Mr. Watnick has been practicing complex commercial and employment litigation for more than 20 years, including with AmLaw 100 law firms and a Fortune 500 company where he headed the litigation and employment law group for a number of years. Mr. Watnick represents businesses and individuals in civil litigation relating to commercial, financial and employment issues and transactions, as well as in regulatory proceedings. Mr. Watnick practices in many areas, and his areas of specialty include commercial, employment, securities and banking disputes, regulatory matters and related internal inquiries, counseling on human resources issues and negotiating and advising on employment and business agreements. His firm handles matters of all sizes, utilizing other attorneys, with whom he has ongoing relationships, as needed.
Over the years, Mr. Watnick’s clientele, situated throughout the world, has included Fortune 500 companies, banks, broker-dealers and hedge funds and their officers and employees, law firms, software companies, international real estate companies, along with small and medium size public and private companies and individuals. A seasoned trial attorney, Mr. Watnick has litigated throughout the world, and tried cases in state and federal courts of New York, argued appeals in New York state and federal appellate courts, and regularly arbitrated before the American Arbitration Association.
Before launching his own law firm, Mr. Watnick was a Vice President and head of the litigation and employment law group of a Fortune 500 company (Computer Associates International, Inc.) in the technology industry. In that capacity, Mr. Watnick oversaw the company’s worldwide litigation, and regularly was involved in responding to regulatory inquiries, and other matters involving employment, intellectual property and commercial issues. While practicing in house, Mr. Watnick took an active role in litigating cases involving the defense of securities fraud, employment discrimination and wrongful discharge claims, protection of trade secrets and enforcement of non-competition agreements and various commercial and contract disputes. He also worked on various commercial and employment issues and agreements, and advised clients how to minimize their risks.
As an attorney at the New York offices of the international law firms of Rogers & Wells and Dorsey & Whitney for 12 years, Mr. Watnick also litigated complex commercial, securities, employment and intellectual property cases, and took the lead at trials, arbitrations and appeals. His clients included major international broker dealers, hedge funds, publicly held companies in the real estate, agriculture, insurance, telecommunications and medical device industries.
Mr. Watnick has spoken on effective litigation management at conferences, and has written on insurance coverage, employment and first amendment issues. Mr. Watnick graduated from the University of Pennsylvania in 1983 and from Cornell Law School in 1988, where he served on the Moot Court Executive Board. He currently serves as the President of the co-op/condo in which he and his family reside, the Education and Law Committee of the New York City Bar Association, and has served on the Dean’s Council of the Cornell Law School and a board member of his children’s school in New York City.