Cheryl Pinarchick is a member of the firm’s Essential Business Taskforce developed in response to the COVID-19 coronavirus crisis. The group is dedicated to assisting businesses impacted by shelter-in-place or shutdown orders, ensuring their doors stay open where possible in the face of government orders.

Additionally, Cheryl is a member of the firm’s SBA Loan Team, dedicated to advising employers on the inner workings of the complex CARES Act loan process during the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic.

Cheryl Pinarchick is the managing partner of the firm's Boston office and co-chair of the Pay Equity Practice Group.

Cheryl has extensive experience handling all aspects of employment litigation, including trials in state and federal court throughout the United States. She has successfully defended employment lawsuits alleging wrongful termination, employment discrimination and 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 has a sophisticated wage and hour practice and has obtained favorable outcomes for client in wage and hour matters, including class and collective actions arising under the Fair Labor Standards Act and various state laws.

Cheryl routinely counsels U.S. and foreign-based companies on compliance with employment laws and litigation avoidance. Her clients include public and private companies in a variety of industries, including financial services, biotech, government relations and emerging technologies.

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

• Obtained summary judgment in multi-million dollar wage and hour case on behalf of an emerging technology company.
• Obtained the dismissals of numerous discrimination and retaliation cases against national fitness chain.
• Directed and conducted pay equity audits for employers of various sizes across multiple industries.
• Successfully represented international research and development company in connection with pay equity investigation by the Massachusetts Attorney General.
• Trial counsel for the defendant in a two-week jury trial resulting in complete defense verdict in $60 million lease dispute.
• 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

• 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
• 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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