Scott Danner

Scott Danner is a first-chair trial lawyer who tries trade secret, antitrust, and complex commercial disputes to verdict for both plaintiffs and defendants. He handles bet-the-company litigation involving hundreds of millions—and often billions—of dollars. Scott tries his cases by distilling complex disputes into compelling stories for judges, juries, and arbitrators. Clients retain Scott when the outcome of litigation will materially affect the future of their companies, investments, or technologies.

Scott has tried jury trials, bench trials, and arbitration hearings across the country, securing verdicts, judgments, and arbitration awards in high-stakes matters. His clients come from a wide variety of industries, including aerospace, software, gaming, technology, financial services, media, and private equity; they range from start-ups to some of the largest corporations and financial institutions in the world.

A former clerk in New York state and federal court, Scott has represented clients in New York trial and appellate courts, including successful appeals to the New York Court of Appeals and the Second Circuit. He has also served as lead trial and arbitration counsel in state and federal courts in Delaware, California, Washington, Illinois, Virginia, and Florida, among others.

Scott has been recognized as a Litigation Trailblazer by The National Law Journal, a Leading Global and Competition Lawyer by Lawdragon, and an “amazing trial lawyer” by his clients as reported by Legal 500. He has been repeatedly recommended in Legal 500’s guide for his litigation work and recognized by The American Lawyer and Law360 for his trial wins.

Scott graduated summa cum laude from the Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law, where he was awarded the Felix Frankfurter Prize, the school’s highest discretionary academic honor. Following law school, he served as a law clerk to the Honorable Colleen McMahon of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York and the Honorable Robert S. Smith of the New York Court of Appeals, New York’s highest court. Before joining Holwell Shuster & Goldberg, Scott practiced commercial litigation at Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz, where he represented public companies, boards of directors, and financial institutions in complex litigation. Scott is also a member of the New York City Bar Association’s Trade Secret Committee.

Noteworthy

• Recognized in 2026 Legal 500 Guide
• Named to Lawdragon’s Leading Global Antitrust Lawyers List (2025-2026)
• Selected to Lawdragon’s 2026 500 Leading Litigators in America List
• Recognized as a Leading Lawyer by Benchmark Litigation
• Recognized as an “amazing trial lawyer” by Legal 500
• Named a Litigation Trailblazer by The National Law Journal
• Recognized New York Metro Super Lawyers

Notable Cases

Trade Secrets

• Lead trial counsel for aerospace start-up, Zunum Aero Inc., winning a jury verdict in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington finding Boeing liable for $81.3 million for misappropriating substantial trade secrets related to the development of hybrid-electric aircraft. The trial was reported by Forbes, Reuters, MSN, the Seattle Times, and various legal publications.
• On appeal, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit reinstated the verdict in full after the district court set it aside, and reassigned the case to a different district judge to handle further post-trial proceedings (which could result in a total judgment in excess of $300 million). The appellate win was covered by Reuters, Business Insider, Law360 (including in Law360’s Legal Lions column), World IP Review, the Seattle Times, and Aviation Week, among many others.
• Lead trial counsel for SDR Group, a geo-surveying and natural resource logistics start-up, in an action pending in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia against Lockheed Martin and other defendants, alleging trade secret misappropriation and tortious interference with contract, and seeking at least $600 million in damages, before trebling.
• Lead trial counsel for 45 Spirits, a spirits start-up, in an action pending in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois against a rival promoter, 47 Spirits, in an action alleging misappropriation of trade secrets and business plans related to the relaunch of the Trump Vodka brand in 2025.

Antitrust

• Lead trial counsel for Valve Corporation in defending against thousands of individual antitrust claims brought as part of a mass arbitration. To date, Scott has first-chaired more than a dozen full merits hearings covering hundreds of individual claims.
• Counsel for Valassis Communications, Inc., a MacAndrews & Forbes company, as plaintiff in litigation against News Corp. and its subsidiaries in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, alleging federal and state antitrust violations, unfair competition, and tortious interference and seeking more than $600 million in damages. Valassis defeated summary judgment and then reached a confidential settlement during jury deliberations following a nearly three-week trial.

Investment firms

• Counsel for H.I.G. Capital LLC, a private equity firm, in Delaware Superior Court and the Delaware Court of Chancery, asserting claims against the Audax Group, another private equity firm, for fraud in connection with the $900 million+ sale of a portfolio company in 2022.
• Lead trial counsel for hedge fund, Melody Business Finance, in a New York Supreme Court action against former hedge fund billionaire Philip Falcone, securing an award of $69.8 million—approximately 99% of the amount sought following a trial on damages.
• Counsel for investment fund, Melody Capital Partners, as plaintiff in various litigations and out-of-court foreclosures under the Uniform Commercial Code resulting from defaults under loan agreements secured by equity interests, real estate, and fine art, among other collateral.

Other Commercial Litigation

• Counsel for InterActiveCorp and Match Group, Inc. in litigation brought by the founders of Tinder seeking several billion in damages over the corporate consolidation of Tinder and Match.
• Directors in a major automotive company in connection with securities law and fiduciary duty claims, and civil and criminal investigations, arising from a product defect.
• Several non-U.S. companies in proceedings under 28 U.S.C. § 1782 (the federal cross-border discovery statute) seeking discovery in the United States for use in litigations or arbitrations pending abroad, including defeating motions to quash and winning motions to compel before District Courts in New York and Connecticut, and prevailing in a precedent-setting appeal before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit.

Pro Bono

• Counsel for several indigent criminal defendants in appeals to the Appellate Division, First Department and New York Court of Appeals, including obtaining leave and prevailing on an appeal setting important limits on New York’s “mini-RICO” statute (a state analogue to the federal Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act), resulting in the unanimous reversal of his client’s conviction and dismissal of the indictment.