Mitchell C. Shapiro

Personal Introduction

MC Shapiro Law Group PC founding Member and Managing Attorney Mitchell C. Shapiro has been representing Fortune 500 corporations, national trade associations and other clients in high profile, significant, complex commercial matters throughout his career. He has served as first-chair for scores of state and federal litigations, arbitrations, special proceedings, trials, and appeals, and conducted hundreds of depositions and oral arguments. After graduating from Cornell University and the University of Pennsylvania School of Law, he spent his first 16 years practicing at major firms, and the firm he co-founded was named one of the top litigation firms in the country after procuring the then-largest antitrust settlement in history (valued at $3.8 Billion) on the morning of jury selection. Mr. Shapiro also served as outside general counsel or in-house counsel for two different groups of FinTech (financial services) companies that provided businesses with payment processing services and alternative funding to businesses in the form of merchant cash advances and for an electronic medical records software company. MCShapiro Law Group‘s primary goal is to provide clients with services that address their immediate legal needs while taking into account their long-term goals and objectives. Mr. Shapiro and his team never forget that every client is unique; effective legal solutions are never one size fits all. MCShapiro Law Group strives to deliver the same quality of service and representation as the largest law firms at which Mr. Shapiro received his training and against whom he and his team have continued to successfully litigate and negotiate, on behalf of and against individuals, small companies and Fortune 500 companies alike — BigLaw representation without the bureaucracy and never-ending billable hours. In addition to personally handling or counseling clients and business executives on complex commercial litigations, including class actions, and on regulatory and litigation risks and strategies, Mr. Shapiro has represented clients before the Department of Justice, the Antitrust Division, the Federal Trade Commission, the Antitrust, Consumer Frauds & Protection, Health Care and Investor Protection Bureaus of the Office of the New York State Attorney General, the Antitrust/Competition and Consumer Protection Bureaus of numerous other states, the New York Department of Financial Services, the California Department of Business Oversight, the NAAG Payment Systems Working Group, the Federal Communications Commission, the Securities Exchange Commission, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, the Federal Reserve and the New York State Division of Human Rights. He has coordinated and participated in government relations efforts to lobby many state and federal regulatory agencies and legislatures. Mr. Shapiro has successfully convinced regulators and prosecutors to take no action against (or enter nominal consent decrees with) his clients in matters, most recently a $100 million FTC credit card laundering and telemarketing fraud complaint. Mr. Shapiro has been lead or co-counsel for the prevailing party in a number of significant cases, including Allstate Insurance Co. v. Mugavero, et al., The Trump-Equitable Fifth Avenue Company v. The City of New York, et al., Goodstein-Milstein v. City of New York, Vaad L’Hafotzas Sichos, Inc. v. Kehot Publication Society, a division of Merkos L’Inyonei Chinuch, Inc., and in several monopolization and conspiracy cases in various state and federal courts, including Concord EFS, Inc. v. Deluxe Data, Inc.; Diskin v. Daily Racing Form, Inc.; Concord EFS, Inc. v. Deluxe Data Systems, Inc.; Solla, et al. v. NYS Health Maintenance Organization Conference, Inc., et al.; Beyer Farms, Inc. v. Elmhurst Dairy, Inc., and most notably, Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. et al. v. Visa USA, Inc. and MasterCard International Incorporated (a/k/a In Re VisaCheck/MasterMoney Antitrust Litigation), a national class action that resulted in the then-largest antitrust settlement in history. In Wal-Mart et al. v. Visa and MasterCard (a/k/a In Re VisaCheck/MasterMoney Antitrust Litigation), Mr. Shapiro coordinated the pre-trial discovery, countless motions (including the briefing of the successful class certification motions) and massive class notice (to over 5 million merchants) on behalf of the lead plaintiffs in one of the largest civil actions in history, involving production of more than 5 million documents and approximately 400 depositions (over 500 days) concerning the bankcard associations’ alleged attempt and conspiracy to monopolize the debit card market. Mr. Shapiro - who logged more hours over the decade-long course of the case than anyone else - was responsible for hiring, supervising and coordinating the countless vendors and co-counsel necessary to support this monumental decade-long effort. In addition to coordinating, negotiating and litigating the pre-trial discovery, and handling key depositions, Mr. Shapiro was one of the four members of the trial team that also simultaneously mediated and negotiated the then-largest antitrust settlement in history on the actual morning of trial -- with a common fund of over $3 billion and unprecedented injunctive relief (valued at up to $100 billion). That landmark case has been described as having a historic impact on antitrust and class action jurisprudence, the payments systems, banking and retailing industries, and was called a “Home Run for the Retailers” by the American Banker.” In a press release, his law firm heralded Mr. Shapiro’s major part in the firm’s role as lead counsel. Six months later, former adversary MasterCard International retained Mr. Shapiro as a legal advisor. Mr. Shapiro played a major role in numerous other significant cases. For example, in the oft-cited case of Allstate v. Mugavero, New York's highest court ruled in a case of first impression that a standard homeowners insurance policy does not cover intentional or criminal acts by a homeowner or resident, rejecting the widespread tactic of artfully pleading alternative causes of action grounded in negligence in an attempt to invoke coverage. The Trump-Equitable case established that the City's method of real property tax assessment for "mixed-use" buildings like Trump Tower was improper. In Avon Products, Inc. v. Solow Mr. Shapiro prevailed in post-arbitration litigation over valuation adjustments to a lease at 9 West 57th Street. In Goodstein-Milstein v. City of New York, a case long-cited for the black letter legal principle that a plaintiff can not seek speculative damages, Mr. Shapiro briefed and argued the appeal that convinced the New York appellate court to overturn the lower court's ruling and reinstate the case despite the fact that the City of New York argued that the client's former law firm's neglect in allowing the case to lie dormant for years (and then be dismissed) resulted in the unavailability of a key witness and prejudice to the defendant. In Arnold Chevrolet et al. v. Newsday, Inc. et al, a case settled at the close of discovery, Mr. Shapiro served as co-counsel for the plaintiffs in bringing a variety of common law fraud and antitrust claims against Newsday and a preferred group of automobile dealers arising out of, inter alia, Newsday's alleged fraudulent overstatement of its circulation figures (and corresponding advertising rates), Newsday's alleged attempt to monopolize the market for advertising new automobiles on Long Island. In Beyer Farms, Inc. v. Elmhurst Dairy, Inc. (a case featured in BNA’s Antitrust Reporter), Mr. Shapiro successfully convinced both the district court and the Second Circuit to consider his client’s arrangements with distributors to be part of a dual distribution scheme and to extend prevailing law to apply the more lenient rule of reason standard and dismiss all claims against his client. In Solla et al v. Aetna, et al, the Second Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed the district court's opinion that the HMOs had not engaged in the alleged violation of the antitrust laws by excluding chiropractors from their managed care networks. In that case, Mr. Shapiro served as co-lead counsel coordinating the discovery efforts and successful summary judgment strategy of eleven defendant HMOs and their various law firms. In Vaad L’Hafotzas Sichos v. Kehot Publication Society, Mr. Shapiro oversaw the litigation and first-chaired the federal trademark trial that preserved his client’s invaluable right to continue using the Kehos logo in publishing the edited works of the Lubavitcher Rebbe. In Spielman et al. v. Toner.com et al., Mr. Shapiro procured a restraining order enjoining seventeen card issuers and processors from initiating collection proceedings against 58 credit cardholders who had been caught up in a “swipe for points” scheme. In Ladder Capital-ATX Debt Fund v. Paul (and related litigations concerning more than $300 million worth of commercial real estate), Mr. Shapiro convinced the appellate court to reverse the lower court and deviate from the longstanding rule of law regarding defenses available to a guarantor and permit his client to raise the defenses that “predatory lenders” used “rigged foreclosures” as part of a “loan to own scheme”. Mr. Shapiro’s work has taken him into the board rooms of dozens of major corporations and their competitors. The companies that Mr. Shapiro has represented over the years include Allstate Insurance Company, American Progressive Insurance Co., Arnold Chevrolet, Bio-Reference Labs, Bolt Healthcare, BP-Amoco, Business Payment Systems, CHCMF, Circuit City Stores, Concord Computing Corporation, Concord EFS, Congregation Ahavas Moishe, Cresthill Capital, Daily Racing Form, Dollar Rent A Car, Dora's Naturals, Department 56, EFS National Bank, Elmhurst Dairy, Factor Funding, Entenmann’s Bakery, Food Marketing Institute, Goodstein-Milstein Development, Interfaith Medical Center, International Mass Retail Association, Mantis Funding, Mastercard International, National Retail Federation, NewsAmerica Publishing, NewsCorp., Nissan Motors, North American Reinsurance, Sanus Health Plans of Greater NY/NYLCare, Process America, Reliable Abstract, Safeway, Second Source Funding, Sears Roebuck & Company, Solow Building Company, Star Systems, Snap Advances, Steuben Foods, Tribul Merchant Services, Thrifty Car Rentals, Trump Equitable Fifth Avenue Co., Twentieth Century Fox, USADawgs, Wal-Mart Stores, Watermatic (exclusive distributor of Sodastream), World Class Capital Group/WC Real Estate and Vaad L’Hafotsas Sichos. These representations involved the practices of, among other businesses: auto dealers and manufacturers, art dealers, banks and bankcard associations, borrowers, cable companies, charities, collectible manufacturers and distributors, countertop manufacturers, credit and debit card companies (issuers, processors and networks), dairy processors and distributors, e-commerce retailers, electronic medical records companies, factors, film and television producers, heavy machinery manufacturers, financial institutions, grocers and supermarkets, health clubs, health maintenance organizations, hospitals, independent laboratories, independent sales organizations and VARs, insurance companies and re-insurers, labor unions, lease financing companies, landlords and tenants, leaseholders and tenants, lenders, lenders, limited partnerships, merchant cash advance companies, municipal contract bidders, newspapers, patient portals, petroleum retailers, publicly traded companies publishers, real estate developers and contractors, real property managers and brokers, religious corporations, rental car companies, retailers (traditional and ecommerce), software companies, securities issuers, schools, trade associations, truck manufacturers, synagogues, water purification companies, and wholesalers. MCShapiro Law Group‘s primary goal is to provide clients with services that address their immediate legal needs while taking into account their long-term goals and objectives. Mr. Shapiro and his team never forget that every client is unique; effective legal solutions are never one size fits all. MCShapiro Law Group strives to deliver the same quality of service and representation as the largest law firms at which Mr. Shapiro received his training and against whom he and his team have continued to successfully litigate and negotiate, on behalf of and against individuals, small companies and Fortune 500 companies alike — BigLaw representation without the bureaucracy and never-ending billable hours.