, 1996
  Harlan Fiske Stone Scholar
• B.A., Rhodes College, 1993
  Phi Beta Kappa

Clerkship

• Hon. Sonia Sotomayor, U.S. District Court, Southern District of New York

Bar Admissions

• New York
• District of Columbia

See Library Tab for articles, publications and presentations by Julia Wood