Litigation

SEB provides skilled and sophisticated representation in a broad range of litigation matters, with a focus on complex commercial litigation. In particular, we have extensive experience resolving business, real estate, and financial services disputes through the courts and alternative dispute resolution.

We understand how challenging litigating can be, and the impact that commercial disputes have on our clients.  Regardless of the issue or the forum, we work to minimize that impact by being highly responsive, controlling costs, mitigating risks, and achieving our clients’ business and litigation goals.

We work extremely hard to develop a deep understanding of our clients’ businesses and individual situations.  By leveraging our corporate & securities, employment, and commercial real estate practices, we bring an uncommon depth of subject matter expertise to bear on those situations.

In addition to helping our clients resolve disputes, we also counsel them regarding litigation avoidance strategies.  As a result, we have developed long term relationships with our clients as litigators and as trusted advisors.

Business Litigation

SEB’s business litigation practice encompasses a wide variety of disputes involving real property, banking, credit card and other financial services, contract claims, business torts, intellectual property, securities, employment agreements, and a variety of other commercial disputes.

SEB represent clients in traditional forums, such as state and federal trial and appeals courts, in front of state and local government agencies and regulatory bodies, and in alternative dispute forums such as arbitration and mediation.

Our approach is to address our client’s needs with sophisticated legal expertise and experience, while achieving results that serve their business objectives.

Examples of the business disputes that we have handled include the following:

Real Estate Litigation

SEB has a long history of representing including commercial landlords, investors, lenders, developers, brokers, borrowers, property owners, property managers, homeowners’ associations, contractors, and tenants in disputes arising out of the financing, acquisition, ownership, operation, leasing, and sale of all types of real property.

Representative real estate matters that we have handled:

Financial Services Litigation

SEB’s financial services practice includes the representation of electronic transaction businesses, such as payment processors and independent sales organizations (“ISOs”), with respect to a wide variety of issues in the payment systems industry including:

• Defending and prosecuting the rights of payment processors and ISOs in disputes with current and former merchants, including disputes involving breach or termination of merchant agreements, chargebacks, account holds, card association fees, and merchant funds;
• Defending and prosecuting the rights of payment processors and ISOs in disputes with current and former referral partners, including disputes involving processing agreement violations, merchant poaching, residual payments, chargebacks, card association fees, and merchant funds;
• Defending and prosecuting the rights of payment processors and ISO’s in disputes with Super ISOs or card associations regarding alleged violations of card association rules and resulting assessments;
• Defending payment processors against claims by third party merchant lenders to merchant funds; and
• Prosecuting the rights of payment processors and ISO’s regarding a variety of employee issues including disclosure of confidential information, work product, or trade secrets.

SEB also helps banks and other financial institutions, including financial advisors, insurance agents and others in the financial services industry solve problems and resolve disputes in a variety of general banking litigation matters including: