Hausfeld implements its global leadership succession plan

After chairing Hausfeld for 13 years, Michael Hausfeld hands over global leadership to Brian Ratner, Anthony Maton, and Brent Landau

The firm also appoints Melinda Coolidge as US Managing Partner and Lianne Craig as London Managing Partner

Washington DC, London, Berlin, December 1, 2021. Global litigation law firm Hausfeld today announced that Chair Michael Hausfeld, who established the firm in 2008, will take on a new role as Chair Emeritus. He hands over the leadership of the firm to three partners, Brian Ratner, Anthony Maton, and Brent Landau, who have worked closely with Michael and other members of the leadership team since the firm’s founding to grow the firm into one of the most successful claimant litigation law firms in the world.

Michael’s transition to Chair Emeritus will allow him to focus on certain of the firm’s important cases in the antitrust, financial services, environmental, and human rights areas, while advocating for important policy goals and expanding his scholarship and teaching. The firm will continue to benefit from Michael’s decades of experience and reputation as a pioneering legal visionary and one of the world’s most renowned and impactful civil litigators.

While retaining a senior leadership role, Michael passes the joint leadership baton to Global Vice Chairs Brian Ratner and Anthony Maton, who will become Global Co-Chairs, working closely with Brent Landau, who will continue in his current position as Global Managing Partner. All three are founding partners of the firm and recognized widely as leading litigation practitioners.

As Global Co-Chairs, Brian and Anthony will be responsible for the overall strategic direction and vision of the global firm, the firm’s key stakeholder relationships, as well as the overall management of the firm in conjunction with Brent.

Based in Washington, DC, Brian has successfully led Hausfeld’s US and global business development efforts as the firm has expanded its practice areas and client base. He has been consistently recognized by Legal 500, Lawdragon, Who’s Who Legal, and Super Lawyers as a leading global litigator, especially in the antitrust field for businesses of all sizes and across industries. Legal 500 selected him for their Hall of Fame list in 2020 which highlighted “to clients, the law firm partners who are the pinnacle of the profession” and included “individuals who have received constant praise from their clients for continued excellence.”   

On the opposite side of the Atlantic, as London Managing Partner since inception, Anthony has spearheaded the extensive growth and success of Hausfeld both in London and across Europe. He has been consistently recognized in Chambers, Legal 500, and other leading directories for competition and banking litigation and his innovative and trailblazing work developing the private enforcement regime in Europe. Legal 500 2022 said that “[h]e is the single most influential lawyer in UK and European claimant antitrust litigation” and Who’s Who Legal has described him as “the best in the plaintiffs’ bar in the UK.”

As Global Managing Partner, Brent has been instrumental in shaping the growth of the firm and overseeing its operations, working with the firm’s global leadership team. Based in Philadelphia, he is an accomplished antitrust and human rights lawyer for plaintiffs in complex cases, having been named a “Titan of the Plaintiffs’ Bar” by Law360, a “Distinguished Leader” by the Legal Intelligencer, and an “Antitrust Trailblazer and Pioneer” by the National Law Journal.  Brent also serves as an Adjunct Professor of Law at the University of Pennsylvania Carey Law School, where he teaches a course in legal ethics.

The appointments of Brian and Anthony as Global Co-Chairs, along with Brent’s continued leadership as Global Managing Partner, are part of a global growth and leadership transition plan that Hausfeld first announced in September 2019.

As part of Hausfeld’s global leadership transition, Washington, DC Partner, Melinda Coolidge, and London Partner and Head of Commercial Disputes, Lianne Craig, will step into US and London Managing Partner positions, respectively. Please find the individual US release and UK release.

Hausfeld’s expanded Global Executive Committee will now consist of Michael Hausfeld, Brent Landau, Brian Ratner, Anthony Maton, German Managing Partner Alex Petrasincu, new US Managing Partner Melinda Coolidge, and new London Managing Partner Lianne Craig.

All the new global leadership appointments will take effect from January 1, 2022.

Commenting on the announcement, Michael Hausfeld, said:

“Since our founding thirteen years ago we have grown into a team of more than 160 lawyers in 12 offices across the US and Europe. Both our global management challenges and opportunities have grown commensurately. Hausfeld’s future, character and vision will be assured under the leadership of Brian and Anthony as Global Co-Chairs, and Brent as Global Managing Partner, along with the talent of our managing partners and global management group, and the dedication and skill of our entire team.”

Brian Ratner, continued:

“I am excited for the challenges and opportunities that come with this new role. Michael has done an unparalleled job building and leading the firm and will continue to make great contributions. Together with Anthony, Brent, our global management team and our terrific group of partners, lawyers and staff, we will build on Hausfeld’s stellar reputation as a global force in claimant-side complex litigation matters in the years ahead.”

Anthony Maton, added:

“I am honored by the confidence that Michael and the firm place in me with this appointment. I am very much looking forward to fully stepping up into a global role and to working with Brian, Brent, and the leadership team across all our offices to continue to cement our position as the market leader in litigating and resolving claimant focused disputes in Europe and the US.”

Notes to editors

  1. Hausfeld is a leading global litigation firm with offices in Amsterdam, Berlin, Boston, Brussels, Dusseldorf, London, New York, Paris, Philadelphia, San Francisco, Stockholm and Washington, DC.
  2. We are a gender diverse firm with 35% female partners, over 40% female lawyers, and an excellent track record of promoting women worldwide. Together, the Global Management Group is 54% women and the vast majority of our senior business professionals are women.
  3. From January 1, 2022, the firm’s leadership includes the Global Executive Committee (GEC) and a Global Management Group composed of the seven GEC members and other partners from across Hausfeld’s offices: Reena Gambhir from Washington, DC, Megan Jones and Bonny Sweeney from San Francisco, Nicola Boyle and Scott Campbell from London, and Ann-Christin Richter from Berlin.

For additional information or interview requests, please contact:

Deborah Schwartz 
Media Relations 
240 355-8838 
deborah@mediarelationsinc.com