Senior counsel in Willkie’s Litigation Department, Richard Mancino focuses on complex commercial and corporate litigation, and regularly assists U.S. and international clients in complex insurance and reinsurance disputes, securities litigation and alter ego and corporate veil litigation. He also advises clients on matters of international and treaty law, and handles fraudulent transfer and other litigation claims arising out of M&A-related matters.
Richard's practice also includes bankruptcy-related litigation, syndicated loan and credit agreement disputes, and product liability litigation and counseling. In the product liability area, Richard's experience includes acting as coordinating and defense counsel for a breast implant manufacturer in hundreds of state and federal lawsuits, and counseling clients on matters relating to regulatory compliance, product recalls and transactional due diligence involving product liability exposures.
Richard's trial and appellate practice brings him into courts around the country. At the trial court level, Richard has successfully litigated cases in courts around the country, including state and federal courts in New York, New Jersey, Delaware, California, Minnesota, Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Illinois, Missouri, Idaho, Oklahoma and Alabama. He was lead counsel in an extended bench trial in California state court which resulted in a decision dismissing fraudulent transfer claims against his clients arising out of a complex recapitalization transaction involving a prominent P&C insurer. And he was lead trial counsel for a foreign reinsurer in a federal securities class action litigation in which the district court, in a ruling that predated the Supreme Court’s decision in Morrison v. Australian National Bank, denied class certification to foreign purchasers who bought his client’s stock on the Swiss and London stock exchanges. Richard's appellate experience includes arguing appeals before appellate courts in New York and California, as well as before the U.S. Courts of Appeal for the Second, Third, Fourth and Seventh Circuits, and he has filed amicus briefs on behalf of pro bono organizations with the U.S. Supreme Court, the Eleventh Circuit and the Ohio Supreme Court.
Recently, he persuaded the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals to hold that the McCarran-Ferguson Act does not permit state law prohibiting arbitration of insurance disputes to reverse-preempt the New York Convention on the Recognition and Enforcement of Foreign Arbitral Awards, and to affirm the district court’s order compelling arbitration in Sweden of welding fume coverage claims. He also represented a foreign reinsurer in disputes connected to the World Trade Center in which he argued successfully in the Second Circuit Court of Appeals that legislation passed in the wake of the attacks did not abrogate private arbitration agreements.
Richard has broad experience in insurance/reinsurance litigation, in judicial and arbitral fora. His experience has ranged from assisting natural resource companies on recovering on insurance and reinsurance contracts for losses arising out of environmental damage and catastrophic failures of smelting, refining and oil extraction equipment, to obtaining for a bonded warehouse operator a full recovery in arbitration against its three insurers for losses occasioned by a European smuggling scheme, to obtaining arbitration victories for both ceding and reinsuring companies in disputes arising under A&H, D&O and other reinsurance covers.
Richard is recognized as a leading practitioner in the 2022 edition of Who’s Who Legal: Insurance & Reinsurance, and in the 2019 edition of Insurance and Reinsurance Expert Guide.
Experience
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NYSBA 2020 Outstanding Pro Bono Volunteer Award – Partner Richard Mancino was one of two attorneys recognized by the NYSBA for outstanding pro bono service over the course of 2020
Richard is a member of ARIAS-US, the reinsurance arbitration organization, and is certified as a reinsurance arbitrator. He is active in the New York City Bar Association where he is past chair of the Products Liability Committee and, as a former member of the Federal Courts Committee, helped write the Committee's report: "The Indefinite Detention of Enemy Combatants: Balancing Due Process and National Security in the Context of the War on Terror." He is currently a member of the Arbitration Committee.
Richard also serves as a court-appointed mediator in the Southern and Eastern Districts of New York.
Richard has been recognized by clients and his peers as a leading insurance and reinsurance law adviser in the 2002, 2004, 2006, 2013, 2015, 2017 and 2018 Guide to the World’s Leading Insurance and Reinsurance Lawyers (Legal Media Group).
Richard is also a member of the board of directors of the Friends of American Mission Hospital (2017-present) and the City Bar Fund of the New York City Bar Association (2018- ).
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“How Lawyers Can Help the Uyghur Human Rights Crisis,” New York Law Journal (February 11, 2019)
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"Are Arbitration Clauses in International Insurance Contracts Enforceable? The Fourth Circuit Joins Debate," Insurance Coverage Law Report (August/September 2012)
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"U.S. Supreme Court to Decide Effect of Contractual Forum-Selection Clauses in Federal Courts," Willkie Client Memo (April 8, 2013)
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"Lost Horizon: International Securities Litigation in a Post-Morrison World," presented at The Knowledge Congress’s Live Webinar Legal Series: International Securities Litigation, (January 16, 2013)
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"Seventh Circuit Emphasizes Necessity for Timely Selection of Party Arbitrator," Metropolitan Corporate Counsel (2007)
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"The Doctrine of Adequate Assurances and Potential Year 2000 Litigation Risks," N.Y.L.J., Sept. 1, 1999 and Corporate Law Weekly, Sept. 23, 1999 (with Scott Rose)
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"Should Congress Try to Stop All Those Lawsuits Over Spilled Coffee and Declining Stock Prices," The Marsh & McLennan Companies Quarterly: Civil Justice in a Changing World (Fall 1995)
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ESAB Group, Inc. v. Zurich Insurance plc, 685 F.3d 376 (4th Cir. 2012): Adopting Richard’s statement at oral argument that in matters of foreign commerce the United States must speak with one voice, the Fourth Circuit affirmed the district court’s order compelling insurance claims to arbitration in Sweden, and rejected plaintiff-appellant’s argument that the McCarran-Ferguson Act enabled a South Carolina statute prohibiting arbitration of insurance disputes to reverse-preempt the N.Y. Convention on Recognition and Enforcement of Foreign Arbitral Awards.
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API Asbestos Settlement Trust v. Zurich American Ins. Co., 2012 WL 2589086 (D. Minn. Mar. 30, 2012): Mr. Mancino obtained summary judgment dismissing with prejudice alter ego, agency, tortious interference and breach of contract claims of asbestos litigation trust arising out of recapitalization of insurance company that had insured plaintiffs. See also API Asbestos Settlement Trust v. Zurich American Ins. Co., 706 F. Supp. 2d 926 (D. Minn. 2010) (dismissing fraudulent transfer and tortious interference claims for plaintiffs’ lack of standing).
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In re Delphi Corp., Case No. 05-44481 (RDD) (S.D.N.Y. Bankr. Ct. 2009): Led Willkie’s litigation team in the firm’s interdisciplinary effort on behalf of a Collective of Tranche C Delphi lenders’ successful $3.25 billion credit bid to acquire a substantial portion of the Delphi business.
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In re Scor Holding (Switzerland) AG Securities Litig., 537 F. Supp. 2d 556 (S.D.N.Y. 2008): As lead counsel for Scor (f/k/a Converium) in class action securities litigation, obtained dismissal from certified class of foreign purchasers who bought Converium stock on foreign exchanges.
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General Motors Corp. v. Royal & Sun Alliance Insurance Group plc, et al., Case 05-063863 (Circuit Ct. Oakland County, Michigan) and General Motors Corp. v. Royal & Sun Alliance Insurance plc, [2007] EWHC 2206 (High Court of Justice, Commercial Court, England): Engineered Royal & Sun Alliance Insurance Group plc’s successful defense against alter ego claims and coverage litigation in Michigan, and then assisted English counsel in obtaining an anti-suit injunction in London Commercial Court.
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Allianz v. Kennecott Corporation, et al., High Court of Justice, Commercial Court, England (2002): Represented U.S. mining company in connection with business interruption claim resulting from catastrophic failure of copper smelter furnace and acid plant. Assisted U.K. counsel in coverage litigation in English court and in mediating successful settlement of claim.
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Salton, Inc. v. Philips Domestic Appliances & Personal Care, B.V., 391 F.2d 871 (7th Cir. 2004): Represented Dutch appliance maker in copyright and patent litigation against U.S. electronics manufacturer. On appeal, obtained reversal of district court’s dismissal of action for failure to join Chinese original equipment manufacturing firm.
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Wechsler v. Squadron, Ellenoff, Plesent & Sheinfeld, 994 F. Supp. 202 (S.D.N.Y. 1997): Represented trustee in litigation arising out of the Towers Financial Ponzi scheme and resulting bankruptcy. Persuaded district court that trustee had standing to bring malpractice claims against former SEC counsel to Towers, notwithstanding senior management’s role in the fraud.
Credentials
Education
Ohio State University Moritz School of Law, J.D., 1982 Michigan State University, B.A., 1978
Bar Admissions
Court Admissions
United States Supreme Court, 2012 United States Court of Appeals, 2nd Circuit, 1990 United States Court of Appeals, 3rd Circuit, 1990 United States Court of Appeals, 4th Circuit United States Court of Appeals, 7th Circuit United States Court of Appeals, 8th Circuit, 2012 United States Court of Appeals, 9th Circuit, 1989 United States District Court, Eastern District of New York, 1983 United States District Court, Southern District of New York, 1983 United States District Court, Western District of New York, 2008