HOLLIS GONERKA BART LLP

Hollis Gonerka Bart has 30 years' experience providing advice and counsel to an international clientele, primarily in the retail, consumer, financial services, healthcare, non-profit, and arts and entertainment industries. Known for her judgment and highly strategic approach to problem-solving, Ms. Bart has become a trusted advisor to many long-standing clients for whom she has helped attain goal-driven results and risk-managed approaches to their legal issues.  In that capacity, she serves as general outside counsel to businesses and non-profit organizations.

She has routinely counseled international brands, family offices, and private companies on best practices for identifying and hiring employees, contractors and domestic staff in a way that complies with the complexities of federal, state and local laws, including record-retention requirements, management training sessions, contractor classifications, and overtime exemptions and other wage act issues. When an employment relationship needs to end, Ms. Bart works with clients to document and conduct planned termination meetings in order to manage risk and discourage the assertion of discrimination and other wrongful termination claims. Where an amicable departure is not possible, Ms. Bart has a proven track record for the successful defense of race, gender, age, sexual orientation, national origin and religious discrimination claims, as well as claims brought under the Family Medical Leave Act, Americans with Disabilities Act, the Age Discrimination Act, and related state law claims. 

Ms. Bart is also an experienced negotiator of complex employment documentation and separation packages for top-tier executives, including equity grants, long-term incentive and deferred compensation plans, phantom ownership interests and carried interests, and in the development of exit strategies for managing risks associated with restrictive covenants and confidentiality restraints.

For clients whose profile demands privacy, Ms. Bart has developed protocols and confidentiality restraints for employees, contractors and domestic staff that are tailored to protect individuals and their businesses against unauthorized disclosure of details regarding confidential business and personal information.

Ms. Bart frequently counsels clients and intermediaries on identifying and addressing potential conflicts of interest, setting up mechanisms designed to preserve important privileges to facilitate protected dialogue on issues of importance, and providing corporate governance advice.

To help clients manage the risk of potential disputes, Ms. Bart is experienced in developing preemptive strategies designed to keep clients out of the public eye of court proceedings. For clients faced with the risk of unwanted press or social media attacks, Ms. Bart is adept at deploying strategies designed to manage reputations and rights of privacy, including the successful take-down of offending webpages, news articles and social media blogs.

Should litigation become necessary to protect a client’s interests, Ms. Bart has appeared in federal and state trial and appellate courts around the country in a wide range of business litigation, employment, art and intellectual property matters.  She also has represented clients in parallel proceedings before the Securities & Exchange Commission, FINRA and the Federal Reserve Bank, and in investigations by the New York and Connecticut Attorney General Offices and other regulatory agencies, such as the Department of Labor and related state agencies. Ms. Bart is known as a tenacious, resourceful advocate, who is skilled at developing and implementing a strategic, result-oriented approach, either in court or through alternative dispute mechanisms. For this reason, Ms. Bart is often asked to provide a second opinion in difficult cases and to provide “shadow” counsel in complex proceedings as a way of maximizing her client’s rights and defensive positions. She also is experienced in managing domestic and international litigations, through the thoughtful coordination and oversight of local counsel.