Featured Win

389% Increase & $1.14M Cash Settlement In Equity Dispute

In September 2025, the Firm was retained by a founding engineer facing wrongful termination and a CEO's attempt to claw back $233,000 in vested equity—just 72 hours before the company’s scheduled $10 million merger.

We swiftly intervened and previewed an emergency Temporary Restraining Order (TRO) to halt the merger, a Motion for Declaratory Judgment to expose the CEO’s overreach publicly, and a Standstill Agreement acknowledging cap table irregularities.

By design, this combination forced the CEO into a high-stakes dilemma: risk the transaction, face post-merger litigation, or quietly rectify the equity issue before closing. The CEO attempted to settle the matter by offering $250,000 and then $500,000, despite previously claiming entitlement to the shares outright. We rejected the offers and signaled preparedness to file suit. The CEO relented the weekend before the merger and agreed to issuing the client their allocation of 1,000,000 shares resulting in a cash payment of $1,140,000 at closing.

Case Study

  • We advise founders, executives, and growth-stage companies in high-stakes commercial disputes involving contract breaches, business torts, fraud, compensation disputes, equity clawbacks, and other conflicts arising from complex business relationships. 

    Often parachuting into volatile environments, we’ve handled fast-moving corporate disputes of all types:

    • Partnership Break-ups & Equity Disputes: Defending against hostile squeeze-outs, improper share dilutions, and disputed vesting schedules.

    • Complex Labor & Executive Employment: High-stakes executive severance packages, deferred compensation disputes, non-competes/NDAs, and SDNY federal employment actions.

    • High-Value Breach of Contract: Critical vendor or supply-chain failures, corporate governance disputes, and pre-merger transactional breaches.

    • Tech & IP Friction: Software licensing disputes, trade secret protection, digital contract breaches, and corporate internet law matters.

    • Consumer Protection & Regulatory Defense: Insulating growth companies and online retailers from aggressive class actions and compliance claims.

  • Our client roster consists exclusively of high-net-worth individuals, executives, and growth enterprises facing critical business threats:

    • Founders & C-Suite Officers: Business creators and corporate leaders navigating high-stakes severance, clawback defenses, or forced board departures.

    • Growth Startups & Mid-Market Enterprises: Established companies trapped in critical vendor, shareholder, or operational standoffs.

    • Private Equity & VC Groups: Institutional investors asserting rights, blocking bad-faith management actions, or protecting portfolio assets.

    • High-Profile Individuals: Executives, prominent public figures, and high-net-worth stakeholders in sensitive, high-value commercial disputes.

    • Prevented a $233,000 equity clawback against a client holding a 10% stake in an AI startup and secured a $1.14 million settlement during a $10 million merger with a publicly traded company—a $1.37 million swing achieved in seven days. The dispute involved an allegedly fabricated statement of work, altered vesting agreements, and backdated termination documents.

    • Represented Mary-Kate Olsen and Ashley Olsen in a confidential JAMS mediation involving putative class claims under the Fair Labor Standards Act and New York Labor Law and secured favorable settlement terms.

    • Achieved a six-figure settlement against La Victoria nightclub on behalf of multiple waitstaff plaintiffs alleging minimum-wage, overtime, and tip-credit violations.

    • Secured a $141,000 severance package for a mid-level analyst within 48 days—a 228% increase over the company’s initial $43,000 offer—after challenging a performance-based termination.

    • Resolved a 10-count California FEHA and retaliation lawsuit by reducing the plaintiff’s initial $100,000 demand by 70% and capping the client’s contribution at $30,000, with the co-defendant contributing the remaining 70%.

    • Converted a no-severance position into a $45,000 settlement within 12 days for the former Director of Premium Sales at Brooklyn Mirage, resolving disputed termination and compensation claims.

    • Obtained a temporary restraining order for a private equity firm against a competing bidder based on alleged misappropriation of proprietary deal materials and breach of a nondisclosure agreement arising from a failed acquisition process.

    • Secured voluntary dismissal of a California Invasion of Privacy Act trap-and-trace claim against an e-commerce platform with more than 100,000 subscribers, eliminating six-figure exposure and mandatory statutory attorneys’ fees without settlement, payment, or an appearance.

    • Reduced a multi-claim demand for a $300,000 recruiting fee to a single-claim filing seeking $60,000.

    • Negotiated settlement of a stale, two-year loan dispute for 125% of the outstanding principal, supported by a 250% default penalty and a release conditioned on full payment. The matter involved a high-risk Florida defendant facing multiple creditor suits and was resolved within 35 days.