Lawdragon Highlights Benjamin Heidlage’s Career and Litigation Tactics 

New York – HSG Partner Benjamin Heidlage was featured in Lawdragon’s Lawyer Limelight series, showcasing his experience as a litigator, keys to success, and thoughtful trial preparation strategies. 

The introduction to Ben’s profile is below, and the full Q&A can be found here. 

Calm and Clear in the Eye of the Storm, with Holwell Shuster & Goldberg’s Benjamin Heidlage

The most complex of legal disputes – conflicts stemming from the most threatening and unprecedented disasters of our time – that’s where you’ll find Benjamin Heidlage doing what he does best. The collapse of the housing market, the opioid crisis, the Covid-19 pandemic – the extraordinary litigator thrives when it comes to major complex commercial litigation.

Pandemonium swirls around these heightened collective catastrophes, causing lawsuits to grow exponentially more complicated. This is precisely where Heidlage can bring his unique talents to the table. With a natural aptitude for understanding the many moving parts, Heidlage has an ability to see the big picture, and a steady hand to steer the ship.

Heidlage excels on both sides of the V., representing individuals and corporations alike in state and federal court and through arbitration tribunals. Whether he’s litigating contracts, securities, insurance or antitrust disputes, his philosophy for success revolves around good storytelling.

“It’s a bit cliché, but even a bench trial is a jury of one,” says Heidlage. “You need to help that person understand why it’s important that they rule in your favor by telling them a story that fits into their preexisting frameworks.”

In one of the first civil jury trials following the Covid-19 shutdown, Heidlage was a member of the Holwell Shuster & Goldberg trial team bringing a massive antitrust claim against News Corp. Heidlage represented a MacAndrews & Forbes company in a trial that lasted three weeks before Heidlage expertly settled the case during deliberations.   

Recently, Heidlage handled multibillion-dollar litigation on behalf of clients including PetSmart, Travelport and Incora bondholders. These cases, though each unique, had in common that they all included lenders and bondholders who challenged management transactions.

“Liability management is quite a hot area of litigation right now,” says Heidlage. “It’s fast-paced, you go from complaint to trial fairly quickly and you’re working with sophisticated parties, from your client to opposing counsel, which makes for interesting litigation.”

Heidlage is also passionate about his pro bono work and dedicates substantial time working on these matters, many of which deal with immigration issues. He worked on behalf of immigrants detained during the pandemic, and a particularly memorable case had Heidlage working on behalf of a family that was splintered during the Trump administration’s family separation policy.

Heidlage has been named to The Lawdragon 500 X – The Next Generation guide for two years running.