Tamer Mallat

Tamer Mallat is an associate in the firm’s litigation group. Mr. Mallat focuses his practice on representing domestic and international financial institutions, sovereign wealth funds, hedge funds, portfolio companies, and brokerage firms as well as their senior executives or directors in complex civil disputes and white-collar investigations. Mr. Mallat has significant experience in sovereign litigation matters, having represented both plaintiffs and defendants. He has advised foreign sovereign states and their leaders on U.S.-related matters—including a president, prime ministers, a former vice-president, as well as other cabinet-level officials. Mr. Mallat also represents bondholders in litigation against the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, and he was a member of the team that secured a US$300,000,000 judgment against the Arab Syrian Republic in connection with its government’s extrajudicial killing of a prominent American journalist in 2012.

Mr. Mallat has extensive experience in all aspects of litigation in both state and federal courts and routinely advises clients on a variety of matters including matters involving the Anti-Terrorism Act, the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act, complex contracts, commercial real estate foreclosures, and 28 U.S.C. § 1782. Mr. Mallat also works closely with Dechert’s financial restructuring and bankruptcy groups.

Mr. Mallat maintains an active pro bono practice, with a focus on criminal defense and appeals. His representative experience includes securing a rare victory vacating a life sentence for one of his clients before the New York Appellate Division. Mr. Mallat also represents clients in complex immigration matters that involve sensitive national security issues.

In 2021, Mr. Mallat received Dechert’s Diversity Champion award for his role in establishing the firm’s Greater Middle Eastern Alliance. He was previously a member of the firm’s hiring and summer associate committees.

From 2022 to 2023, Mr. Mallat served as a judicial law clerk to the Honorable Joseph F. Bianco on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit. While at Columbia Law School, he interned for the Honorable Victor Marrero on the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, as well as for Ambassador Nawaf Salam (then Permanent Representative of Lebanon to the United Nations, and now President of the International Court of Justice), and for the Immigrants’ Rights Clinic.

Key Matters

• A former public company CEO in a clawback action in federal court
• Companies and executives in DOJ and SEC investigations
• Foreign banks in litigation arising under the Anti-Terrorism Act
• A sovereign wealth fund in a shareholder dispute in Delaware Chancery Court
• Individuals and companies in litigation relating to the Lebanese financial crisis
• The Official Committee of Unsecured Creditors in the chapter 11 cases of LATAM Airlines Group and its affiliates
• A sovereign state seeking to quash discovery under 28 U.S.C. § 1782
• A company and its executive regarding potential liability under the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act