Lauren F. Dayton

Lauren Dayton leads clients through every stage of high-stakes disputes. Her extensive experience includes complex commercial and antitrust cases, as well as bankruptcy and intellectual property litigation.

Among her current engagements, Ms. Dayton is part of the lead trial team representing a class bringing antitrust claims alleging elite universities conspired in awarding financial aid; is counsel to an investment adviser and its fund enforcing its $800 million debt against Venezuela and its state-owned oil company through a judicial auction; and is part of nationwide class leadership as counsel to a consumer class in a multidistrict antitrust case against Apple.

Ms. Dayton maintains an active appellate practice, having briefed appeals before the Supreme Court of the United States, the Second, Third, Fifth, Seventh, Ninth, and Federal Circuits, and New York appellate courts.

From U.S. and foreign funds to household brands to leading technology companies, Ms. Dayton’s clients applaud her advocacy and rely on her to develop creative strategies and build compelling narratives that align with their goals. As reported by the Chicago Daily Law Bulletin, clients praise her “exceptional ability to understand and implement her client’s goals, not just spot legal issues,” and call her “a great counselor.” Peer counsel tout Ms. Dayton’s “impressive facility with particularly nuanced issues” and her judgment in complex cases.

Recognized for her insights, Ms. Dayton is asked to speak frequently on business torts and trial practice issues, including at the ABA’s Litigation Section Annual Conference. She is co-chair of the ABA’s Business Torts & Unfair Competition Committee.  Before joining MoloLamken, Ms. Dayton clerked for the Honorable Steven M. Colloton of the United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit and for the Honorable Brian M. Cogan of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of New York.

Ms. Dayton is fluent in French and has represented francophone clients.

Representative Matters

• Represents consumer class as part of nationwide class leadership in a multidistrict antitrust case against a major tech company
• Represents, as trial counsel, a class of undergraduate students in an antitrust case against elite universities in N.D. Illinois
• Represents investment adviser and its affiliated entity in suits against Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela and PDVSA to reduce to judgment and then enforce more than $800 million in defaulted debt, including representing investment fund as stalking horse to purchase holding company of CITGO in judicial auction
• Represents multinational spirits producer in case involving fraud claims in New York Supreme Court, Commercial Division
• Represents named plaintiff as part of nationwide class leadership in an antitrust case against a financial services company in N.D. Illinois
• Represented Brazilian investment funds in breach-of-contract suit involving debt instruments in New York Supreme Court, Commercial Division, and in a Chapter 15 bankruptcy proceeding in S.D. Texas
• Represented investment fund in breach-of-contract and fraud suit involving a portfolio of life insurance policies in SDNY
• Represented technology company in Fourth Circuit appeal arising out of breach of patent license agreement
• Represented private equity firm in First Department appeal of fraudulent-transfer and related business tort claims
• Represented national chicken producer defendant in antitrust case alleging conspiracy to reduce production in N.D. Illinois
• Represented world-renowned museum in trademark and copyright dispute in N.D. Illinois
• Represented technology company in U.S. Supreme Court in a case addressing the extraterritorial application of the Lanham Act
• Represented international asset manager and direct lender, and indenture trustee, in trial over fraudulent-conveyance and tort claims and breaches of intercreditor agreement in U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware, as well as parallel litigation in New York Supreme Court 
• Represented monoline insurer in dispute in SDNY against bond trustee related to defaults by the Puerto Rico Sales Tax Financing Corporation (COFINA)
• Represented global retailer in appeal to the First Department of breach-of-contract suit relating to COVID-19 
• Represented global financial institution in RMBS suit appeal in New York Court of Appeals
• Represented telecommunications company in Fifth Circuit appeal of dismissal of antitrust suit 
• Represented biopharmaceutical company in Federal Circuit appeal and U.S. Supreme Court cert petition involving patent invalidity (enablement) issues 
• Represented technology company in jurisdiction-related mandamus petition to Federal Circuit
• Represented university patent holder in Federal Circuit appeal of patent invalidity ruling based on indefiniteness
• Represented biopharmaceutical company in pair of Federal Circuit appeals of denials of preliminary injunctions
• Represented software and technology company in patent appeal before the Federal Circuit
• Represented federal energy regulator in Ninth Circuit appeals of bankruptcy court decision and regulator’s declaratory orders involving division of authority between bankruptcy courts and regulator
• Represented federal energy regulator in Fifth Circuit appeal regarding division of authority between bankruptcy courts and regulator 
• Represented plaintiff in §1983 deliberate-indifference suit against private prison healthcare provider in N.D. Illinois (pro bono)
• Represented plaintiff in §1983 excessive-force suit against Rikers corrections officers in SDNY (pro bono)

Publications