Gayle Klein

About Gayle Klein

Gayle is a nationally recognized litigator with a practice that focuses on a full spectrum of commercial disputes, particularly those involving complex financial transactions, fraud claims, trade secrets, non-compete undertakings and major contracts. She also is particularly adept at defending against class actions and has secured victories in class actions nationwide, including California, Florida, and Texas. Her clients include public and private companies, financial institutions, private equity firms, and hedge funds.

Gayle represents both plaintiffs and defendants in high stakes litigation. Over the past decade, she has both recovered in excess of $1 billion for her clients, as well as won defense verdicts and achieved settlements vindicating her clients’ business decisions. It is, therefore, not surprising that Gayle’s litigation prowess is hailed by both her clients and peers alike. In October 2021, The Hedge Fund Journal, in association with EY, included Gayle in its venerated report of the “50 Leading Women in Hedge Funds.” She is one of only six women in New York who are recognized by Chambers USA for Commercial Litigation as a leading lawyer in Bands 1 and 2. That publication has noted that Gayle is a “very impressive” “zealous advocate” and “an effective trial lawyer” and “formidable litigator.” Gayle also has been named a New York “Litigation Star” and one of the “Top 250 Women in Litigation” nationally by Benchmark Litigation since 2015, which describes her as “a community and client favorite” who possesses the unique combination of “street smarts and an uncanny business sense.” She also has been named among the “500 Best Lawyers in the United States” by Lawdragon since 2013. She was most recently a Partner and the Co-Head of the litigation department at Schulte Roth & Zabel.

She also is recognized as a thought leader on litigation trends, regularly publishing articles and being quoted in industry publications on litigation relating to wide-ranging and cutting-edge investment products and asset classes such as SPACs, PIPEs, CMBS, CLOs, real estate and cryptocurrency.

Recent work

• Lead counsel for Portfolio Advisors in a putative class action in the Court of Common Pleas of Philadelphia in which schoolteacher plan participants allege that Portfolio Advisors recommended inappropriate private equity investments to the Board of the Public School Employees Retirement System; case is in the class certification briefing stage.
• Lead counsel for the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China in several actions relating to an alleged Ponzi scheme perpetrated by Philadelphia stock exchange member Brenda Smith.
• Represented American Airlines in many high profile matters such as the dispute over the Dallas/Fort Worth airports and the Government’s predation case.
• Represented many trustees, including HSBC, US Bank and The Bank of New York Mellon in many high profile residential mortgage backed securities cases, where she recovered in excess of $1 billion for investors.