Paula K. Colbath

Paula Colbath concentrates her practice on complex commercial litigation in state and federal courts, and arbitration, with an emphasis on securities, business torts, life insurance, trust and estates and Hatch-Waxman patent litigation. She has broad courtroom experience, including hearings, trials and appellate arguments.

Paula has represented a broad spectrum of clients including financial institutions, hedge funds, life insurance consulting firms, pharmaceutical companies, advertising and public relations firms, and numerous other companies ranging from Fortune 500 companies to closely held businesses and senior executives. She has represented both plaintiffs and defendants from the initial investigation stage, through discovery, trial, appellate and post-judgment enforcement proceedings.

She has been involved in numerous securities-related matters involving securities fraud, control person liability, stock appraisals, as well as defending companies and officers and directors in shareholder class actions and derivative lawsuits.

She has been active in investigations by the SEC, IRS, Department of Justice, U.S. Food and Drug Administration, U.S. Department of Commerce, Bureau of Industry and Security, New York State Department of Insurance and other regulatory agencies, as well as conducting internal investigations for clients. During law school, Paula worked for the Kings County District Attorney’s Office.

Paula has been involved in numerous lawsuits and disputes involving recourse and non-recourse life insurance transactions. Her matters have involved issues relating to insurable interest, split dollar strategies, transfers of beneficial interests in insurance trusts, contestability period investigations, and death claim disputes.

She also has an active trust and estates litigation practice. Her practice focuses on the representation of corporate and individual fiduciaries and beneficiaries in numerous complex contested Surrogate’s Court proceedings, including both trials and hearings. Her matters have involved proceedings to defend or contest the validity of wills and determining inheritance rights throughout New York State. She has also been heavily involved in trust litigation including fiduciary litigation, fiduciary removal proceedings, and accounting proceedings.

She has also been heavily involved in Hatch-Waxman patent cases, representing Hoffmann-La Roche, Inc. and Genentech, Inc. against numerous generic drug companies.

Paula also has extensive experience in employment matters, including representing employers in employment disputes in federal and state courts and before administrative agencies, such as the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and the New York State Division of Human Rights. She has litigated cases involving restrictive covenants, trade secret and duty of loyalty matters, as well as under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964; the Age Discrimination in Employment Act; the Americans with Disabilities Act; the Family and Medical Leave Act; the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002; the Employee Retirement Income Security Act; the Fair Labor Standards Act; the Equal Pay Act; the New York State and City Human Rights Law and numerous other federal, state and local employment laws.

Her experience also includes developing employment manuals, personnel policies, and procedures; counselling on matters relating to executive compensation, wrongful discharge, whistleblowing, workplace restructurings, reductions-in-force; corporate acquisitions, employee testing, and privacy; classification/independent contractor issues, wage-hour compliance, and employment-related torts (e.g., defamation, negligent hiring, negligent supervision, fraudulent references); conducting sexual harassment investigations and training; and negotiating and drafting employment contracts.