Jay B. Kasner

Jay B. Kasner

Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP

Jay B. Kasner, a Senior Partner at Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP, concentrates in federal and state court litigation, including securities, corporate and takeover litigation, and general commercial matters. Jay received the Business Trial Lawyer Award for Excellence from Chambers USA in 2008.

Since 2003, he has been one of only three lawyers ranked in the top tier for New York securities litigation in Chambers USA: America’s Leading Lawyers for Business, in which he has been characterized as “an aggressive, forceful trial lawyer with a tireless work ethic and no-nonsense manner.” Jay also has been named one of the top lawyers in New York for bet-the-company and commercial litigation matters by The Best Lawyers in America.

Jay has advised most major financial institutions in litigation in state and federal courts and in arbitration proceedings. He also has represented numerous public companies in their defense of actions arising under federal and state securities and corporate laws. In one such case, Dabit v. Merrill Lynch, Jay persuaded the U.S. Supreme Court, by a vote of 8 to 0, that the Securities Litigation Uniform Standards Act preempted private securities class actions brought under state law by individuals who asserted claims as “holders” of securities and who did not allege that they had purchased or sold securities during the period in question. In another case, Lentell v. Merrill Lynch & Co., Jay successfully urged the Second Circuit to adopt a standard for pleading loss causation that has since been cited by courts hundreds of times.

Jay’s docket is busier than ever, advising clients on high-stakes cases at the center of the current global financial crisis. He has been married to his wife Karen for 28 years, and they are the proud parents of Brett and Jared, ages 24 and 21. In October 2009, the Jewish Board of Family and Children’s Services (“JBFCS”) honored the Kasner family with the dedication of the Kasner Family Fitness Center in recognition of their having spearheaded an effort that raised over $1 million for the renovation of the athletic facility at Hawthorne Cedar Knolls, the JBFCS Westchester Campus. Jay and Karen are former members of the Westchester Board of the American Jewish Committee and former Co-chairs for the Parents Fund of the University of Pennsylvania. They also are both members of the Board of Trustees for the Washington Institute for Near East Policy.