Joseph O. Larkin

In addition to his courtroom success, Larkin is a trusted adviser and strategist to directors, C-suite executives and in-house counsel on many of their most important matters. He works seamlessly across Skadden’s global platform to advise clients on Delaware law and other strategic issues. He routinely engages with his partners and clients at the outset of the transactional planning process to advise from inception to closing.

Clients have routinely praised Larkin for his sound guidance and commercial approach to litigation, repeatedly turning to him for their most complex matters. Throughout his career, Larkin has played a leading role in some of the most significant corporate litigation matters in history and has been at the forefront of corporate innovation. He was one of the lead litigators that represented MacAndrews & Forbes in the Delaware Supreme Court’s seminal MFW decision that established a new legal regime for reviewing controlling stockholder transactions. 

In recent years, Larkin has successfully tried cases and arbitrations to judgment for SeeCubic, Inc., Sabre Corporation, CommonWealth REIT, Service Properties Trust, TravelCenters of America LLC and the founder and CEO of EPCO Carbon Dioxide Products, Inc. In this capacity, Larkin successfully defeated a motion for preliminary injunction on behalf of Sabre Corporation after trial in Texas state court. In addition, he was one of the lead litigators for Sabre in its trial victory in Delaware federal court against the Department of Justice’s effort to enjoin Sabre’s proposed acquisition of FareLogix, which was dubbed by one major media outlet as a “stunning court victory in the U.S.”

Some of Larkin’s other corporate litigation matters include representing:

• a commercial stage biotech company in expedited litigation that resulted in the extraordinary remedy of a permanent injunction against a hostile bidder for intentional breach of a “stand-still” agreement (Delaware Court of Chancery)
• Squarespace and its board of directors in defeating a motion for preliminary injunction that sought to enjoin the $6.6 billion merger between Squarespace and Permira on the eve of closing (New York state court)
• the special committee of EngageSmart in the successful resolution of preclosing injunction claims arising from its multibillion merger with Vista Equity Partners (Delaware Court of Chancery)
• John C. Malone in the successful resolution of litigation arising from the exercise of a call agreement with Qurate Retail, Inc. (Delaware Court of Chancery)
• IVERIC and its board of directors in successfully enforcing its forum selection bylaw against shareholder plaintiffs (New Jersey state court)
• the board of control for Cricket in India in defeating a motion for a temporary restraining order and anti-suit injunction filed against it arising from a parallel proceeding pending in India (Delaware Bankruptcy Court)
• the special litigation committee of Clovis Oncology Inc. in an 18-month internal investigation and successful resolution of high-profile Caremark claims (Delaware Court of Chancery)
• Red Lion Hotels and its acquirer The RMR Group in the dismissal of all claims – including fraud – and subsequent affirmance, which resulted in new precedent under Washington state law for take- over litigation (Washington state court and Washington Court of Appeals)
• Luxor Capital and certain of its principals in multijurisdictional litigation arising from its investment in RCAP (Delaware Court of Chancery and New York State Supreme Court)
• Bottomline Corporation and its board of directors in litigation arising from its merger with Thoma Bravo (Delaware Court of Chancery and various federal district courts)
• GCI Liberty, Inc. and certain of its directors and officers in litigation arising from GCI’s multibillion-dollar merger with Liberty Broadband, Inc. (Delaware Court of Chancery)
• Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. in the successful resolution of claims arising from its merger with its subsidiary Akcea Therapeutics, Inc. (Delaware Court of Chancery)
• Stemline Therapeutics, Inc. in litigation arising from its acquisition by Menarini Group (New York and Delaware federal court)
• Melinta Pharmaceuticals, Inc. in shareholder litigation and its subsequent comprehensive financial restructuring (Delaware Court of Chancery and Delaware Bankruptcy Court)
• Array BioPharma in shareholder litigation arising from its $11.4 billion acquisition by Pfizer (Delaware Court of Chancery)
• Alder Biopharmaceuticals, Inc. in its sale to Lundbeck for up to $1.95 billion (New York, California and Delaware federal court)
• Merrimack Pharmaceuticals, Inc. in litigation against its convertible noteholders arising from Merrimack’s sale of certain assets to Ipsen S.A (Delaware Court of Chancery)
• the defense of a significant shareholder in the successful resolution of litigation arising from Lions Gate’s acquisition of STARZ, Inc. (Delaware Court of Chancery and California Superior Court)
• the special committee of Wesco Financial Corporation in its merger with its controlling shareholder Berkshire Hathaway, Inc. (Delaware Court of Chancery)