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Mike Delikat

Partner

New York

Michael Delikat, a partner in the New York office, was the previous Chair of Orrick's Global Employment Law Practice for over twenty years.

He is also the founder of the firm’s Whistleblower Task Force. He previously served as the Managing Director of Orrick’s Litigation Division. The practice group under Mike’s leadership was chosen as one of the top national employment law practices by Law 360.

Chambers USA and Chambers Global has ranked him in Band 1 since it began publishing its rankings, noting he is "a giant of the employment bar, widely regarded as an expert in whistleblowing matters and sex harassment claims,” “sought out by premier clients to handle high-stakes employment litigation and investigations,” and "one of the best lawyers on the East Coast for financial institutions."

Mike has an active trial, arbitration, and appellate practice and handles a number of high-visibility class action and impact cases. He is regularly retained by boards of directors and audit committees to conduct high exposure internal investigations of corporate wrongdoing.

  • Mike is presently advising major public corporations and boards of directors on ESG, and in particular, DEI and Human Capital Management initiatives and disclosures. He also has an active practice representing a number of major corporations in the defense of federal and state whistleblower claims and is the coauthor of the only extensive treatise published on whistleblowing and internal investigations, Corporate Whistleblowing in the Sarbanes-Oxley/Dodd-Frank Era.

    Mike is published and quoted frequently on a variety of employment law issues in major academic and business publications, including the Harvard Law School Forum on Corporate Governance, and is a frequent speaker at national and international programs. He is the outgoing management chair of the ABA International Employment Law Committee.

  • Representative clients:

    • AllianceBernstein. Mike has represented this client on multiple matters in court and in arbitration, including a successful defense of an ERISA class action.
    • TIAA. Mike has represented this client in a number of sensitive internal investigation and whistleblower claims and is currently advising them on ESG matters.
    • Facebook. Mike created a single contact point solution for all of this client’s employment law needs outside the United States, which now is managed through Orrick’s unique Global HR Solutions platform.
    • PG&E Corporation. Mike obtained a complete defense verdict in a jury trial brought in the Maryland state court seeking to hold PG&E liable for multimillion dollar bonuses claimed by energy traders.
    • Carrols Corporation. Mike successfully represented Carrols Corporation, the largest holder of Burger King franchises, in the largest pattern and practice systemic class action for sexual harassment ever brought by the EEOC in EEOC v. Carrols.
    • Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association. This client regularly looks to Mike for representation in filing amicus briefs on issues of paramount importance to SIFMA and its members.
    • Microsoft. Mike regularly advises this client on matters involving the enforcement of post-employment restrictions and restrictive covenants.
    • Citigroup. Mike regularly represents this client on a variety of employment disputes.
    • AIG Corporation. The Board of Directors of this company retained Mike to conduct a high-profile internal investigation of one of its senior executives.
    • Wyeth/Pfizer. Mike successfully defended Wyeth in a two-week jury trial in federal court alleging race discrimination. He also represented this client on several Sarbanes-Oxley whistleblower matters, including the successful defense of Livingston v. Wyeth, which was the first U.S. Court of Appeals decision on what constitutes protected activity under the whistleblower provisions of SOX.
    • Oracle. Mike represented Oracle in multiple litigations, including a preliminary injunction trial involving efforts by a competitor to enforce its noncompete agreements.
    • Roche. Mike successfully represented Roche in several wage-and-hour collective actions which challenged the classification of pharmaceutical representatives as exempt from the overtime provisions of the Fair Labor Standards Act.
    • Moody’s Investors Service. Mike defended Moody’s in a 400-plaintiff Title VII class action in the Southern District of New York alleging race and national origin discrimination in promotion.
    • Major Law Firm Representation. Mike represents a number of major law firms on a variety of matters relating to their partners, associates and staff. He obtained a seminal decision in Weir v. Holland & Knight, which held that law firm partners are not covered by statutory discrimination protections.
    • Time Warner, Inc. Mike obtained summary judgment on behalf of this client in a discrimination case brought by an in-house lawyer, affirmed on appeal by the Second Circuit, establishing the standard for retaliation claims in that Circuit.

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