What do an All-Pro center for the Pittsburgh Steelers...

Transcription

1 What do an All-Pro center for the Pittsburgh Steelers...

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3 A British accountant kidnapped off a busy street in Manila, the Philippines...

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5 And a bank which almost closed its doors after loans to an unscrupulous mobile home retailer...

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7 Have in common?

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9 Cy Smith.

10 Mike Webster won three Super Bowls for the Pittsburgh Steelers, but couldn t hold a job after he retired. He was crippled by multiple concussions from his NFL career. Representing the Webster estate, Cy won the first case ever against the NFL s pension plan, testified before Congress, appeared on HBO and ESPN, and paved the way for today s media, public, and legislative scrutiny of professional football s concussion and disability crisis. When Azhar Khan was kidnapped in Manila and held for ransom while working for a multinational engineering firm, his employer refused to pay the ransom or tell his family the details of his kidnappers demands. He was imprisoned and tortured for weeks until his release. It took Cy two successful trips to the D.C. Circuit (Khan v. Parsons, 428 F.3d 1079 (D.C. Cir. 2005); Khan v. Parsons, 521 F.3d 421 (D.C. Cir. 2008) and unearthing a video of Mr. Khan s imprisonment and torture until the firm agreed to a confidential settlement that provided justice to Mr. Khan and his family. Belmont Bancorp almost went under after tens of millions of dollars of loans to a fraudulent mobile home dealer and a string of circus and carnival businesses. Cy prosecuted the successful West Virginia shareholder derivative suit against the bank s accountants and board of directors that helped put the bank back on track and recovered millions for the bank s shareholders.

11 In 25 years as a trial lawyer representing plaintiffs and defendants in high-stakes, complex, and contingent-fee civil litigation, Cy has also represented the son of notorious corporate raider Victor Posner in one of the largest will contests in U.S. history, in a drama played out in Florida state court. Cy s labor union clients won enforcement of a highly favorable pension plan amendment, defeating claims that it was the product of a labor racketeering conspiracy (the drafters of the amendment pled guilty to fraud) and resulting in one of the largest Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) judgments ever in the Fourth Circuit. Johannssen v. MEBA Pension Plan, 292 F.3d 159 (4th Cir. 2002). In 2010 and 2011, Cy settled trailblazing Medicaid class actions against Maryland and the District of Columbia that established new law and recovered $16 million for 400 nursing homes and more than 60,000 class members. And Cy has won important victories in a wide range of cases under RESPA, the federal law prohibiting kickbacks in residential real estate transactions. Cy Smith, Zuckerman Spaeder LLP 100 East Pratt Street Suite 2440 Baltimore, MD fax csmith@zuckerman.com

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13 About Cy Smith Cy Smith is a partner in the Baltimore office of Zuckerman Spaeder LLP. In 2011, Cy was recognized in The Best Lawyers in America for commercial law and legal malpractice law, and Benchmark Litigation has listed him as a Local Litigation Star since In 2009, Cy received The Daily Record s Leadership in Law Award. An active participant in local professional and community service organizations, Cy currently serves as the president of Beth Am Synagogue. He previously served as the vice chair of the board of directors for the Baltimore Urban Debate League. Cy is also the former president of the board of governors of the Maryland Chapter of the Federal Bar Association; the former chair of the Lawyers Campaign for the College Bound Foundation; and a former member of the U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland s Criminal Justice Act Panel. Cy is a 1986 graduate of the University of Virginia School of Law, where he received the Robert E. Goldstein Award. He received his B.A. from Dartmouth College in 1981.

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15 About Zuckerman Spaeder LLP Founded in 1975, Zuckerman Spaeder LLP maintains a national practice with attorneys in five offices. Our attorneys practice in the areas of complex commercial, civil and criminal litigation, as well as in bankruptcy, food and drug law, government ethics, insurance, legal profession and ethics, real estate, securities, tax, and white collar. In 2009, the firm was named a finalist for Litigation Boutique of the Year by The American Lawyer, and U.S. News & World Report named the firm in tier one nationally for general commercial litigation in Zuckerman Spaeder also has more attorneys listed in The Best Lawyers in America for white-collar criminal defense than any other firm (of any size) in the country. For more information about the firm, including information about recognition selection criteria, visit its website at

16 100 East Pratt Street Suite 2440 Baltimore, MD fax