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ChrisHarrigan

Partner

"Always remember that you're unique, just like everyone else."

Overview

Biography

Chris is a highly skilled concierge of legal services and trial-tested employment litigator with three decades of experience representing employers in federal and state courts, the US Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, and the NYS Division of Human Rights. In addition to providing decision-makers with strategic options to tackle complicated and sensitive employment disputes, Chris regularly demonstrates his unique ability to enforce clients’ noncompetition, nonsolicitation, and nondisclosure agreements in jurisdictions across the United States.

Chris also advises management teams on traditional labor matters, including collective bargaining and related proceedings, with an increasing focus on the adult-use cannabis industry. Understanding the urgency all employers face in today’s heavily regulated and litigious business environment, Chris provides 24/7/365 crisis support for emergent issues, including, among other things, employee theft, terminations and severance agreements, wage-and-hour law investigations, and executive employment agreements. Chris extends his practical problem-solving approach to, among many other clients, higher education institutions, charter schools, and public school districts in employment and education law matters, including student disciplinary issues.

When not assisting clients with exigent situations, Chris provides counseling and training to executives, supervisors, managers, and employees on topics such as positive employer-employee relations, anti-harassment compliance, wage-and-hour issues, workplace misconduct investigations, documentation and performance reviews, and avoiding workplace violence.

In addition to his labor and employment practice, Chris serves as the firm's co-marketing partner.

Bar Associations

  • New York State Bar Association
  • Northern District of New York Federal Court Bar Association
  • Onondaga County Bar Association
Experience

Representative Experience

  • Negotiated a comprehensive executive-employment agreement for the first lay president of a Jesuit college.
  • Obtained a temporary restraining order and worldwide preliminary injunction enjoining a former key employee from competing against the client in all areas of public-adjusting and disaster-recovery consulting industries.
  • Obtained a temporary restraining order and preliminary injunction enforcing a noncompetition covenant against a cardiologist who opened a competing practice and solicited the client's patients after his separation from employment with the client.
  • Obtained a dismissal of the complainants’ charges of discrimination based on handicapped-accessibility claims relating to the client’s place of business, pursuant to trial before the NYS Division of Human Rights.
  • Defended a client in a multi-million federal lawsuit involving claims under the Americans With Disabilities Act and handicapped accessibility of a historic state courthouse.
  • Successfully defended a nuclear-energy facility against claims of employment discrimination based on gender, race, and national origin by a former nuclear-security officer.

Prior Experience

  • Hiscock & Barclay, LLP, Partner

Selected Community Activities

  • Christian Brothers Academy, Board of Trustees Member
  • CNY Services, Inc., Former Board Member

Selected Honors

  • The Best Lawyers in America®: Commercial Litigation, 2021–2026; Litigation – Labor and Employment, 2021–2026
  • Selected to Super Lawyers Upstate New York: Commercial Litigation, 2017–2018; Employment & Labor, 2017–2021; Employment Litigation: Defense, 2022–2025
  • BTI Consulting Group, Client Service All-Star Award, 2023–2024
Knowledge

Selected Speaking Engagements

  • Manufacturer’s Association of Central New York, “Back to Business: Return-to-Work Issues During and After COVID-19” Webinar
  • Manufacturer’s Association of Central New York, “Legal Marijuana: What Employers Need to Know” Webinar
  • Barclay Damon, “Restrictive Covenant and Noncompetition Law Developments: Are Noncompetition Agreements Still Enforceable?” Webinar
  • New York State Payroll Conference, “Weathering the Costs: Prevailing Wages"
  • New York State Bar Association Committee on Cannabis Law and Labor & Employment Law Section CLE, “Career High: New York’s Marijuana Regulation Act & Its Impact on the Public Sector”

Selected Media

Selected Alerts & Blog Posts

Featured Media

Alerts

College Sports Commission Issues Notice Regarding Violations Arising From Third-Party NIL Deals

Alerts

Website Accessibility Lawsuits: Several "Tester" Plaintiffs—Antoinette Suchenko, Jared Charlap, Adrienne Beatty, Tracey Sinkovic, Dominick Petrillo, and Sofia Montano—Targeting Businesses in Recent Flurry of Lawsuits

Alerts

Second Department Holds CVA Plaintiff's Testimony of Repeated Classroom Abuse Sufficient to Raise Question of Fact as to Notice

Alerts

Shifting Drug Pricing Models: Independent Pharmacies Need to Develop Compliance Strategies Now

Alerts

Website Accessibility Lawsuits: Several "Tester" Plaintiffs—Angel Jenkins, Washington Moran, Erika Randolph, Caitlin Walsh, and Geovanni Figueroa—Targeting Businesses in Recent Flurry of Lawsuits

Alerts

New York LLC Transparency Act Now in Effect