Kasowitz Benson Torres LLP

Partner

Employment Practices and Litigation; Investigations and White Collar Defense

Mark W. Lerner, head of the firm’s Employment Practices and Litigation Group, is a trial lawyer with extensive experience representing employers and senior executives in all types of employment disputes, in federal and state courts and arbitration, involving Non-competition covenants in employment and asset-purchase agreements; Claims of discrimination, harassment and retaliation relating to gender, age, race, sexual orientation and other protected classes; Wage and hour actions, including claims of misclassification of workers and underpayment of wages under the FLSA and New York Labor Laws; Theft of employers’ trade secrets, customer lists, or corporate opportunities; and Compensation disputes, including relating to bonuses, carried interests, and severance payments.

An experienced former federal prosecutor, Mark also conducts internal investigations on behalf of firms and special committees of their Boards relating to claims of employee wrongdoing, including employees at the chief executive and other C-suite levels. He represents firms and their executives before law enforcement, including the Department of Justice, U.S. Attorney’s Offices, FBI, FINRA and the Department of Labor.

Mark also represents employers and employees in the negotiation and drafting of employment, consulting and severance agreements.

Mark has represented clients across a wide range of industries, including apparel, energy, financial services, hedge funds, private equity, real estate brokerage, development and management, print and television media, and philanthropy.

Connecticut; New York; U.S. Court of Appeals, Second Circuit; U.S. Court of Appeals, Third Circuit; U.S. Court of Appeals, Ninth Circuit; U.S. District Court, Southern District of New York; U.S. District Court, Eastern District of New York; U.S. District Court, Northern District of New York; U.S. District Court, Eastern District of Michigan

Stanford Law School (J.D., 1990); Amherst College (B.A., magna cum laude, 1984)