» Immigration For Professionals And Executives
Employment Counseling, Negotiation & Litigation
Our employment practice focuses principally on providing high-level executives, professionals and employers with sophisticated legal and practice advice in order to resolve workplace-related issues.
We serve our clients in a variety of ways: counseling them in effective ways to handle workplace issues; in negotiations, mediation, and in independent and industry arbitration; and in litigation in federal and state trial and appellate courts and government agencies. We are also available to assist our corporate clients in ensuring compliance with applicable laws and regulations, whether it be through counseling, training or other strategies.When the employment relationship has ended - whether as a result of an individual termination, a change in control, or a reduction in force - we work closely with employers and outplacement service providers to bring closure to what is often a difficult situation and to protect the client's best interest at every step in the separation process.
Counseling
Ideally, and particularly at the highest levels, the employment relationship is not adversarial - even when there's a bump in the road. Thus, a heavy-handed approach in addressing workplace issues is not always the best. We have developed expertise in counseling senior- and mid-level executives, professionals, and our corporate clients through myriad issues in employment, and across industries as varied as bio-technology, high-technology, financial services, academics, medicine and law, among others. We have a sound knowledge of applicable law and precedent, a sensitivity to legal and non-legal pressure points, and a firm grasp of what the market will bear. We bring all of this experience to each client's case.
We provide individuals and employers with counsel with regard to the enforceability of restrictive covenants. We also provide individuals and employers with counsel with regard to their potential liabilities, helping them to protect themselves.
Negotiation
As in litigation, the key to successful negotiation is thorough preparation. Our goal in every negotiation is to present the strongest case possible and to negotiate from strength. To that end, we prepare for each negotiation the same way we do for each case: by conducting careful interviews and extensive legal research, by engaging in creative analysis, and by deliberately crafting and preparing persuasive arguments. This often results in swift and favorable negotiated resolutions for our clients.
We have considerable experience in drafting numerous types of employment contracts, including:
- - individualized employment agreements
- - individualized severance agreements, particularly in the context of disabilities
- - change of control agreements
- - executive compensation and retention agreements
- - restrictive covenant agreements
- - post-termination cooperation and consulting agreements and
- - settlement agreements to claims of unlawful employment practices, including discrimination
Litigation
When negotiation fails, we are experienced and creative litigators in federal and state courts, governmental agencies, arbitration and mediation. We have handled numerous state and federal cases involving executive compensation (including stock options); restrictive covenants; state and federal anti-discrimination statutes, including Title VII, the Age Discrimination in Employment Act, the Americans With Disabilities Act, the Employee Retirement Income Security Act, the Fair Labor Standards Act, and the Family and Medical Leave Act; wage payment statutes; privacy statutes; wrongful termination; and employment-related contract and tort claims.
We also have considerable experience in actions brought to enforce non-competition and non-disclosure agreements, and claims for breach of fiduciary duties and the misappropriation of confidential information and trade secrets.