Cheryl Pinarchick is a partner in the firm's Boston office and a founding Co-Chair of the Pay Equity Practice Group. She represents employers in all areas of employment law.

Cheryl has extensive trial experience in state and federal courts throughout the United States. She has successfully defended employment lawsuits alleging wrongful termination, employment discrimination, sexual and other forms of harassment, wage and hour violations, retaliation and other related claims. She has also successfully prosecuted trade secret and non-competition agreements in numerous jurisdictions.

Cheryl counsels employers on compliance with the law in areas such as pay equity, employment discrimination, wrongful termination, reductions in force, FMLA and leave laws, sexual harassment, and wage & hour matters, including issues related to employee classification. Cheryl also assists employers in their liability prevention efforts by conducting employee training, preparing handbooks and implementing policies, as well as conducting wage and hour and pay equity audits.

With the patchwork of emerging state and local pay equity laws, Cheryl has been dedicating significant time to the legal issues surrounding pay equality, state pay equity legislation and litigation and pay equity compliance audits.  She is a frequent presenter on pay equity both locally and nationally.

Experience

• Successfully represented international research and development company in connection with pay equity investigation by the Massachusetts Attorney General.
• Obtained summary judgment in multi-million dollar wage and hour case on behalf of emerging technology company.
• Obtained the dismissals of numerous discrimination and retaliation cases against national fitness chain.
• Trial counsel for the defendant in a two-week jury trial resulting in complete defense verdict in $60 million lease dispute.
• Oversee and conduct pay equity audits.
• Trial counsel for publicly traded semi-conductor and components manufacturer in its chapter 11 proceedings, culminating in its successful reorganization and $100 million section 1145 exempt rights offering.
• Trial counsel for City of Glendale, Arizona as the largest creditor and owner of the arena in the chapter 11 proceedings for the NHL’s Phoenix Coyotes hockey franchise, resulting in the team staying in Glendale.
• Trial counsel for national energy services company in successful defense of multi-million dollar action arising out of the construction of a co-generation power plant owned by the State of Rhode Island.
• Served as court-appointed attorney to investigate potential claims against former officers and directors of company in highly contested bankruptcy proceedings in federal court.
• Successfully negotiated the resolution of an adversary proceeding alleging violations of state and federal WARN Acts on behalf of putative class.

Honors & Awards

• Selected as “Client Service All-Star” by the BTI Consulting Group, 2018
• National Association of Professional Women, Woman of the Year Circle, 2014
• Top Women of Law, Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly, 2012
• Temple University Athletics Hall of Fame, 2012
• M. Robert Dushman Public Interest Award, 2011
• Selected for Boston’s Future Leaders Program by Boston Chamber of Commerce, 2006
• Selected as “Rising Star” by Super Lawyers®, 2005

Professional Activities

• International Labor and Employment Conference, Cambridge, UK (2008, 2009, 2011, 2015)

  US representative on global panel of labor and employment attorneys. Topics include US employment law basics and emerging issues in US employment law.
• MIT Sloan School of Management, Cambridge, MA (2015)
  Presenter - MIT Entrepreneurship and Innovation MBA Program, Employment Law Pitfalls
• Massachusetts Continuing Legal Education, Boston, MA 
  Presenter - Pretrial Preparation?  (2012) 
  Presenter - Countdown to Trial  (2013)
• Member, American Bar Association
• Member, Boston Bar Association
• Member, Society for Human Resource Management
• Member, National Association of Professional Women

Community Activities

• Currently serve as Trustee, Member of Executive Committee and Chair of Safety Committee, Thompson Island Outward Bound Education Center
• Currently serve on Hingham Congregational Church Board of Education
• Mock Trial Coach, Hingham High School, 2015-2016
• Past President of Brown Rudnick Charitable Foundation 

News

Seminars & Speaking Engagements

• State, National and Global Pay Audits: Assessing Risk and Developing a Plan of Action
  2018 ILG National Conference, Anaheim, CA
  July 31, 2018
• The Current Landscape: The Silence Breakers, Pay Equity & Creating Change
  Women in Law and Leadership Summit, Boston, MA
  May 16, 2018
• Breaking the Glass Ceiling: The Evolving Pay Equity Landscape
  2018 SHRM Talent Conference & Exposition, Las Vegas, NV
  April 17, 2018 
• Women in Law and Leadership Summit, Boston, MA
  (November 16, 2017) Pay Equity in Law
• International Labor and Employment Conference, Cambridge, UK (September 2008, December 2009, September 2011, December 2015) US representative on global panel of labor and employment attorneys. Topics include US employment law basics and emerging issues in US employment law
• MIT Sloan School of Management, Cambridge, MA
  (November 2015) MIT Entrepreneurship and Innovation MBA Program, Legal Pitfalls for Start-ups, employment law.
• Massachusetts Continuing Legal Education, Boston, MA
  (May 2012) Pretrial Preparation?
  (July 2013) Countdown to Trial

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