BakerHostetler Debuts First Am Law 100 Crypto Asset Disputes Team to Tackle Digital Market Litigation

BakerHostetler has launched a dedicated Crypto Asset Disputes team, becoming the first Am Law 100 firm to formalize a practice specifically for litigation and arbitration in the digital asset sector. This move signals a shift from treating blockchain issues as niche legal curiosities to recognizing them as systemic business risks requiring specialized trial expertise.

What was announced

The new Crypto Asset Disputes team is designed to handle the increasing volume of litigation, arbitration, and regulatory enforcement actions involving blockchain technology and emerging digital markets. While the firm has operated a Web3 and Digital Assets team since 2018, this new unit formalizes its litigation capabilities to address commercial and tort disputes, securities and commodities litigation, and government investigations. The team also focuses on technical areas such as asset tracing and recovery, bankruptcy-related disputes, and cross-border proceedings arising from blockchain-enabled transactions.

Joanna F. Wasick, a partner in New York and a founding member of the firm’s Web3 group, will lead the Crypto Asset Disputes team. The firm also announced that Isabelle Corbett Sterling will lead the Digital and Innovative Markets team. This latter group focuses on the convergence of traditional financial services and digital assets, advising clients on product development, market structure, and regulatory architecture. Both teams are integrated into the broader Web3 and Digital Assets team led by Robert A. Musiala Jr., ensuring that legal counsel covers the entire life cycle of a digital asset, from initial development and regulatory compliance to high-stakes courtroom defense.

"Crypto disputes are no longer an emerging issue; they are a core business risk for market participants across the digital asset ecosystem. BakerHostetler has been litigating and arbitrating crypto asset disputes for years, across commercial, regulatory, insolvency and enforcement matters. This team provides a formal platform for those capabilities and brings together BakerHostetler's deep litigation bench, technical fluency and practical experience in digital assets to help clients navigate disputes that often move quickly, cross borders and involve novel questions of law and technology."

Joanna F. Wasick at BakerHostetler.

The companies involved

BakerHostetler is a major American law firm and a member of the Am Law 100, a ranking of the highest-grossing law firms in the United States. The firm has established a significant footprint in the technology and data sectors through its Digital Assets and Data Management Practice Group, led by Ted Kobus. This group is designed to address the entire data life cycle, positioning the firm as a specialist in the intersection of technology, regulation, and enterprise risk.

The firm’s early entry into the blockchain space in 2018 gave it a first-mover advantage among large-scale corporate law firms. By integrating its litigation bench with its regulatory and transactional teams, BakerHostetler maintains a market position that bridges the gap between traditional financial services and the decentralized finance (DeFi) ecosystem. The firm’s structure reflects a broader trend of "Big Law" adapting to the complexities of digital market infrastructure, where technical fluency in smart contracts and distributed ledgers is now as critical as traditional legal precedent.

What this means

This is a clear signal that the "wild west" era of crypto is being replaced by a period of heavy institutional litigation. By being the first Am Law 100 firm to carve out a specific disputes team, BakerHostetler is betting that the next decade of blockchain will be defined by the courtroom rather than just the code. This move puts pressure on other top-tier firms to move beyond generalist "fintech" groups and develop deep, technical litigation benches. For market participants, it means the legal stakes have been raised; disputes are no longer just about regulatory compliance, but about navigating complex, cross-border insolvency and tort claims that require a high degree of technical literacy to win.