Ted Wells is the co-chair of the litigation department at Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison LLP. He specializes in complex civil litigation and white-collar criminal defense. Ted is widely regarded as one of the country's top jury trial lawyers. In 2010, Ted was selected as one of "The Decade's Most Influential Lawyers" by The National Law Journal. In 2006, The National Law Journal named Ted "Lawyer of the Year." In October 2008, in one of the largest civil fraud trials of the decade, Ted successfully defended Citigroup in a five-month jury trial where the plaintiff alleged that Citigroup aided and abetted in the massive fraud at Parmalat, the Italian dairy and food corporation. The jury rejected the $2 billion claim for damages against Citigroup and awarded Citigroup $364 million on Citigroup's counterclaim. In November 2010, Ted defended Citigroup against $7 billion in claims by a private equity firm, Terra Firma, in a three-week federal court jury trial arising out of Terra Firma's acquisition of the music company EMI. The jury returned a verdict completely vindicating Citigroup and on February 1, 2011, Citigroup took control of EMI. Ted has extensive experience in representing major corporations and senior executives in regulatory matters and complex civil litigation including Merck, Johnson & Johnson, ExxonMobil and Prudential. Some of Ted's other significant representations include the successful defense of U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Michael Espy; the successful defense of U.S. Secretary of Labor Raymond Donovan; the successful defense of U.S. Senator Robert Torricelli; the successful defense of investment banker Frank Quattrone; the defense of I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby, chief of staff to former Vice President Dick Cheney; and the defense of former New York Governor Eliot Spitzer in 2008 and the defense of former New York Governor David Paterson in 2010. Ted currently serves as the chairman of the board of directors of the NAACP Legal Defense Fund. He is a graduate of Harvard Law School and Harvard Business School and is a Fellow of the American College of Trial Lawyers