OVERVIEW
Reena Gambhir is a partner in the firm’s Washington, DC office, is a member of the firm's Management Committee, and serves as the firm's U.S. Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion ("DEI") Partner. Reena represents a diverse array of clients around the world, including global businesses and individuals who have suffered losses due to anticompetitive behavior. She has played a leading role in some of the largest and most complex antitrust cases in the United States, including where she helped secure settlements of over 2.3 billion dollars on behalf of investors against some of the largest banks in the world. Reena’s wide-ranging experience allows her to uniquely advise and act for clients in all stages of litigation around the world, and achieve wide-ranging innovative strategies and solutions. Reena is committed to the private civil enforcement of competition law around the world.
In addition to her work in antitrust, Reena practices international environmental threats and human rights cases, including representing residents of Bhopal, India who were exposed to toxic wastes surrounding the Union Carbide Plant following the 1984 gas leak, and recently on behalf of a class of South African Gold Miners who suffered occupational lung disease.
As the firm’s U.S. Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion ("DEI") Partner, Reena leads the execution of the firm’s U.S. diversity strategy as well as ongoing and new initiatives to build a more inclusive culture and embrace a widely diverse workforce. She builds upon the firm’s commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion in all aspects of its business, including recruiting, hiring, training, leader development, business development, policies and practices. She also serves on the Pro Bono Committee and Summer Associate Committee.
Clients
Reena represents clients across a broad range of industries, including individual and institutional investors, farmers, miners, consumers, and corporations and other businesses and individuals who purchased products at prices inflated by anticompetitive conduct.
EDUCATION
The George Washington University, National Law Center, J.D., cum laude, 2004, Thurgood Marshall Scholar
University of Chicago, M.A., 2000
Boston College, B.A., cum laude, 1999
BAR ADMISSIONS
District of Columbia
Massachusetts
AFFILIATIONS
American Bar Association's Section of Antitrust International Task Force, Appointed Leadership
American Bar Foundation, Elected Fellow, an honor afforded to less than one-third of one percent of lawyers, judges and legal scholars whose careers have demonstrated outstanding dedication to the highest principles of the legal profession (2014 - Present)
Hausfeld Summer Associate Committee, Member
International Human Rights Society, Member
South Asian Bar Association, Member
Women’s Antitrust Plaintiffs Association, Member
WHAT OTHERS SAY
Global Competition Review
- 'Women in Antitrust' list in 2021
- 'Litigation of the Year - Cartel Prosecution' - an honor she received as a leader of the In re Foreign Exchange Antitrust Benchmark Litigation case team in 2016
- '40-under-40' antitrust lawyer in the world by the Global Competition Review in 2014
Lawdragon
- 500 Leading Plaintiff Consumer Lawyers since 2020
- 500 Leading Plaintiff Financial Lawyers since 2019
- 500 Leading Litigators in America in 2022
- 500 Leading Global Litigators since 2021
- 500 Global Plaintiff Lawyers in 2024
Legal 500
- Recommended Lawyer, Antitrust - Civil Litigation/Class Actions: Plaintiff since 2018
- Next Generation Lawyer, Antitrust - Civil Litigation/Class Actions: Plaintiff since 2018
Other
- Top Minority Business Leader by the The Washington Business Journal in 2015 - an honor held for the top 25 Greater Washington leaders who embody entrepreneurial drive, creativity and success in business.
- Rising Star in Washington, DC by The National Law Journal in 2014 - recognizing the top 40-under-40 Washington D.C. lawyers across all disciplines whose legal accomplishments belie their age.
- Rising Star by Law360 in 2015
- Woman Worth Watching by the Profiles in Diversity Journal in 2013 and in 2015 - an award held for selected women who have distinguished themselves in their career.
- Elected Fellow of the American Bar Foundation - an honor afforded to less than one-third of one percent of lawyers, judges and legal scholars whose careers have demonstrated outstanding dedication to the highest principles of the legal profession.
PUBLICATIONS
"Global Enforcement of Anticompetitive Conduct," presented at The Tenth Annual Sedona Conference on Antitrust Law & Litigation: The Globalization of Antitrust Enforcement (Sept. 2008), Co-Author
EVENTS
"Pathways to Partnership," South Asian Bar Association (July 16, 2019), Panelist
"Class Actions and Private Actions," George Mason Law Review's 18th Annual Antitrust Symposium, (Feb. 19, 2015), Speaker
PERSPECTIVES
EXPERIENCE
Antitrust/Competition
- In re Foreign Exchange Benchmark Rates Antitrust Litigation – Reena is currently leading this high-stake lawsuit alleging a global conspiracy by some of the world’s largest financial institutions to fix and manipulate foreign exchange rates. In this case, Reena was instrumental in negotiating and drafting settlements reaching over $2.3 billion in total on behalf of investors. For its work on the case, Hausfeld received Global Competition Review’s award for “Litigation of the Year – Cartel Prosecution.”
- In re Farm-Raised Salmon and Salmon Products Litigation – Reena is co-lead counsel in this litigation alleging a price-fixing conspiracy between the leading producers of farm-raised Atlantic Salmon.
- In re Hydrogen Peroxide Antitrust Litigation – Reena was one of the principal lawyers to secure settlements totaling almost $100 million in an antitrust case involving the chemical industry.
- In re Refrigerant Compressors Antitrust Litigation – Reena represented global businesses in this alleged price-fixing case, reaching settlements of approximately $50 million.
- Marine Hose Litigation – Reena concluded the negotiations for the final claims resulting from the first of its kind private global settlement with cartelist Parker ITR.
- In re Manufactured Home Lot Rents Antitrust Litigation – Hausfeld is co-lead counsel in an antitrust case filed on behalf of a putative nationwide class of manufactured home residents against nine community management companies and a market data provider, Datacomp Appraisal Systems Inc. The Plaintiffs allege that the Defendants conspired to exchange competitively sensitive information and fixed the price of rents at manufactured home lots across the country from at least 2019 through the present.
Human Rights
- Reena is currently at the forefront of competition claims in South Africa, having worked with South African counsel in groundbreaking litigation on behalf of low-income bread consumers. This case resulted in a landmark ruling by the Supreme Court of Appeal (SCA) which determined for the first time the specific requirements for filing a collective action in South African courts.
- Reena represented residents of Bhopal, India who were exposed to toxic wastes. These wastes contaminated the soil and drinking water surrounding the infamous Union Carbide Plant, which was the site of the 1984 gas leak that killed and injured thousands of residents.
- Reena has been involved in litigation in both the UK and in South Africa on behalf of South African gold miners who have suffered from silicosis. In South Africa, the Johannesburg High Court certified the case as a class action against most of South Africa’s gold mining industry. Following certification, extensive negotiations resulted in a landmark settlement in May 2018.
- Reena also assisted in the representation of the former “comfort women,” a title given to women and girls who were forced into sexual slavery during World War II.
- In her pro bono work, among other cases, Reena has successfully represented individuals in United States Immigration Court in political asylum proceedings.
