Theodore V. Wells, Jr.

Ted Wells co-chairs the Litigation Department at Paul, Weiss and is widely recognized as one of the best trial lawyers in America. The National Law Journal named Ted one of "The Decade's Most Influential Lawyers" in 2010 and "Lawyer of the Year" in 2006. Some of Ted's significant representations include the defense of U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Michael Espy; U.S. Secretary of Labor Raymond Donovan; U.S. Senator Robert Torricelli; hedge fund manager James Regan in the Princeton-Newport RICO prosecution; hedge fund manager Steven Cohen and SAC Capital Advisors; financier Michael Milken; I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby, chief of staff to former Vice President Dick Cheney; former New York Governor Eliot Spitzer; and former New York Governor David Paterson. Ted has also defended Merck, Johnson & Johnson, Abbott Laboratories, JP Morgan, Deutsche Bank, Citigroup, Alcoa, Exxon Mobil and Mitsubishi in major corporate criminal investigations.

Active in social, political and community affairs, Ted is a founding board member of the New Jersey Institute for Social Justice. Ted served as national treasurer for Senator Bill Bradley’s presidential campaign and is the chairman emeritus of the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund Board of Directors. Ted previously served, on a pro bono basis, as general counsel to the New Jersey NAACP, New Jersey co-chairperson of the United Negro College Fund and general counsel to the New Jersey Democratic Party. Ted is a Fellow of the Harvard Corporation, the governing body of Harvard University. Ted is a 1976 graduate of Harvard Law School and Harvard Business School.