Susan Reagan Gittes is a litigation partner whose practice focuses on complex civil litigation and regulatory inquiries.
As a member of the firm’s Commercial Litigation Group, Ms. Gittes has significant experience in federal and state courts, with a focus on representing insurance companies in a broad range of litigation and regulatory matters. She also represents corporations and their directors and officers in federal securities class actions. As Law360’s Rising Star in Insurance (2019), Ms. Gittes is widely known for her successful, rapidly-growing practice. She is recognized by The Legal 500 US (2023) as a Next Generation Partner in General Commercial Disputes and recommended for Insurance Disputes and Securities Litigation. Ms. Gittes is recognized as one of the “Top 250 Women in Litigation” by Benchmark Litigation (2023). She was also named a Future Star by Benchmark Litigation (2021), and included in the guide’s “40 and Under Hotlist” (2020).
Ms. Gittes also has an active pro bono practice. She is a 2012, 2013 and 2019 recipient of The Legal Aid Society’s Pro Bono Publico Award for outstanding service to The Legal Aid Society and its clients. She was also recently featured in the American Lawyer’s Litigation Daily for obtaining a favorable jury verdict as lead pro bono trial counsel in an action at the New York Supreme Court.
Ms. Gittes joined Debevoise in 2011. From 2010 to 2011 she clerked for the Hon. Barbara S. Jones of the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York. Ms. Gittes received a J.D. magna cum laude from Harvard Law School in 2010, where she served as Training Director of the Harvard Legal Aid Bureau. She received a B.A. summa cum laude from Middlebury College in 2004, where she was a member of Phi Beta Kappa. Prior to law school, Ms. Gittes was an eighth grade teacher in Newark, NJ through the Teach for America program.