Freeborn Expands New York Office with Five New Partners

NEW YORK – Freeborn & Peters LLP is pleased to announce a major expansion of its New York City office with the additions of Jon Schuyler Brooks, Kathryn T. Lundy, David A. Pellegrino, Jeremy D. Richardson, and Marc B. Zimmerman as Partners in the firm’s Litigation Practice Group.

Mr. Brooks also is a member of the firm’s Environment and Energy Practice Group. Ms. Lundy and Mr. Zimmerman are members of Freeborn’s Labor & Employment Practice Team. Mr. Pellegrino is a member of the firm’s Litigation Practice Group and Real Estate Practice Group. Mr. Richardson is a member of the firm’s Intellectual Property Practice Team.

“We are really pleased to welcome Jon, Kathryn, David, Jeremy, and Marc to Freeborn as they bring significant experience and enhanced capabilities to our team in New York,” said Sean T. Keely, Managing Partner of Freeborn’s New York office. “They are all leaders in diverse areas of litigation and corporate law and bring added synergies developed through their years of working together as a team.”

Joseph L. Fogel, Freeborn’s Co-Managing Partner, said, “As our New York office continues to grow and evolve, we look forward to the benefits that the new team brings to our clients around the country for addressing increasingly complex issues and challenges in areas including labor and employment, intellectual property, and environment, commercial and real estate litigation.”

The new partners add capabilities and deepen the bench strength in New York for Freeborn’s already robust Litigation Practice Group. Known as a Litigation Powerhouse® with a Big Law-caliber reputation in litigation in federal and state courts throughout the United States and internationally, Freeborn has a team of litigators that includes former federal and state prosecutors with decades of trial experience handling all areas of complex disputes and litigation. In addition, Freeborn has one of the largest Insurance and Reinsurance industry groups in the nation, based in Chicago and New York and handling disputes for clients worldwide.

In addition to advocating for clients in court on complex commercial and environmental matters, Mr. Brooks advises real estate clients – including developers, owners, landlords, tenants, managers, and lenders – about environmental aspects of transactions. He formerly was the CEO of Cirrus Resources Inc., through which he advised Fortune 100 companies and local entrepreneurs on the structuring of energy, environmental and economic development projects in the formerly communist region of Central and Eastern Europe. Mr. Brooks currently serves as co-chair of the New York State Bar Association’s Environmental Business Transactions Committee. He formerly chaired the American Bar Association’s Environmental Transactions and Brownfields Committee. Mr. Brooks received his J.D. from Tulane University School of Law and his Bachelor of Science from Northwestern University.

Ms. Lundy focuses her practice on management-side employment cases, particularly in the fashion, luxury goods and the hospitality industries. She litigates high stakes disputes, including wrongful termination, sexual harassment and discrimination, wage and hour, restrictive covenant, misappropriation of trade secrets, and breach of contract matters. She also counsels clients on the gamut of complex employment issues including executive compensation or termination issues, wage and hour compliance, classification issues, restrictive covenants, discipline, management training, policy development, reductions in force, investigation, and compliance with local, state, and federal employment laws. Ms. Lundy received her J.D. from Brooklyn Law School and her Bachelor of Arts from Washington University in St. Louis.

Mr. Pellegrino focuses his litigation practice on real estate disputes in state and federal courts. His clients have included lenders, borrowers, developers, property owners, managing agents, boards, and brokers. His more than two decades of experience includes cases concerning transactions that have gone awry, financing issues, lien priorities, disagreements between partners and joint venturers, and statutory actions such as foreclosures, partitions, and encroachments. Mr. Pellegrino co-authored the chapter “Commercial Real Estate Litigation” in the critically acclaimed multi-volume treatise Commercial Litigation in New York State Courts. He is a member of the Commercial and Federal Litigation section of the New York Bar Association (NYBA) and previously served on the NYBA’s committee on the Civil Practice Law and Rules, which governs litigation in New York state courts. Mr. Pellegrino received his J.D. from St. John’s University School of Law and his Bachelor of Arts from State University of New York at Stony Brook.

Mr. Richardson’s clients mostly are consumer products manufacturers, particularly in the juvenile products industry. His practice involves intellectual property protection, license agreements, business agreements and contract disputes. He regularly counsels manufacturers of children’s goods on compliance matters. A member of the Juvenile Products Manufacturers’ Association with years of experience counseling fashion industry clients and recording artists, he has been a guest lecturer at the Parsons School of Design and Fordham Law School on legal issues in the fashion industry. Mr. Richardson received his J.D. from Rutgers University School of Law and his Bachelor of Arts from Washington University in St. Louis.

Mr. Zimmerman advises clients on a wide range of labor relations and business issues. These include wage and hour compliance, classification issues, restrictive covenants, discipline, management training, policy development, reductions in force, investigations, discrimination, harassment, retaliation, and whistleblower and unemployment claims. He also assists management and executives in structuring, drafting and reviewing employment contracts, contractor agreements, separation agreements, restrictive covenants, and executive compensation issues. His clients span industries that include luxury goods, fashion, retail, automotive, manufacturing, real estate, building services, finance, education, and health care. He also speaks and writes frequently on local and federal labor and employment law matters. Mr. Zimmerman received his J.D. from Fordham University School of Law and his Bachelor of Arts (with honors) from State University of New York at Binghamton.