Harry W. Lipman

“Clients rely on me to find creative solutions to problems and to work tirelessly and relentlessly to pursue their goals.”

For over 30 years, Harry has represented public and private companies, as well as individuals, in a wide variety of disputes in both state and federal courts, before the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), and in arbitration, including before the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA), while he also has maintained a vital practice of counseling clients in the financial industry and elsewhere, helping them navigate contracts, especially at times of transition. His varied experience includes employment-contract and partnership disputes, professional malpractice, allegations of fraud and breach of fiduciary duty, bankruptcy-related litigation, real estate and cooperative- and condominium-related issues, construction law, securities, and regulatory actions, trademark and copyright matters, restrictive covenant, severance, and other employment-related disputes, art law, estates law, and entertainment law. With deep experience in the finance industry (encompassing quantitative trading, broker-dealers, investment advisors, banks, private equity firms, and hedge funds), management consulting, and consumer products, Harry regularly advises firms and employees across the country regarding their respective rights and obligations, and handles all aspects of related litigation and arbitration as well. He has argued in the New York State Court of Appeals (New York’s highest court), authored a brief amici curiae to the United States Supreme Court, and written numerous articles on alternative dispute resolution law and procedure, and class-action litigation.

On behalf of Rottenberg Lipman Rich clients, Harry has successfully:

• Obtained an important declaratory judgment, in less than four months, from Supreme Court, Manhattan (with Robert Freilich) that was widely reported in the media. The ruling permitted the firm’s client, the Board of a large luxury condominium in Manhattan, to change the signage on the building’s façade without violating a license agreement.

• Defended a senior quantitative researcher terminated purportedly for cause on allegations of violating an unwritten company policy regarding accessing and viewing confidential source code files on the company’s computer system. After three days of testimony and extensive post-hearing briefing, the arbitrator dismissed all of the company’s claims and awarded the quant substantial bonus and non-compete payments.

• Represented several hedge funds, portfolio companies and executives in two investigations conducted by the Atlanta and New York regional offices of the Securities and Exchange Commission Enforcement Division.

• Won a large compensatory damages award (with Stacy Ceslowitz) following a six-day arbitration before a FINRA panel for defamation in favor of quantitative trader Kieran Fitzgerald against his former employer Sun Trading LLC, a high-frequency trading firm. The three-member panel also recommended full “expungement” from Mr. Fitzgerald’s industry record of Sun’s false statements concerning his termination from the firm.

• Defended a long-time hedge-fund client (with Richard Rosberger) and one of its employees in Chicago, Illinois, against claims brought by a competitor relating to the fund’s hiring of the employee and allegations of breach of restrictive covenants and misappropriation of trade secrets. In a related case in Minneapolis, Minnesota, Messrs. Lipman and Rosberger represented the same hedge-fund client in a lawsuit against the same competitor, providing a “hedge” of sorts against the Chicago case; the second claim was for breach of a confidentiality agreement by the competitor, who commenced the Chicago case based on information covered by that agreement. Both cases settled.

• Secured a plaintiff’s verdict that included punitive damages on behalf of a former associate attorney of a New York-based law firm. Mr. Lipman brought sexual harassment claims in Manhattan federal court, culminating in a four-week jury trial.

• Defended a private-equity firm against ERISA and state-law claims by a former employee in Manhattan Federal Court that he was owed severance payments.

• Represented a consortium of banks and other financial institutions that had been secured lenders to ethanol plants in the Midwest. Harry brought accounts-receivable claims purchased out of bankruptcy in a credit swap. The claims were against a large supplier to the plants and resulted in a significant settlement on the eve of the evidentiary hearing after Rottenberg Lipman Rich attorneys achieved a successful result on a motion for summary judgment.

• Recovered a significant settlement as special litigation counsel to an assignee for the benefit of creditors of a prominent executive search and placement firm. Rottenberg Lipman Rich brought claims in New York state court against and recovered the settlement from the client’s former outside law firm for failing to advise the firm that its CFO was siphoning off millions of dollars.

• Brought claims against a competitor (with Bertrand Sellier) for a private equity firm client under the Lanham Act In the Commercial Part of the Supreme Court, Manhattan. The competitor was alleged to have distributed false and misleading advertising using our client’s “track record.” Rottenberg Lipman Rich obtained a temporary restraining order directing the competitor to remove the client’s “track record” from its advertising.

• Arbitrated a matter on behalf of one of the nation’s preeminent processors of contaminated soil that centered on the meaning of certain pricing language in a soil- and debris-removal contract.

• Settled a five-day arbitration on behalf of the owner of an iconic event space in Atlantic City against the general contractor responsible for installing a special stretch-fabric ceiling, which was failing. The general contractor agreed to pay the estimated cost of replacing the ceiling.

• Consulted for several Manhattan- and Brooklyn-based real-estate developers seeking counsel and creative litigation strategies on issues as wide-ranging as routine contract disputes to complex construction and ownership matters.

• Retained by a public technology company to take over several inefficiently defended litigations and successfully resolved all but one which remains dormant.

• Initiated and defended claims involving employment matters, contract disputes and FINRA arbitrations as outside litigation counsel to several broker-dealers.

Harry serves as a trustee for Ramapo for Children, a non-profit organization that runs a summer camp in Rhinebeck, New York, for children with cognitive and behavioral challenges, and other special needs, and that conducts programs throughout the tri-state area and beyond for parents, teachers, and youth-service professionals who interact with such children.

Harry received his B.A. degree, magna cum laude, and Phi Beta Kappa from Columbia College in 1986, having spent a year toward that degree at Oriel College, Oxford, England. Harry received his J.D. degree from Columbia Law School in 1990, where he was a Harlan Fiske Stone Scholar. He returns to Columbia often to judge moot court, having served as director of the First-Year Moot Court Program while in his third year as a student.

MEMBERSHIPS

• New York City Bar Association