Akiva Shapiro

Partner

Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher LLP

Akiva Shapiro is a litigation partner in Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher’s New York office, Chair of the Firm’s New York Administrative Law and Regulatory Practice Group, Co-Chair of its Religious Liberty Working Group, and a member of the Firm’s Appellate and Constitutional Law, Media, Entertainment and Technology, and Securities Litigation Practice Groups, among others.  Mr. Shapiro’s practice focuses on a broad range of high-stakes constitutional, administrative, commercial, and appellate litigation matters.  He is regularly engaged in front of New York’s trial courts, federal and state courts of appeal, and the U.S. Supreme Court.

Mr. Shapiro was named Litigator of the Week by The American Lawyer in August 2021 for what it called an “extraordinary SCOTUS win for New York landlords,” obtaining an emergency injunction from the Court on due process grounds in Chrysafis v. Marks.  He was named a runner-up Litigator of the Week by The American Lawyer in November 2020 for “two big wins . . . scored late on the Wednesday before Thanksgiving,” including obtaining an emergency injunction from the U.S. Supreme Court in The Roman Catholic Diocese of Brooklyn, New York v. Cuomo, a landmark religious liberties decision.  Referencing both emergency decisions, The American Lawyer recognized Mr. Shapiro’s “knack for getting the attention of the U.S. Supreme Court. Quickly.”  He was also named a runner-up Litigator of the Week in November 2021 for winning pre-discovery dismissal of assault and battery claims brought by former New York Knicks star Charles Oakley against Madison Square Garden, and in August 2019 for a First Amendment and due process victory on behalf of the New York State title insurance industry, and was recognized by The American Lawyer in October 2022 for a CPLR Article 78 victory holding that the Town of East Hampton’s plan to close its airport was arbitrary and capricious for failure to conduct required environmental reviews.