Debevoise has a specialty Employment Litigation practice that has enjoyed tremendous success representing clients in their most sensitive and high-stakes executive disputes. The firm's employment litigators are broad-gauged lawyers who uniquely combine their extensive knowledge and experience in employment law with the business sophistication and pre-eminent advocacy skills they have forged from their deep involvement in Debevoise’s other market-leading areas of complex commercial litigation.
The team has successfully defended clients in wrongful termination actions brought by senior-level, highly compensated executives. The practice's experience covers all areas of wrongful termination litigation, including discrimination and retaliation. Because of the group's involvement in Debevoise’s pre-eminent white collar practice, the team has particular expertise in handling whistleblower lawsuits that arise in connection with broader regulatory inquiries and that implicate severe enterprise risks.
The practice has extensive experience on both the plaintiff and defense sides of disputes involving non-compete agreements and other legal issues that arise when companies hire top executive talent from the competition. The team has been successful in both obtaining and defeating motions for preliminary injunctions aimed at preventing the movement of key teams and business leaders.
Because of its broad experience with complex commercial litigation, clients often turn to Debevoise to handle difficult contract disputes involving highly paid executives or sophisticated compensation arrangements.
The practice also helps clients resolve their most sensitive executive disputes and issues without litigation. The team conducts internal investigations of alleged sexual harassment, #MeToo-related governance issues and employee fraud or other misconduct. Often working closely with the internationally recognized Executive Compensation & Employee Benefits Group, the employment litigators help clients navigate through their most sensitive personnel matters, such as mass reductions in force, management-level terminations and group hires from competitors.