On June 12, 2009, HNRK Partner Sheryl Galler delivered a presentation at the New York State Bar Association's program, Counseling the Corporate Client in Turbulent Times: Employment Law for the General Practitioner and Corporate Counselor. Ms. Galler spoke about the fundamentals of executive employment agreements, how to avoid potential conflicts over restrictive covenants, how to differentiate between independent contractors and employees, and recent developments in the law affecting commissioned salespersons. She also provided drafting tips for agreements with executives, independent contractors and commissioned salespersons. More than 60 attorneys attended the CLE program, which was offered by the Labor and Employment Law Section of the NYSBA.
Fred Newman has been named a "Leading Lawyer" for General Commercial Litigation in New York in the just-published Chambers USA Directory of America's Leading Lawyers for Business 2009 Edition. The Chambers rankings are based upon independent research and peer group interviews, and our firm has not paid for the listing. Only 76 lawyers in New York were recommended in this category.
Fred Newman gave a series of lectures on International Arbitration at the law faculty of Rezeknes Augstskola, Latvia, during March, 2009. He presented the fundamentals of arbitration policy, practice and procedures to fourth year students. The lectures were in English. Newman's lectures were arranged by the Center for International Legal Studies, Salzburg, Austria, a non-profit organization that places experienced Common Law practitioners at law faculties in Eastern Europe and the former republics of the Soviet Union. Newman's Powerpoint presentation is available here.
An arbitrator for the International Centre For Dispute Resolution has ruled in favor of HNRK's client, Tradesim AS, in an arbitration. Claimant brought the arbitration against Tradesim and its principal, seeking damages for Tradesim's alleged breach of contract to sell it custom software and further develop that software, as well as substantial consequential damages. Tradesim counterclaimed for breach of contract, asserting that Claimant itself had breached and repudiated the contract. The arbitrator denied Claimant's claims and ruled that Claimant must pay Tradesim $533,300.
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Our partner Sheryl Galler was recently a panelist at a continuing legal education workshop entitled "Update on Wage and Hour Issues: Developments in New York Labor Law and the FLSA." Ms. Galler discussed the federal rules and regulations setting the minimum wage and overtime compensation standards, recent court decisions applying those federal standards, and the risks of non-compliance. She also provided tips on the best practices for employers conducting a self-audit. The workshop was presented at the Fall Meeting of the Labor and Employment Law Section of the New York State Bar Association, which was held in Cooperstown, New York.
The panelists included Valerie Caproni, who is now General Counsel of the FBI and formerly held high level positions at the U.S. Attorneys’ Office and the Securities and Exchange Commission. Ms. Caproni was invited to join the panel by Ms. Galler and our partner John Kenney, who worked with Ms. Caproni at Simpson Thacher & Bartlett.
The panel discussion was presented at the Annual Meeting of the National Association of Minority and Women Owned Law Firms (NAMWOLF), which was held in Dallas, Texas on November 13-14, 2008. The session was accredited by the State Bar of Texas for continuing legal education credit.
Hoguet Newman Regal & Kenney has been a women-owned law firm since its start in 1996. We are a member of NAMWOLF, which shares our goal of encouraging clients to hire women-owned law firms such as ours based on the experience and talent of our attorneys, not their gender. We also are certified by the State of New York as a Women-Owned Business Enterprise (WBE).
Ms. Galler has represented the firm's domestic and international clients in a wide range of matters involving fraud, breach of franchise rights, civil RICO, employment discrimination, sexual harassment, retaliation and breach of contract claims. She also counsels clients with respect to employment related disputes and has negotiated scores of severance agreements and employment contracts on behalf of the firm's clients.
Hoguet Newman Regal & Kenney, LLP provided pro bono legal advice to the Republic of Kosovo earlier this year. From October 9 through 14, 2008, Tai-Heng Cheng travelled to Kosovo to advise the Office of the President and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs on the pending Advisory Opinion of the International Court of Justice on the legality of Kosovo’s declaration of independence. He also discussed various legal issues with the International Civilian Office, including border delimitation, state succession, sovereign debt, recognition by other states of Kosovo’s statehood, and treaties. In addition, he gave a lecture on state succession at the University of Pristina School of Law to students and attorneys from the Ministry of Justice.
In recognition of the Firm’s services, the Republic of Kosovo presented to Mr. Cheng a copy of the Kosovo constitution inscribed by the Deputy Foreign Minister.
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HNRK won the dismissal of a claim brought by a former manager of the Metro-North Commuter Railroad claiming that his First Amendment rights were violated when the Railroad dismissed him for failing to cooperate with an internal investigation of a train collision and derailment. The accident occurred during the 2003 blackout. The employee failed to appear at scheduled hearings to ascertain responsibility for the accident, but maintained that he was unable to attend the hearings due to psychological impairment, and was dismissed because of critical statements he would have made regarding the adequacy of employee training on important train operating procedures. Agreeing with HNRK's argument, Federal District Court Judge Laura Taylor Swain ruled that under the Supreme Court's 2006 decision in Garcetti v. Ceballos, plaintiff's speech activity (were he to have engaged in such activity) would not have been protected by the First Amendment because such speech would not have been uttered as a private citizen, but rather, in furtherance of the employee's official duties. Judge Swain also rejected a host of other claims raised by plaintiff, including claims that his due process rights were violated, and that the Railroad deprived him of his federal "liberty" interest in his reputation.
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