Justin E. Klein
Summary
Justin provides strategic counsel to clients facing high-stakes business, investment, and personal matters.
He represents privately held and public companies, business owners, executives, investors, and boards in connection with complex and sensitive business decisions, transactions, governance issues, fiduciary matters, commercial arrangements, and disputes. He also advises family offices, ultra-high-net-worth individuals, and principals on matters involving closely held businesses, private investments, and significant commercial relationships.
As outside general counsel and a trusted advisor to businesses and their leadership, Justin helps clients navigate issues that often do not fit neatly within a single legal discipline. He counsels clients on partnership and shareholder disputes, executive and founder matters, governance concerns, risk allocation, and other matters with important implications for owners, stakeholders, and long-term business objectives.
Justin also counsels ultra-high-net-worth clients and family offices on business, investment, and governance matters involving family enterprises and private wealth. This work includes advising on the legal and practical considerations surrounding private companies, investment structures, family governance, and significant business and investment decisions.
Drawing on decades of experience litigating complex disputes in courts across the country, Justin brings a litigator’s perspective to problem-solving—anticipating risk, identifying leverage, and developing practical strategies to resolve his clients’ most difficult problems. He is also called upon to take control of and litigate high-stakes disputes when clients need an experienced advocate to protect their interests.
He understands that these sensitive, high-stakes matters often have consequences extending well beyond a client’s immediate legal position, affecting the client’s business, investments, relationships, and long-term objectives.
Justin’s work spans industries including sports, media and entertainment, life sciences, technology, consumer businesses, hospitality, and emerging companies. Clients turn to him for trusted counsel in high-stakes, confidential matters requiring sound judgment and discretion, with a focus on practical solutions that protect value and advance their long-term interests.
Earlier in his career, Justin clerked for the Honorable Judge Mary Ellen Coster Williams of the United States Court of Federal Claims in Washington, D.C.
Justin is licensed to practice law in the State of New York.
Awards
Honoree, New York Metro Super Lawyers, 2013-2026
Honoree, New York Metro Super Lawyers Rising Stars, 2012
All Service Areas
Education
- Fordham University School of Law (2003)
- University of Michigan (2000)
B.A. – Political Science
Admissions
- State - New York
- Federal - New York Eastern District Court
- Federal - New York Southern District Court
- Federal - Illinois Northern District Court
- Federal - U.S. Court of Appeals, Second Circuit
- Federal - U.S. Court of Appeals, Fourth Circuit
- Federal - U.S. Court of Appeals, Ninth Circuit
- Federal - U.S. Court of Appeals, Federal Circuit
- Federal - United States Tax Court
- Federal - U.S. Court of Federal Claims
Notable Matters
Prior to Taft
Justin has negotiated significant domestic and international transactions, including:
- Represented a client in connection with one of the first commercial space flight agreements.
- Represented a private equity consortium bidding on the multi-billion-dollar acquisition of an American mixed martial arts promotion company, one of the largest transactions in history for a sports organization.
- Represented a publicly traded biotech company in a licensing, commercialization, and supply deal covering a pipeline of biosimilar drugs in development in the United States and Europe.
- Represented a production company in connection with a multi-party, global documentary production deal.
- Represented a multinational pharmaceutical company in connection with a major U.S. land acquisition and development project.
Justin has successfully litigated matters in state and federal courts throughout the United States, including:
- A defense of a publicly traded company against claims seeking more than $50 million in damages arising from an early-stage investment.
- A digital fair use victory in both the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia and the U.S. Court of Appeals, Fourth Circuit, defending a client against a copyright infringement claim.
- A dismissal on behalf of a professional football team in a multi-million-dollar insurance dispute.
- A settlement of a breach of sponsorship agreement dispute on behalf of a professional basketball team.
- A defense of a professional sports team against defamation claims.
- Both the pursuit and defense of claims on behalf of clients under the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act.
Other Representative Matters:
- Successfully negotiated and resolved claims asserted on behalf of professional sports teams and arenas in breach-of-contract actions and intellectual property infringement actions in New York state and federal courts.
- Successfully represented a financial technology company in separate actions seeking copyright infringement damages and damages for breach of a licensing agreement in the Southern District of New York.
- Represented a next-generation health technology company in its $50 million Series B round and $16 million Series A round.
Professional Affiliations
- University of Michigan Life Sciences Institute Leadership Council
Member
Community Involvement
- National Veterans Leadership Foundation
Legal Advisor
- New York Mixed Martial Arts Initiative
Founder and Chairman of the Board of Directors