THOMPSON WIGDOR & GILLY LLP

Kate Webber is a Partner at Thompson Wigdor & Gilly LLP. Ms. Webber is an experienced employment litigator who represents both management clients and individuals. Her experience includes representing executives in high profile discrimination lawsuits, both individually and on a class-wide basis. For example, Ms. Webber represented the Controller of a recruiting firm in a racial and sexual harassment case in the Southern District of New York, resulting in a $1.2 million jury verdict in the client's favor.

Other significant cases include:

• a proposed class action on behalf of the former Chief Internal Auditor of Sojitz Corporation of America alleging claims of race and national origin discrimination and retaliation;
• an alleged gender discrimination class action complaint against Dresdner Kleinwort;
• a sexual orientation discrimination lawsuit against a private equity fund; and
• numerous gender discrimination cases on behalf of high-level female executives in the financial industry.

Ms. Webber has extensive experience bringing race and national origin discrimination claims against U.S. subsidiaries of Japanese companies as well as litigating pattern and practice gender discrimination claims for unequal pay and failure to promote. Ms. Webber also frequently represents executives in negotiating and drafting employment or severance agreements.

Ms. Webber's management-side practice includes providing companies of all sizes strategic legal advice on employment-related best practices, liability avoidance, EEO/harassment training and diversity. She has substantial experience in drafting employment policies, including employee handbooks as well as equal employment opportunity, sexual harassment, FLSA and OSHA policies. She has educated and trained executive employees on such topics as sexual harassment, employee discipline and terminations. Ms. Webber has also represented management clients in employment-related litigation, including participating in the successful defense of a major international energy company in the federal trial of a disability discrimination claim.

Ms. Webber's substantive experience includes a broad range of employment subjects including: discrimination claims based on disability, age, race, national origin, pregnancy, sexual orientation and gender, as well as sexual harassment, breach of contract, breach of restrictive covenant, ERISA-related and wrongful discharge claims. Ms. Webber has appeared on CNBC, Oprah and Friends Radio to comment regarding issues of gender discrimination and has served on a number of committees of the Association of the Bar of the City of New York, including the Committee on Sex and the Law which focuses on the impact of federal, state and local law on issues of gender and sexual orientation, the Committee on Women in the Profession and a liaison to the Diversity Committee.

Ms. Webber also has substantial experience in e-discovery having litigated numerous electronic production disputes before federal courts as well as advising management clients on litigation holds and document preservation policies.

Ms. Webber is a 1998 graduate of the University of Pennsylvania Law School where she served on the Moot Court Board and as an Executive Editor of the Journal of International Economic Law and also received the Samuel F. Pryor Award for Most Distinguished Comment for her note, published Fall 1997. Ms. Webber received a B.A. in Political Science, cum laude, from Tufts University in 1995.

Prior to joining Thompson Wigdor & Gilly LLP, Ms. Webber worked at two highly regarded New York law firms, including Proskauer Rose LLP, on a variety of employment-related matters and, among other experiences: appeared before a number of federal and state courts on behalf of a major financial institution to enforce their employees' restrictive covenants and conducted on-site EEO audits. Ms. Webber also has experience in general commercial litigation including representing shareholders in securities fraud actions, representing creditors, creditors' committees, and equity committees in major Chapter 11 Bankruptcy proceedings as well as representing businesses in a broad range general commercial disputes.

Ms. Webber is admitted in New York State and the U.S. District Courts for the Southern, Eastern and Northern Districts of New York. She has appeared before numerous federal and state courts and has represented clients in matters before the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, FINRA (formerly the NASD) and the New York State Division of Human Rights. She is a member of the National Association of Female Executives ("NAFE"), the National Association of Women Business Owners ("NAWBO"), the American Bar Association, and the New York State and City Bar Associations. Ms. Webber is also a member of the board of directors of A Better Balance, a non-profit organization dedicated to promoting equality and expanding choices for men and women at all income levels so that they may care for their families without sacrificing their economic security.