Calm and Clear in the Eye of the Storm, with Holwell Shuster & Goldberg’s Benjamin Heidlage

The most complex of legal disputes – conflicts stemming from the most threatening and unprecedented disasters of our time – that’s where you’ll find Benjamin Heidlage doing what he does best. The collapse of the housing market, the opioid crisis, the Covid-19 pandemic – the extraordinary litigator thrives when it comes to major complex commercial litigation.

Pandemonium swirls around these heightened collective catastrophes, causing lawsuits to grow exponentially more complicated. This is precisely where Heidlage can bring his unique talents to the table. With a natural aptitude for understanding the many moving parts, Heidlage has an ability to see the big picture, and a steady hand to steer the ship.

Heidlage excels on both sides of the V., representing individuals and corporations alike in state and federal court and through arbitration tribunals. Whether he’s litigating contracts, securities, insurance or antitrust disputes, his philosophy for success revolves around good storytelling.

“It’s a bit cliché, but even a bench trial is a jury of one,” says Heidlage. “You need to help that person understand why it’s important that they rule in your favor by telling them a story that fits into their preexisting frameworks.”

In one of the first civil jury trials following the Covid-19 shutdown, Heidlage was a member of the Holwell Shuster & Goldberg trial team bringing a massive antitrust claim against News Corp. Heidlage represented a MacAndrews & Forbes company in a trial that lasted three weeks before Heidlage expertly settled the case during deliberations.   

Recently, Heidlage handled multibillion-dollar litigation on behalf of clients including PetSmart, Travelport and Incora bondholders. These cases, though each unique, had in common that they all included lenders and bondholders who challenged management transactions.

“Liability management is quite a hot area of litigation right now,” says Heidlage. “It’s fast-paced, you go from complaint to trial fairly quickly and you’re working with sophisticated parties, from your client to opposing counsel, which makes for interesting litigation.”

Heidlage is also passionate about his pro bono work and dedicates substantial time working on these matters, many of which deal with immigration issues. He worked on behalf of immigrants detained during the pandemic, and a particularly memorable case had Heidlage working on behalf of a family that was splintered during the Trump administration’s family separation policy.

Heidlage has been named to The Lawdragon 500 X – The Next Generation guide for two years running.

Lawdragon: Can you describe for our readers the mix of work you do within your practice?

Benjamin Heidlage: My practice covers a diverse set of complex commercial litigation matters, a number of which have gone to trial.

When I started at Holwell Shuster & Goldberg (HSG) as an associate, I did a lot of work on residential mortgage-backed securities matters in state and federal courts – including a $2.4B trial verdict we secured against Lehman Brothers. Since then, I’ve also worked on antitrust matters, including a massive antitrust claim against News Corp. for Valassis, a MacAndrews & Forbes company, which went to a jury trial, and for Visa in the interchange fee litigation which is scheduled to go to trial in October 2025. I’m also currently representing affiliates of Chubb in nationwide litigation stemming from the opioid crisis. Companies up and down the opioid supply chain – including, for instance, Amerisource and Publix – are seeking insurance coverage under general liability policies for more than 3,000 opioid-related lawsuits brought by governmental entities across the country. We’ve managed to help turn the jurisprudential tide in this area and secure favorable judgments for Chubb.

In addition, I’ve built out our work on liability management transactions – transactions used by private companies facing financial duress, in which they use leeway in existing financing contracts to access new money and work around creditor voting requirements. I represented Travelport and PetSmart in multibillion-dollar disputes with their respective lenders challenging certain liability management transactions. I also was lead trial counsel for a group of creditors in Texas bankruptcy court over financing that the supply chain services company Incora received in 2022.

LD: Interesting. And how did you first become interested in developing this type of practice?

BH: I’m something of a generalist and have been involved in many types of litigation over the course of my career. When I started back at Cravath, Swaine & Moore, I was on a trial team in a long running environmental dispute. I think of myself as someone who handles a lot of complex litigation and unique types of cases, but the common thread across my matters is that I get brought in when things go to trial. We don’t just negotiate a deal – instead, we craft and prepare to execute a trial strategy.

When you’re fresh out of law school, it’s easy to think you just need to apply the law to the facts, be very rational, and then you’ll win the case. That is both true and false.

I became interested in liability management cases as an associate at HSG. I got brought in to work on the PetSmart matter with Mike Shuster, the co-founder of the firm. It’s quite a hot area of litigation right now, because parties have been willing to look at their debt documents and come up with solutions to urgent capital needs, particularly amid the Covid pandemic. The Travelport and Incora cases are examples of this. I particularly enjoy this type of litigation because it’s fast-paced, you go from complaint to trial fairly quickly and you’re working with sophisticated parties, from your client to opposing counsel, which makes for interesting litigation.

LD: Was there an early experience or mentor who really helped shape the course of your professional life?

BH: Working with Blair Kaminsky, who’s also now a partner at HSG and a member of the firm’s management committee, was a highlight of my early days at the firm. We tag-teamed one of the RMBS litigations, meeting constantly and working to keep each other on track. Embracing someone who was my peer and developing that mutual respect and friendship – things that are vital to have with your partners – was an important experience for me. As partners, we still work closely together on matters. It also validated my decision to join HSG, which has a culture of collaboration and mentorship.

And of course, Mike Shuster has been an invaluable mentor. One of the things he’s helped me think about is the importance of storytelling as part of litigation. When you’re fresh out of law school, it’s easy to think you just need to apply the law to the facts, be very rational, and then you’ll win the case. That is both true and false. You need to do the legal research and craft it into a logical argument, but there’s also an element of storytelling that’s sometimes overlooked by junior lawyers. It’s a bit cliché, but even a bench trial is a jury of one. You need to help that person understand why it’s important that they rule in your favor by telling them a story that fits into their preexisting frameworks. Mike helped teach me how to think about stories and narratives.

LD: What do you like about practicing at Holwell Shuster & Goldberg in terms of culture or other firm characteristics?

BH: The attorneys at HSG operate at the highest intellectual level. The quality of attorneys matches that of any other firm – and it’s more personal because it’s smaller. We have each other’s backs. For example, when I was pulled into a six-month trial, my partners stepped in to pick up any slack on the other cases I was leading at the time. We’re all in this together, and you can do that at a small firm. We’re all competitive, but also very much focused on operating the firm as a team. There’s a view that you should treat everybody well, and people will give you high-quality work; there’s a personal trust that forms when you know everyone, as well as their significant others and kids. And that trust makes the firm a nicer place to work.

LD: What words of wisdom do you have to offer younger attorneys?

BH: Get as much experience as you can by really digging into the matters and treating them as your own, not just the partners’ or the senior associates’. When you do that, those senior to you will feel comfortable relying on you and giving you more responsibility. As just one of many examples at HSG, there was a junior associate I worked closely with who I felt comfortable with taking depositions or calling partners at other firms and having them negotiate things one-on-one. I was able to trust her because I saw her do great work, and just as importantly, really care about the work. It gave me the confidence in her to step back and let her do her thing, all the while of course keeping tabs so I could provide guidance, mentorship and advice along the way. If either of us had questions, we’d talk through whatever it was, but it was a real collaboration because I knew that I had someone on my team that cared as much about getting the job done right as I did.