Maria Ginzburg

Maria Ginzburg is the Managing Partner of Selendy Gay.

Maria is a trial lawyer who serves clients in complex, high stakes commercial and financial disputes. She works on plaintiff and defense-side matters in federal and state courts, and arbitrations. In her plaintiff-side practice, she has recovered over $3 billion for her clients. She has represented Fortune 50 companies, CEOs, corporate boards, investors and trustees in a broad range of matters ranging from disputes over structured products, earnouts, debt covenants, fraudulent conveyance accounting and tax practices, short selling, Ponzi schemes, whistleblower actions, corporate governance disputes, and employment matters.  Maria also handles internal investigations and represents corporate boards and special committees.

Benchmark Litigation names Maria a Litigation Star, while Lawdragon lists Maria among the “500 Leading Lawyers in America” and the nation’s “Leading Plaintiff Financial Lawyers.” She is also recognized as one of New York's "Super Lawyers" in business litigation. Legal 500 lists Maria as a recommended lawyer in their General Commercial rankings. 

Representative Matters

• A group of lenders excluded from a 2023 uptiering transaction against design, engineering, and manufacturing company Robertshaw, its sponsor, and other participating lenders.
• Drivetrain as trustee for the Commonwealth Avoidance Actions Trust, seeking, among other things, recovery of hundreds of millions of dollars of underwriting fees and swap termination fees from 13 major Wall Street banks for their role in deepening Puerto Rico’s debt crisis.
• UMB Bank as Trustee under a Contingent Value Rights (“CVR”) Agreement in a lawsuit against Bristol Myers Squibb seeking $6.4 billion on account of BMS’s breach of a diligent efforts clause and failure to pay out holders of CVRs that were issued in connection with BMS’s acquisition of Celgene.
• Fairfield Sentry Limited (in liquidation) et al.: Represented foreign representatives of funds in Chapter 15 proceedings in Bankruptcy Court seeking to recover approximately $6 billion in redemption payments from hundreds of entities arising out of the Madoff scheme.
• McKinsey & Co.: Represented McKinsey & Co., a worldwide management consulting firm, against claims by Jay Alix, founder of consulting firm AlixPartners, and Mar-Bow Partners, a company founded by Jay Alix, challenging McKinsey’s Chapter 11 disclosures under Rule 2014 in seven venues including in a trial before a Texas bankruptcy court.
• U.S. Bank v. Merrill Lynch Mortgage Lending Inc.: Represented U.S. Bank as trustee in successful recovery against Merrill Lynch for breaches of representations and warranties in RMBS trusts.
• AIG RMBS Issuers: Represented AIG in claims against Wall Street sponsors of RMBS, achieving over $2 billion in recoveries.
• ResCap bankruptcy litigation: Represented the ResCap bankruptcy trust in suits against dozens of loan originators for indemnity and breaches of contract, achieving settlements of $590 million.
• Investigated and revamped corporate governance structures at both public companies and non-profits.

In her public interest practice, Maria represented members of the American Federation of Teachers union in obtaining a settlement of a proposed nationwide class action lawsuit with Navient, one of the nation’s largest student loan servicers, challenging Navient’s practices with respect to advising federal student loan borrowers on Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF).

Affiliations & Community Involvement

Maria earned her J.D. with honors from Stanford Law School in 1996. While in law school, she was an editor of the Stanford Law Review and a founding member of the Stanford Journal of Law, Business & Finance, and now, she serves on the Stanford Law School Board of Visitors. She also serves on the board of the Ronald McDonald House of New York.