Labor & Employment: Mainly Plaintiffs
USA Guide 2024 : New York
Band 2
About
Provided by Harris St. Laurent & Wechsler LLP
HSW has a first-tier national employment practice, and is best known for representing individual founders, partners, C-suite executives, top producers, and practice leaders. In addition, the firm has a meaningful roster of company clients. Four of our Employment Partners are Chambers ranked.
Our practice includes litigation and arbitration, negotiation of employment agreements and separations, discreetly handling internal investigations, co-founder disputes, restrictive covenant disputes, and employment counseling. HSW is also known for its high-profile successes in FINRA arbitrations, having secured two of the six largest-ever FINRA awards.
We advise clients on hundreds of millions of dollars of agreements, separations and disputes annually, and represent individuals, teams and employers across a broad range of industries (including financial services, technology, real estate, media, health, travel, fashion, law, and entertainment).
Our Employment Practice has several unique strengths:
- a top-tier trial practice
- a premier combination of legal sophistication and industry knowledge in the financial services sector, and with respect to advising start-up founders
- synergy with our Chambers Ranked White Collar group, enabling us to effectively represent clients in matters where employment disputes and internal, regulatory or criminal investigations run parallel
- an in-house clinical forensic psychologist to assist our clients in preparing for interviews, negotiations and trial
Chambers Review
Harris St. Laurent & Wechsler LLP is a respected labor and employment firm focused primarily on employee representation. Often sought out to advise on sensitive investigations and disputes, including those involving alleged wrongful termination, breach of restrictive covenants, and wage and hour claims. Also assists clients with employment agreement and separation agreements.
Work Highlights
- Harris St. Laurent & Wechsler brokered a successful settlement for Nadezda Usina in a restrictive covenant matter with her former employer, Russell Reynolds Associates.
Strengths
Provided by Chambers
"Harris St. Laurent & Wechsler is a good, solid firm which has thoughtful, smart and effective lawyers."
"Each member of the Harris St. Laurent team brings a unique skill set to litigation."
"They are a go-to firm with deep expertise."
"They are incredible in their responsiveness and resourcefulness. They are able to come up with effective strategies in the face of chaos."
"Harris St. Laurent & Wechsler is a good, solid firm which has thoughtful, smart and effective lawyers."
"Each member of the Harris St. Laurent team brings a unique skill set to litigation."
"They are a go-to firm with deep expertise."
"They are incredible in their responsiveness and resourcefulness. They are able to come up with effective strategies in the face of chaos."
Notable Practitioners
David Wechsler leads the firm's employment offering. He has a strong track record of representing employees in the financial services sector, among others.
"David has real gravitas and a ton of experience. You can tell that he has been around the block, knows all the tricks and knows how the court system works."
"David just exudes expertise."
"He has really good judgment and does an excellent job advocating for his clients."
Jonathan Harris predominantly acts on behalf of plaintiffs in employment litigation as well as alternative dispute resolution and internal workplace investigations. He also has experience negotiating employment agreements.
"Jon is an incredibly talented trial lawyer who provides outstanding legal advice and representation to clients."
"Jonathan is great. He brings a sophisticated viewpoint, analyzing an issue from a strong business perspective."
"He maintains a balance between getting into the weeds and focusing on high-level strategy."
Kim Michael is an experienced litigator with a strong track record of advising employees on complex disputes.
"I think the world of Kim, she is terrific."
Todd Gutfleisch is a respected employment attorney specializing in the representation of plaintiffs. His experience includes wrongful termination, whistleblowing, discrimination and retaliation claims.
"Todd is very experienced, a formidably hard worker who is always completely prepared. He knows the field of employment law very well."
"Todd is pragmatic and very commercial, bringing a really good perspective."
Ranked Lawyers at
Harris St. Laurent & Wechsler LLP
New York
Members
Provided by Harris St. Laurent & Wechsler LLP