Eugene Licker

Background

About Eugene Licker

I passed the DC bar in 1978, clerked for the DC Court of Appeals, and, newly married, moved with my wife to NY to begin what would become a decades-long career as a commercial and white-collar criminal litigator. I’m still going strong. Although my practice is varied, the majority of my matters center on allegations of fraud: securities fraud, tax fraud, business fraud, breach of contract, breach of fiduciary duty, business torts, and the like. Although I never worked for the government (my one regret), I have litigated fraud from both sides. Representing an equity receiver in an SEC enforcement action, I assisted the receiver in recovering assets for the victims. Representing a group of whistleblowers, I assembled a massive application for an award based on ferreting out millions of dollars in tax evasion by wealthy Americans who hid assets overseas. Most of my work, however, has been defending folks and their entities against allegations of fraud launched by the plaintiffs’ securities bar as well as the government. I haven’t won them all, but I’ve won a lot more than I have lost! It has been my good fortune to be involved in some of the most interesting and high profile litigations commenced and prosecuted during my tenure. It is not the notoriety of the matters that is important. It was the opportunity they afforded me to work with some of the best lawyers in the country, to oppose some of the best lawyers in the country, and to be exposed to some of the most creative legal thinking that there is. Although fraud-related cases predominate, I have handled other genres of commercial litigation, including breach of contract cases, defamation, and other business tort claims. As a result of my involvement in attorneys general cases, I came to represent residential mortgage lenders in virtually all forms of litigation. A former colleague of mine divided litigators into mouth lawyers and paper lawyers. I like to think of myself as both. I enjoy trying cases and arguing appeals and have done so in numerous state and federal courts. But I also love to write. Nothing is more satisfying to me than articulating a complicated argument in simple and understandable terms. All in all, I consider myself pretty lucky to be able to do what I love. Oh, and I like to cook and go crazy for dogs and babies.