Christopher D. Kercher
Approved B&W portrait — full head in frame
About the Founder

Christopher D. Kercher

Trial & Appellate Litigation · New York

Chris Kercher tries bet-the-company disputes. He is known for winning them fast: full trials mounted and decided on compressed timelines that would overwhelm most firms.

His practice spans corporate control and M&A, securities and financial markets, partnership and governance disputes, digital-asset disputes, and complex business litigation — from first strategy through trial and appeal.

Litigation is decided under conditions that don’t improve: incomplete information, a running clock, an adversary working to make every choice wrong. The lawyer’s craft is what happens there. Whether advising a client who needs to make a call before the facts are in, reading a courtroom and changing course, or deciding what to concede so the rest better lands. Most AI legal technology promises to need lawyers less. This firm was founded by asking the opposite: how do you put the first chair closer to the work — deeper in the record, earlier in the thinking, in the room for the moments that decide the case? So often in high stakes disputes, attention is all you need. Nearly every American question becomes — sooner or later — a judicial one. The counsel, the judgment, the standing up — those jobs belong to a lawyer. At this firm, they always will. Chris built the first dedicated AI litigation practice at a major U.S. law firm on that division, work The American Lawyer recognized with its 2025 Legal Services Innovation Award.

“The breakthrough was treating the model like a member of the case team.”
— Chris Kercher, in Fortune (2025)
Notable Representations

A record built at trial.

Matters handled prior to founding Kercher Law PLLC.

In re Tesla, Inc. / Tornetta v. MuskDelaware Supreme Court · 2026
Represented Elon Musk and the Tesla directors on appeal after the Court of Chancery rescinded Musk’s 2018 compensation package; the Delaware Supreme Court reversed and reinstated the award.
Desktop Metal, Inc. v. Nano Dimension Ltd.Del. Court of Chancery · 2025
Tried a deal-closing case to judgment in two days and won an order requiring the buyer to complete the ~$183 million merger. The team was named Litigators of the Week by The American Lawyer.
In re January 2021 Short Squeeze Trading LitigationS.D. Fla. MDL · 11th Cir. affirmed, 2023
Defended Citadel Securities in the GameStop “meme-stock” MDL and won dismissal of the antitrust conspiracy claims, affirmed by the Eleventh Circuit.
Twitter, Inc. v. Elon R. Musk, et al.Del. Court of Chancery · 2022
Represented Elon Musk in Twitter’s suit to compel the $44 billion acquisition; the litigation was stayed and the transaction closed in October 2022.
AB Stable VIII LLC v. MAPS Hotels & ResortsDel. Ch. 2020 · Aff’d Del. Supreme Court
Won a post-trial judgment allowing buyer Mirae Asset to terminate a multibillion-dollar hotel-portfolio acquisition on closing-condition grounds — the first COVID-era busted-deal case to reach trial.
Lehman Brothers — Bank Derivatives & ClearingBankr. S.D.N.Y. · 2016–2018
Represented the Lehman estate and Unsecured Creditors Committee in the bankruptcy’s largest derivatives and clearing disputes — recovering roughly $4 billion from JPMorgan and Citibank.
Recognition
Legal Services Innovation Award
The American Lawyer — 2025 Industry Awards, for the AI & Data Analytics Group led by Chris Kercher
Litigators of the Week
The American Lawyer — Musk / Tesla, Delaware Supreme Court (2026)
Innovator of the Year, Finalist
Legalweek Leaders in Tech Law Awards (2026)
Litigators of the Week
The American Lawyer — Desktop Metal trial team (2025)
Innovative Lawyers
Financial Times — Innovation in Digital Tools, North America (2025)
Rising Star
Law360 (2016)
Teaching & Media
Stanford Law School
Lecturer in Law — “A Litigator’s Guide to AI” (LAW 1102)
Fortune, 2025
“The Problem with ‘Human in the Loop’ AI”
Financial Times, 2025
“AI Turbocharges Litigation Powers”
Education & Admissions
New York University School of Law
J.D. — Article Editor, Annual Survey of American Law
Cornell University
B.A., Government — Dean’s List
Admitted
State of New York · S.D.N.Y.
Discuss a matter.
chris@kercherlitigation.com