Lloyd B. Chinn

Contact

Partner

New York +1.212.969.3341

Lloyd B. Chinn is a partner in the Labor & Employment Law Department and co-head of the Whistleblowing & Retaliation and Financial Services Practice Groups.

A seasoned trial lawyer, Lloyd represents employers nationwide and internationally in high-stakes employment disputes before federal and state courts, leading arbitration forums (including FINRA, JAMS and AAA) and administrative agencies. He has first-chaired more than 40 trials and arbitrations to verdict or award.

Lloyd’s practice focuses on complex compensation disputes, whistleblower and retaliation claims, discrimination and harassment matters, and restrictive covenant and trade secret litigation. With a significant concentration in the financial services sector, he also represents employers across a wide range of industries, including law, insurance, health care, consulting, media, music, education and technology. In connection with that focus, Lloyd hosts a roundtable for in-house employment lawyers in the financial services industry to discuss emerging workplace trends, regulatory developments and litigation risks. His client base is global in scope, with many organizations headquartered outside the United States.

Drawing on his extensive litigation experience, clients regularly turn to Lloyd for advice on the full range of employment matters, including terminations, whistleblower policies and procedures, restrictive covenants, reductions in force, employment agreements, and workplace policies. He is also frequently retained to conduct internal investigations into allegations of workplace misconduct, including claims involving senior executives.

Lloyd is nationally recognized for his work in the whistleblower space, representing global businesses in matters arising under Sarbanes-Oxley and Dodd-Frank. He serves as Co-Chair of the Whistleblower Subcommittee of the ABA’s Employee Rights and Responsibilities Committee and is a frequent speaker before leading organizations, including the American Bar Association, the Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association, the International Bar Association, ALI-ABA, the Association of the Bar of the City of New York and New York University School of Law. He has twice testified before Congressional subcommittees on whistleblower legislation and regularly publishes blog posts, articles and client alerts on related developments, including the Dodd-Frank Act’s whistleblower provisions.

He is also active in the International Bar Association, where he presents on emerging workplace issues, including global whistleblower enforcement trends, cross-border investigations, executive accountability, workplace culture and risk management, and employment considerations in international transactions.

Lloyd is a co-editor of Proskauer’s Whistleblower Defense Blog and is widely quoted by major media outlets, including the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, the National Law Journal and Law360. Beyond whistleblower issues, he also publishes and speaks on a broad array of employment law topics, including non-solicitation provisions, FINRA arbitration rules, cross-border discovery, e-discovery, and the use of experts.

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Matters

Representative Recent Litigations

Victory on behalf of global financial services firm in one of the first “me too” sexual harassment matters brought in the industry. After defeating the plaintiff’s motion for a preliminary injunction, successfully compelled the case to arbitration, after which, all of plaintiff’s claims were dismissed. In addition, obtained a six figure award of breach of contract damages and sanctions. The entire arbitration award was confirmed in federal court.
Multiple outright victories on behalf of a global investment bank in contentious arbitrations in which former senior trading and sales employees terminated in the wake of regulatory investigations sought the tens of millions of dollars in forfeited deferred compensation.
A major victory on behalf of a furniture manufacturer company against a former executive in an 11-day bench trial under the Stored Communications Act and the Computer Fraud Abuse Act, and also defeating all of his whistleblowing and contract claims. The Eleventh Circuit affirmed the District Court’s ruling in favor of our client in all respects. The District Court ultimately entered judgments in our client’s favor amounting to over $1 million in compensatory and punitive damages, sanctions and attorney’s fees;
The dismissal of a former global financial services employee’s gender discrimination claims;
The dismissal of a former investment banker who sought over $20 million in bonus compensation, severance benefits and equity compensation in the company;
On behalf of a global financial services company, the dismissal of a former banker’s claims for more than $7,000,000 in bonus compensation, based on various quasi-contractual theories;
Numerous compensation disputes arising from the closing of a global bank’s internal hedge fund, including multiple favorable arbitral awards and court decisions (Federal and State, trial and appellate);
A dispute between an investment bank and a former senior banker arising out of the former banker’s solicitation of employees, resulting in an extremely favorable negotiated resolution following a 12-day arbitration and two successful ancillary state court actions;
The dismissal of a former floor specialist’s whistleblower and compensation claims, following a 30-day arbitration;
The dismissal of a former partner’s claims and the recovery of attorney’s fees, on behalf of a prominent boutique law firm, following a one-week arbitration;
A sex discrimination case in which the claimant (a former sell-side analyst at a global bank) sought millions in damages – post-deposition, she withdrew her claims and issued letters of apology to those she had accused; and
The dismissal of all claims (except for one month of notice pay) after a two-week arbitration of a former private banker’s age discrimination, retaliation and breach of contract claims.

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Proskauer Whistleblower Defense Blog

Highlights and updates in whistleblower defense claims

Edited by Lloyd B. Chinn and Steven J. Pearlman