John W. Brewer

John W. Brewer is of counsel at Amini LLC.  He represents companies and individuals, as both plaintiffs and defendants, in a wide range of complex commercial litigation in federal and state courts throughout the country. His practice focuses on business disputes involving complex contractual and fiduciary duty claims as well as claims under securities, antitrust, RICO and other statutes.

John has considerable experience with litigation involving financially-distressed or restructuring companies, both in bankruptcy court and other forums. He also has extensive experience in litigation with an international dimension, often involving disputes over whether the matter should be adjudicated in the U.S. or a foreign forum.

John is actively involved in the firm’s professional liability practice, representing both law firms and parties with claims against law firms. He has successfully argued appeals in both the federal and New York state courts.

Prior to joining Amini LLC in 2019, John worked at Storch Amini for 7 years. Before that, John enjoyed 19 years of commercial litigation experience at Fried, Frank, Harris, Shriver & Jacobson LLP. Before entering private practice, he was a law clerk for future Supreme Court Justice Samuel A. Alito, Jr., who was at the time a judge of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit.

John received his J.D. from Northwestern University and is licensed to practice law in New York.

Examples of John's experience include:

• Represented minority shareholders in a cruise ship company seeking to avoid improper dilution of their holdings and obtain appropriate relief for alleged self-dealing by management and the majority investors.
• Represented majority shareholders of a closely-held real estate company head in litigation with the estate of the minority shareholder, whose will had provided a right of first refusal to acquire his stake.
• Represented equity investor in a major retailer chain sued by bondholders as an alleged control person after the company went into bankruptcy.
• Represented investment fund in litigation with a former asset manager about the parties’ respective entitlement to proceeds from a successful portfolio investment and responsibility for losses from prior unsuccessful investments.
• Represented holders of the defaulted U.S. dollar-denominated debt of a major foreign media company seeking to avoid the jurisdiction of the U.S. courts.
• Represented major U.S. fashion company in claims arising out of its refusal to consent to a proposed assignment of the license to use its trademark for perfume.
• Represented overseas creditor against multiple individuals who made tactical U.S. bankruptcy filings in an attempt to forestall entry of judgment against them in pending court proceedings in a foreign court.
• Represented significant player in the international art world in litigation involving disputed ownership of a painting by Willem de Kooning.
• Represented public company in out-of-court resolution of multi-million-dollar dispute with AmLaw 50 law firm that had previously been its primary outside counsel, involving issues of malpractice and conflict of interest.
• Represented prominent boutique law firm as defendant in litigations involving RICO and False Claims Act allegations.
• Represented media company in a dispute arising out of multiple conflicting assignments of the copyrights to a series of “cult classic” horror movies.
• Pro bono representation of state and federal inmates seeking reduction of lengthy sentences for non-violent drug offenses.
• Pro bono representation of critics and dissident ex-members of a controversial religious community faced with a defamation lawsuit intended to silence them.
  

Recognition
In 2019-2023, John was named a top-rated business litigation attorney in New York by Super Lawyers. The Super Lawyers list is issued by Thomson Reuters. A description of the selection methodology can be found here.

‍Professional History
John was formerly Special Counsel at Fried, Frank, Harris, Shriver & Jacobson LLP. Before entering private practice, he was a law clerk for future Supreme Court Justice Samuel A. Alito, Jr., who was at the time a judge of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit.