Crowell & Moring Partner Stuart Newberger Named American Lawyer’s Litigator of the Week for Winning Argument in Terrorism Ruling against Sudan

Washington – August 4, 2017: The American Lawyer has named Crowell & Moring partner Stuart Newberger its “Litigator of the Week” for his role in achieving a federal appellate victory on behalf of victims of terror in a multi-billion-dollar lawsuit against Sudan.

On July 28, a three-judge panel for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit ruled that Sudan must pay billions of dollars in damages to victims of 1998 bombings of the U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania and their families. The court cited Sudan’s role in harboring and financing the Al-Qeada terrorists who carried out the near simultaneous attacks. The ruling upholds much of a lower-court decision that was originally handed down in 2014. Newberger argued the appeal before the D.C. Circuit in October on behalf of the American victims of the attack; he was joined by Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher partner Matthew McGill, who represented non-Americans victims.

More than 200 people, including 12 Americans, were killed in the explosions at the U.S. embassies in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania and in Nairobi, Kenya on August 7, 1998. Crowell & Moring represents the families of 11 Americans who died.  

The firm’s team includes partners Clifton S. Elgarten and Aryeh S. Portnoy, counsel John L. Murino, and associates Emily Alban and Joanna Coyne.

For The American Lawyer, Newberger noted that his clients in the embassy bombings first contacted him about the case 17 years ago. Numerous lawsuits alleging that Sudan and Iran helped to facilitate the dual terrorist attacks were first filed in 2001.

The profile noted that nearly Newberger’s entire caseload “involves suing foreign governments–not a group of adversaries that is known for making litigation easy. Many of the cases drag on a dozen years or more.”

Newberger has represented victims of state-sponsored terrorism and their families for more than two decades, starting with former journalist Terry Anderson, who was held hostage from 1985 to 1991. Newberger released a book earlier this year, The Forgotten Flight: Terrorism, Diplomacy, and the Pursuit of Justice, which chronicles one of his cases: the suitcase bombing of French airliner UTA Flight 772 in 1989.

About Crowell & Moring LLP

Crowell & Moring LLP is an international law firm with approximately 500 lawyers representing clients in litigation and arbitration, regulatory, and transactional matters. The firm is internationally recognized for its representation of Fortune 500 companies in high-stakes litigation, as well as its ongoing commitment to pro bono service and diversity. The firm has offices in Washington, D.C., New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Orange County, London, and Brussels.