212-267-6900/sschneider@slsatty.com
Mr. Schneider has a 30-year track record of advising and representing financial service companies, investment funds, and other companies in complex and sensitive matters across a varied range of specialties. Some of the largest companies entrust Mr. Schneider to represent them on matters typically handled by global law-firms. He has litigated disputes in federal and state trial and appellate courts involving, among other things, creditor rights, corporate governance, intellectual property, securities law, and real estate, as well as the defense of criminal and SEC matters.
Mr. Schneider has been representing creditors since 1990 in hundreds of matters, recovering millions of dollars through negotiation, litigation and judgment enforcement. He developed an innovative method to obtain ex parte orders seizing assets from debtors which typically lead to recovery through resolution. He has a perfect record in obtaining dismissals, through motion practice, of every counterclaim interposed by debtors against creditor clients. He has prosecuted fraudulent conveyance actions to recover assets and has an expertise in locating hidden assets (including those secreted overseas). He has litigated frequently in the US Bankruptcy Courts.
Mr. Schneider is well-experienced in corporate transactions, routinely handling large and small acquisitions and sales as well as unique structured deals. For example, he negotiated and oversaw the sale of a $264 million subsidiary of the largest Canadian assigned risk auto insurance company; he managed a team of lawyers to effectuate the first of its kind disposition of a regulated insurance subsidiary whose condition threatened to bankrupt the parent (the transaction was sustained by the court); he recently negotiated a multimillion dollar buy-out, retention, and re-structuring of an existing partnership for a well-known marketing firm.
Mr. Schneider has also successfully represented numerous dissident shareholders in their investments in public companies, having managed to acquire over a dozen board of director seats and persuade managements to maximize shareholder value. He has also served on the boards of 2 publicly held financial service firms, overseeing the sale of one and turn-around of the other. He served as the general counsel of a hedge fund which he co-founded. He developed the first of its kind litigation which successfully forced an entrenched management to cede control. Mr. Schneider has appeared before federal and state banking and insurance regulators to obtain approval on transactions, respond to inquiries, and advocate policy positions.
Mr. Schneider has experience in the area of intellectual property and trade secrets. He worked on a mutli-year trade secret case on behalf of a tech firm whose trade secrets were pilfered by former employees. He obtained a preliminary injunction in federal trademark action against an infringer of his client’s catalogue; case was soon settled. Along with local counsel in London, Mr. Schneider sought a preliminary injunction against the British infringer of an American marketing company’s trademark; after expedited discovery, defendant gave up using the trademark. Mr. Schneider has obtained numerous injunctions against former employees for violating non-competition clauses and misappropriating trade secrets.
Mr. Schneider also practices real estate law: he has negotiated commercial leases for tenants and landlord, has represented commercial tenants and landlords in litigation, has handled commercial and residential sales for both sides, and has also handled environmental cases.
Education and Experience
Mr. Schneider received his BA in Philosophy from Washington University in 1982, and his JD from Cardozo School of Law in 1985 where he was Articles Editor of the Arts and Entertainment Law Journal. He received an annual faculty award for best Law Review note. He began his legal career in 1986 at a predecessor firm to the New York City branch of Hogan Lovells.