Firm Adds Corban Rhodes, Seventh Lateral to Join New York Office in a Month
DiCello Levitt Gutzler today announced the continuation of its strategic expansion with the addition of Corban S. Rhodes, a New York-based partner in its Privacy, Technology, and Cybersecurity Practice Group. Rhodes, who joins the firm from Labaton Sucharow LLP, focuses his practice on consumer cybersecurity and data privacy litigation. He will start at DiCello Levitt on April 5.
Rhodes is the seventh high-profile hire in New York for DiCello Levitt in the last month, growing the national plaintiff’s firm to over 50 attorneys. The firm recently announced the expansion of its antitrust and competition practice with the addition of New York partners Gregory Asciolla, Karin Garvey, Robin A. van der Meulen, and Matthew Perez, and associates Veronica Bosco and Jonathan Crevier. The group, also from Labaton, joined DiCello Levitt last week and immediately positioned the firm among the nation’s premier antitrust and competition litigation practice groups.
“There are few, if any, national plaintiff’s firms with the ability to grow by 15% in a month, necessitated by an influx of high-profile cases – it just doesn’t happen on the plaintiff’s side of the bar,” said Greg Gutzler, managing partner of DiCello Levitt’s New York office. “Our expansion is highly calculated, as we have long believed that playing a more prominent role in the data privacy and antitrust bars was a natural extension of our tremendous experience in these areas. Corban has the pedigree and skill to match our existing team, and we are excited to welcome him to DiCello Levitt.”
Rhodes was part of the litigation team that achieved a historic $650 million settlement in the In re Facebook Biometric Information Privacy Litigation matter—the largest consumer data privacy settlement ever and one of the first cases asserting biometric privacy rights of consumers under Illinois’ Biometric Information Privacy Act (BIPA). He has also litigated cases of negligence or other malfeasance leading to data breaches, including the largest known data breach in history, In re Yahoo! Inc. Customer Data Breach Security Litigation, affecting nearly 3 billion consumers. Rhodes also maintains an active practice representing shareholders litigating fraud-based claims and has successfully litigated dozens of cases against many of the largest Wall Street banks in connection with their underwriting and securitization of mortgage-backed securities leading up to the financial crisis.
Rhodes’ experience in data privacy matters is an ideal fit at DiCello Levitt, which served as lead plaintiff’s counsel in two of the 10 largest data privacy and data breach class actions in U.S. history. In February, DiCello Levitt partner David Straite negotiated a $90 million settlement with Facebook parent, Meta, in long-running data privacy litigation over its use of tracking “cookies” to monitor subscribers’ internet use after they had logged off the Facebook platform. In 2019, Amy Keller, head of the firm’s Privacy, Technology, and Cybersecurity Practice Group, served as plaintiffs’ co-lead counsel in the Equifax data breach litigation, helping secure a $505.5 million settlement, with an additional $1 billion in injunctive relief, which remains the largest data breach settlement in U.S. history. These representations helped DiCello Levitt earn Law360 Cybersecurity & Privacy Group of the Year honors in 2021 and 2022.
“Corban’s experience as a tireless advocate in high-stakes data privacy and other technology-focused litigation matches up perfectly with our core strengths and approach to litigation,” Keller said. “We are committed to growth, but, more importantly, we are committed to growing with only the best talent. Corban is a skilled and talented litigator, and we are thrilled to add his considerable expertise to our growing technology team.”
Rhodes added: “I was already well-aware of DiCello Levitt’s track record in litigating the nation’s biggest data privacy matters. But what has really stood out to me from the beginning of my discussions with the firm has been the incredible energy that permeates the team. They are on the verge of cementing themselves as the nation’s go-to plaintiff’s firm, and I can’t wait to be a part of it.”
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