[April 02, 2012]

Morrison Cohen LLP Announces Keith A. Markel to Join as New Lateral Partner

Morrison Cohen LLP announced today the admission to the firm of its newest lateral Partner, Keith A. Markel.

Mr. Markel will join the Firm's Employment, Compensation and Benefits department. He comes to Morrison Cohen with over a decade of employment experience representing institutional clients, hedge funds, and various businesses in a wide range of employment litigation matters, including state and federal court actions against claims of discrimination (from sexual harassment to discrimination on the basis of race, age, nationality, and disability), constructive discharge, breach of contract, misclassification of employees and wage and hour violations; and representing employers in administrative and agency proceedings (including before the EEOC, the U.S. Department of Labor, and state and local Human Rights and Labor agencies). Mr. Markel has handled numerous arbitrations before the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) for, among other claims, wrongful discharge, breach of contract, promissory estoppel, tortious interference, quantum meruit and unjust enrichment, and violations of state labor law. He has also handled various Form U5 expungement and promissory note cases before FINRA. Mr. Markel has litigated various matters involving restrictive covenants and other employee loyalty related claims in state and federal courts throughout the country. He also routinely counsels and negotiates on behalf of management and senior executives with respect to employment agreements and separation arrangements, as well as with respect to anticipated litigation arising out of the business and emplyment relationship. Mr. Markel has authored several articles on various employment law issues, including most recently "Employee Misclassification: A Current State of Affairs" (February 2012) and "Recent Trends in New York Noncompetition Litigation" (November 2011) for the New York Law Journal.

Immediately prior to joining Morrison Cohen LLP, Mr. Markel was Senior Counsel in the Labor & Employment Department of Lowenstein Sandler PC. He was previously Counsel at Dickstein Shapiro LLP.

"We are very excited about having Keith join our Shop. He brings with him a terrific skill set and wonderful client relationships," said David Scherl, Chairman of Morrison Cohen. "He will add depth to a strong practice area of our Firm, and we expect that there will be great client prospect synergies for us to target as a team. We are all looking forward to what we anticipate to be another important lateral addition to our Partnership."

About Morrison Cohen LLP

Morrison Cohen LLP has grown to become one of New York's leading full service mid-size commercial law firms. Given its moderate size and client-favorable partner-to-associate ratio, Morrison Cohen clients work principally with senior, seasoned attorneys at cost effective and sensitive pricing.

Morrison Cohen principally services the following three markets:

Middle Market Businesses and Transactions: Morrison Cohen regularly represents public and private mid-cap companies (generally companies with annual revenues of up to $1 billion) in connection with their corporate and securities, commercial litigation, labor & employment, real estate, tax/ERISA, intellectual property, and other legal needs. The Firm also serves large-cap companies in connection with their middle market corporate and securities, real estate, and other transactions, as well as their commercial litigation and intellectual property needs.

Financial Institutions and Sponsors: Morrison Cohen regularly represents a large number of financial institutions and other financing sources, ranging from stand-alone venture capital funds of relatively modest size and individual angel investors at one end of the spectrum, and bulge bracket investment banks and underwriters, private equity, distressed debt/restructuring and buyout sponsors, mezzanine debt providers, and senior banking institutions at the other end of the same spectrum. Morrison Cohen represents these institutions and other financing sources principally in middle market transactions and investments. Its commercial litigation attorneys regularly represent these institutions and other financing sources in a variety of matters, ranging from securities related litigation to sophisticated commercial and contract litigation.

High Net Worth Individuals: Morrison Cohen's individual client services group, which includes attorneys in its family law, trusts & estates, tax, compensation and benefits/ERISA, and real estate departments, principally serves high net worth individuals in connection with their varied financial, family and other personal affairs. Many of the users of these services are executive officers and employees of the Firm's many operating business clients, or principals, partners or employees of the many financial institutions that it represents.

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