Usher is primarily focused on international and domestic dispute resolution. In addition to counseling clients on such matters, he has decades of experience as an arbitrator and mediator (click here for more details). Usher is a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators (FCIArb), Co-Chair of the ABA Dispute Resolution Section Arbitration Committee, Co-Chair of the ABA Arbitration Training Institute, and Co-Chair of the Atlanta International Arbitration Society (AtlAS) Annual Conference. He serves on the arbitration and mediation panels of the AAA, ICDR, ICC, CPR, FINRA, and the United States District Courts for the Southern District of New York, Eastern District of New York, and the District of South Carolina.

In his career as a litigator, Usher has handled some of the highest profile civil cases in recent decades, including a case involving what CNBC called “[t]he biggest art fraud in modern U.S. history”; the multi-district litigation regarding the alleged manipulation of LIBOR (In Re: Libor-Based Financial Instruments Antitrust Litigation, 1:11-md-02262-NRB); landmark securities cases arising out of the 2008 financial crisis (such as U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission v. Stoker, 11-cv-7388); and several headline-grabbing cases related to the Academy Award winning Best Picture Birdman – to name a few.

During the course of his career, Usher has counseled individuals and businesses of all types and sizes, as both in-house and outside counsel. In addition, he has held senior executive positions in multiple companies, so he understands the client-perspective on litigation first-hand.

Usher began his legal career as a commercial litigator at Thacher Proffitt & Wood, where he primarily represented large financial institutions and insurance companies. He left Big Law, to pursue entrepreneurial ventures, including serving as CEO of Odin Media (a producer of technology-enabled marketing solutions for companies like Comcast and Cablevision), as COO of Digital Club Network (a groundbreaking start-up that pioneered using digital and Internet technologies to record and webcast live concert performances), and as principal, EVP, and general counsel of Razor & Tie Entertainment (a multi-faceted media company that includes a record label with multiple Gold and Platinum releases).

In 2008, Usher co-founded WSMB and returned to his career-roots as a commercial litigator, handling everything from bet-the-company cases for large institutions to routine disputes for individuals and small businesses.

In addition to the above, Usher’s diverse career has also included starting a company that imported and distributed shoes from Argentina, serving a deputy campaign manager for a United States Congressperson, and serving as executive producer on multiple critically acclaimed albums, music videos, and a film.

Usher graduated with honors from Washington & Lee University and NYU School of Law and has served on the Washington & Lee University Alumni Board of Directors.

Representative Matters

• Experience as tribunal chair, wing arbitrator, sole arbitrator, or mediator on over 100 commercial, intellectual property, employment, insurance, and entertainment disputes. As tribunal chair, he has handled applications for emergency and injunctive relief.
• Lead counsel representing a group of over 40 venture capital firms in an international arbitration and foreign court action with more than $120 million at issue.  The matter involved a series of disputes arising out of a foreign public company’s purchase of a U.S.-based technology company controlled by the VCs. In resolving those disputes, Usher led the team that tried and won a court case in Norway. Then WSMB achieved a favorable settlement of the overall dispute after Usher delivered his opening statement to the international arbitration tribunal in London.
• Represented Knoedler Gallery — one of the world’s most prominent art galleries before its closure – in a case involving what CNBC called “[t]he biggest art fraud in modern U.S. history”. The matter involved the sale of fake art attributed to Mark Rothko, Robert Motherwell, Willem de Kooning, and Jackson Pollock, among others.
• Led the WSMB team that obtained a TRO and order attaching the assets of Worldview Entertainment Partners VII, one of the production/finance companies behind the Academy Award winning Best Picture Birdman. Morgan v. Worldview Entertainment Holdings, Inc., NY Supr. Ct., Index No. 652323/2014.
• Working closely with WSMB’s intellectual property group, Usher obtained a preliminary injunction in a trademark infringement action against a high-profile, VC-funded technology company.  The order required the defendant to immediately cease operations and completely re-brand before reopening. Bulman v. 2BKCo. Inc., 882 F.Supp.2d 551 (S.D.N.Y. 2012).
• Lead counsel for the defendant’s immediate boss in U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission v. Stoker, 11-cv-7388. In that case, former Citigroup Inc. official Brian Stoker defeated the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission in a trial involving a deal at the center of the bank’s proposed $285 million settlement with regulators over subprime residential mortgage securities. Usher worked extensively with the joint defense team in that successful effort, counseling Stoker’s boss through the whole discovery process and preparing him to testify at trial.
• Lead plaintiffs’ counsel for a group of 13 portfolio managers and other senior executives of a failed, New York-based hedge fund in connection with claims of breach of contract and fraud, among others. After a seven-day arbitration hearing, WSMB won a seven figure award for the first client. The defendant then settled the other 12 claims.
• Lead counsel for National Collegiate Student Loan Trust 2007-1, a defendant in the mammoth multidistrict litigation regarding the alleged manipulation of LIBOR. National Collegiate was accused of using tainted LIBOR numbers to affect rates on student loans. WSMB was successful in having all claims dismissed against its client.