Silpa Maruri is a founding partner of Elsberg Baker & Maruri and one of the country’s leading trial lawyers for high-stakes commercial litigation. Companies, boards, and investors facing bet-the-company litigation in complex commercial disputes turn to Silpa for an aggressive strategy and courtroom results. Her practice spans bet-the-company M&A and deal disputes, shareholder and fiduciary duty litigation, trade secret and non-compete disputes, complex contract and commercial fraud actions, and securities litigation, which she has tried and won across a wide variety of forums, including state and federal venues and in arbitration.

She secured the largest cash class-action settlement in Delaware history—$1 billion—for shareholders of Dell Technologies. She also recently represented Elon Musk in his headline-dominating $44 billion dispute relating to his acquisition of Twitter. Her recent trial victories range from a nine-figure trade secret and misappropriation dispute to a bet-the-company energy arbitration to complex fraud actions arising out of corporate acquisitions.

Benchmark Litigation calls her “unbelievably impressive” because “there’s nothing she can’t do.” Silpa has won dozens of awards from the most selective legal industry publications: Chambers & Partners awarded her in its competitive General Commercial Litigation rankings; Benchmark Litigation has named her a “Litigation Star” and one of its “Top 250 Women in Litigation for 2026”; Crain’s New York Business has named her to its “Notable Litigators and Trial Attorneys,” “Notable Leaders in Law,” and “Notable Women in Law” lists; Lawdragon has recognized her as a “Leading Plaintiff’s Lawyer,” one of its “500 Leading Global Litigators,” and a “Leading Litigator in America”; the New York Law Journal and Law360 have each named her a “Rising Star”; and Legal 500 has recognized her as a “Leading Partner” and a “Leading Trial Lawyer,” and for her record-breaking work in commercial dispute resolution. She was named a Fellow of the Litigation Counsel of America’s Trial Law Honor Society—an honor reserved for fewer than 0.5% of American lawyers.

In addition to her active trial practice, Silpa regularly publishes, speaks, and appears on matters of corporate governance and Delaware law. Silpa recently appeared on a panel regarding Mergers & Acquisitions Litigation for the Practising Law Institute, alongside Delaware Supreme Court Justice Collins J. Seitz, and at the prestigious Tulane Corporate Law Institute, alongside Chancellor Kathaleen McCormick of the Delaware Court of Chancery.

Silpa received her B.A. with honors from the University of Chicago and her J.D., magna cum laude, from Cornell Law School. Prior to joining the firm, Silpa was a partner at Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan, LLP, where she served as a Co-Chair of the firm’s Delaware Practice.

‍Representative Matters

M&A, Deal Disputes & Shareholder Litigation

• Represented Elon Musk in Twitter v. Musk, the headline-dominating $44 billion dispute between Musk and Twitter Inc. concerning the termination of his agreement to buy Twitter, based on claims of breach of contract and fraud. The case represented the largest busted deal matter in recent history.
• Won a landmark $1 billion settlement—the largest cash settlement in Delaware history—on behalf of a class of former minority shareholders of Dell Technologies Inc. whose shares were repurchased in a December 2018 transaction for a combination of cash and Class C Dell shares while the company was controlled by Michael Dell and Silver Lake Partners. We alleged that the transaction, as orchestrated by the company’s controller, was not fair to the minority shareholder in dealing nor fair in price. On the eve of trial in the Delaware Court of Chancery, we obtained the settlement, which Vice Chancellor Laster described as a “real and unprecedented result for the class.”
• Represented Lone Star, the controlling stockholder of Foundation Building Materials (“FBM”), in a stockholder class action concerning whether American Securities’ acquisition of FBM was entirely fair to FBM’s shareholders. Plaintiffs alleged that Lone Star pursued the transaction solely to trigger its right to a lump-sum payment under a tax receivable agreement with FBM. Following motion to dismiss briefing, the case proceeded on the sole surviving claim that Lone Star sold FBM at an inopportune time to extract that payment. After discovery, we successfully resolved the matter for a settlement currently pending approval in the Delaware Court of Chancery.
• Obtained a landmark pleadings-stage victory and favorable settlement for Soroc Technology in a $115 million fraud action arising out of its acquisition of DecisionOne Corporation from MainOne Technology Solutions and its private equity sponsor, Oak Lane Partners. The case alleged that the sellers orchestrated a scheme to fabricate DecisionOne’s revenues—through fictitious invoices for fictitious customers—to inflate the company’s valuation at the precise moment Soroc was pricing the deal.
• Obtained historic bench trial victory for private-equity firm Snow Phipps Group in a first-of-its-kind busted deal case concerning the sale of one of its portfolio companies, KCAKE, a $600 million cake-decoration company. Following a nine-day trial, the Delaware Court of Chancery ordered Kohlberg & Co. to close the acquisition, notwithstanding Kohlberg’s claims that COVID-19 excused its performance. The victory represented a precedent-setting development in M&A litigation, in which the court compelled KCAKE to complete the acquisition despite the lapse of its financing to do so.
• Obtained landmark appellate victory for Express Scripts and United BioSource Corp. in an $80 million dispute concerning claims of fraudulent inducement in connection with the sale of a healthcare company to private equity firm Parthenon Capital Partners. The appellate victory established new law in Delaware concerning the scope of contractual waivers of intentional fraud in connection with M&A transactions.
• Representing a class of minority shareholders in a multibillion-dollar class action challenging a take-private merger orchestrated by Agiliti, Inc. and its controller, Thomas H. Lee Partners. The case alleges that shareholders were forced to sell their shares at an unfairly low price to enrich the controller by hundreds of millions of dollars. It raises cutting-edge questions about the standard governing controller-led squeeze-out mergers and take-private transactions.
• Defended Fang Holdings Limited, Vincent Mo, Richard Dai, and related entities in a nine-figure derivative shareholder dispute governed by Cayman Islands law regarding Fang’s delisting, its spin-off of China Index Holdings, and its subsequent take-private of the same entity.
• Represented significant shareholders of the Sheehan Family Companies in a complex, nine-figure breach of fiduciary duty action concerning allegations of self-dealing in connection with management and control of the companies, as well as the administration of trusts in the names of the shareholders.
• Represented confidential technology services company in complex, eight-figure dispute concerning claims of accounting fraud and fraudulent inducement in connection with stock purchase agreement governing the acquisition of a technology services vendor from confidential private equity firm.
• Represented Sandoz AG, Sandoz International GmbH, and two individuals in New York state litigation arising out of the merger of Sandoz Inc. and Oriel Therapeutics, Inc. The action, which concerned claims of fraud, was dismissed at the motion to dismiss phase.

Trade Secrets, Non-Competes & Restrictive Covenants

• Represented $4 billion lithium-mining company in a dispute with its former CEO and Board Chairman concerning his alleged misappropriation of trade secrets and confidential information in the wake of his departure from the company.
• Defended Comulate (Ardent Labs, Inc.) against trade secret misappropriation claims brought by Applied Systems, a dominant enterprise insurance agency management software provider, arising out of Applied’s allegation that Comulate had used a shell entity to reverse-engineer Applied’s software.

Securities Litigation

• Defended affiliates of HPS Investment Partners in ten-figure securities class action asserting claims under Section 10(b) and Section 20 of the Exchange Act and state blue sky laws. The Class Plaintiffs alleged that HPS and its board-appointee, Don Dimitrievich, committed fraud in connection with their investment in Alta Mesa Resources, an oil-and-gas SPAC venture that declared bankruptcy one year after its de-SPAC transaction.
• Obtained motion to dismiss victory for Bill Taylor in In re MiMedx Group Inc. Securities Litigation, a class action securities litigation involving claims of channel-stuffing.

Contract & Commercial Disputes

• Won complete arbitration victory for Limetree Bay Terminals in a bet-the-company contractual dispute concerning the terms of a nine-figure oil storage lease agreement. Following a nine-day hearing dominated by complex fact and expert testimony concerning technical engineering concepts, the three-arbitrator panel ruled in Limetree’s favor, ordering the adversary to specifically perform the agreement and to pay Limetree damages.
• Obtained appellate victory in the Delaware Supreme Court for the Heyman family in a contract case adverse to Ashland Inc., arising out of the $3.2 billion sale of a chemical manufacturer, International Specialty Products Inc.
• Obtained trial victory for Crestview Partners in connection with $500 million dispute regarding Crestview’s contractual rights to exit its minority investment in Oxbow Carbon LLC. Following a contentious six-day trial, the Delaware Court of Chancery ruled in favor of Crestview, allowing the firm to compel Oxbow to complete a sale.
• Represented Core Litigation Trust in $240 million dispute in New York state court alleging claims of tortious interference with contract in connection with the sale of a media company to Fox, Endemol, and private equity firm Apollo Global Management. The matter settled on favorable terms.
• Represented AI International Holdings (BVI), Ltd. in New York State Supreme Court, in connection with a dispute over loans issued to the Weinstein Group. Following the fallout ensuing at the Weinstein Group after Harvey Weinstein was accused of sexual assault in 2017, the Weinstein Group’s lenders declared a default under their loan and sought to enforce their guarantees from Weinstein in court.
• Obtained favorable settlement for confidential hedge fund in nine-figure dispute concerning the restructuring of loans to Chilean-owned energy ventures.
• Represented Legal & General in a trademark dispute with Travelers Insurance Company. The case concerned a contractual letter agreement governing the rights to use an umbrella logo in connection with the sale of insurance services. The matter settled on favorable terms.
• Represented confidential Fortune 100 technology services company in connection with a contractual dispute relating to a long-term contract for technology-based services.
• Represented confidential foreign razor manufacturer in an arbitration concerning the scope of a release and license provided for in a settlement agreement between the parties.
• Obtained complete arbitration victory following five-day hearing for confidential multinational investment banking and financial services group in a contractual dispute relating to earn-out provisions governing complex real estate transactions.

Insurance & Reinsurance

• Representing Warner Bros. Discovery, Inc. in a Delaware action against AT&T Inc. and its captive insurer, Gateway Rivers Insurance Company, to recover a $30 million insurance claim under a policy that Gateway and AT&T repeatedly paid on and affirmed. The case also seeks a declaration that WBD owes Defendants nothing for claims Gateway already paid.
• Obtained motion to dismiss victory and affirmance from the Second Circuit in Infrassure Ltd. v. First Mutual Transportation Assur. Co., a case of first impression in the reinsurance industry concerning the proper interpretation of a reinsurance certificate.
• Obtained summary judgment dismissing claims of conspiracy against reinsurer National Indemnity in Ford Motor Co. v. National Indemnity (E.D. Va.), a case where plaintiff challenged a loss portfolio reinsurance structure.
• Obtained confidential victory for a reinsurer in connection with nine-figure dispute over the coverage available under a reinsurance policy that reinsured batch-insurance policies issued to an automobile manufacturer by its captive insurer.
• Represented National Union Fire Insurance Company of Pittsburgh in an insurance coverage dispute with Modern Continental Construction Company concerning property damage arising from the infamous Big Dig tunnel ceiling collapse in July 2006.

Products Liability

• Represented Forest Laboratories and Forest Pharmaceuticals in connection with multi-district products liability litigation involving claims that selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors, such as Celexa and Lexapro, caused birth defects.