Justin M. DiGennaro

Justin DiGennaro is Of Counsel in the New York office of Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher's Labor and Employment Practice Group.  Trusted by C-suite executives, boards of directors, and private investors, Justin serves as a thought partner to help them navigate their most complex employment challenges.  He seamlessly integrates legal, HR, and PR considerations to achieve creative and commercially sound solutions.

Justin focuses on high-stakes employee mobility disputes, including matters related to non-competes, non-solicitation agreements, and confidentiality restrictions.  His experience encompasses executive onboarding and departures, mass exoduses, workforce raids, client poaching, and trade secret misappropriation.  He frequently represents employers in single-plaintiff and class action litigation relating to discrimination, harassment, whistleblower retaliation, breach of contract, wage and hour disputes, and the WARN Act.

In addition to his litigation practice, Justin leads internal investigations into sensitive employment issues.  He regularly advises clients on high-risk executive terminations, large scale reductions-in-force, workforce restructurings, and the drafting of employment, consulting, retention, secondment, and separation agreements.

Superlawyers has recognized Justin as a “Rising Star” each year from 2017-2024.

Representative Experience:

• Secured a sweeping injunction on behalf of DraftKings against the former head of its VIP business prohibiting him from working in a competitive capacity, soliciting his former colleagues, or using or disclosing DraftKings’ trade secrets and confidential information (DraftKings Inc. v. Michael Hermalyn (D. Mass. 2024)).
• Obtained a comprehensive status quo order requiring the return of AlixPartners’ trade secrets from a former managing director and subsequently won a bench trial for trade secret misappropriation (AlixPartners, LLP et al. v. Mori (Del. Ch. 2021)).
• Successfully defended JLT and several recently-hired senior executives against allegations by their former employer that the senior executives breached their customer and employee non solicitation restrictions.  (Aon plc et al. v. JLT Specialty Ins. Servs., Inc. et al. (Ill. Ch. 2016)).
• Settled allegations of gender discrimination and hostile work environment made by a partner and vice president against a global bank on favorable terms.
• Negotiated claims with a trio of former executives of a major manufacturing company concerning substantial severance benefits under their change-in-control agreements.
• Successfully defended technology company GiveSmart, owned by Community Brands, in a wage and hour class action alleging numerous violations of the California Labor Code.
• Narrowed the size of the putative class of employees in an action against the estate of the former nuclear power services company, Westinghouse, in connection with WARN Act litigation arising out of the company’s shutdown of a power plant construction project.

Prior to joining Gibson Dunn, Justin was Counsel in the Employment Litigation Practice Group of another highly-ranked international law firm.

Justin received his J.D. from Columbia Law School in 2015, where he was a two-time James Kent Scholar, and winner of the Lawrence S. Greenbaum Prize for the Best Oral Presentation in the Final Arguments of the Harlan Fiske Stone Moot Court Competition.  Justin also prosecuted domestic violence offenders for the Queens District Attorney, worked as a summer intern to the Honorable Joseph F. Bianco in the Eastern District of New York (who has since risen to the Second Circuit), served as the Notes and Case Notes Editor for the Columbia Journal of European Law, and volunteered as a Moot Court Judge.  Justin graduated from Cornell University in 2012, where he earned placement on the Dean’s list.

Justin is dedicated to his robust pro bono practice, representing numerous non-profits that provide support and services to domestic violence survivors and underprivileged students.

Capabilities

• Labor and Employment
• Appellate and Constitutional Law
• Class Actions
• Crisis Management
• Executive Compensation and Employee Benefits
• Financial Institutions
• Litigation
• Media, Entertainment, and Technology

Credentials

Education:

• Columbia University - 2015 Juris Doctor
• Cornell University - 2012 Bachelor of Arts

Admissions:

• New Jersey Bar
• New York Bar