Katie Erno is an associate in Crowell & Moring’s Labor & Employment Group. Katie represents companies in a wide range of complex commercial disputes, with a focus on employment litigation and counseling.
Specifically, Katie litigates a variety of wage and hour claims, class actions, discrimination and harassment claims, shareholder disputes, and issues related to corporate governance. She has deep experience in all stages of litigation, from drafting and challenging complaints, fact and expert discovery, drafting and arguing discovery and dispositive motions, trial, and appeals. Her cases range from single-plaintiff disputes to class actions and complex litigation involving large liability exposure in the context of high-profile bankruptcies. Katie enjoys learning the intricacies of her clients’ businesses and tailors her litigation approach with her clients’ ultimate business objectives in mind.
On the counseling side, Katie routinely investigates and advises clients on a variety of pre-litigation employment-related issues, including wage and hour and discrimination and harassment complaints, employee discipline and termination, employment policies and practices, employee mobility, and non-competition issues. Katie works with employers to build compliant and defensible practices in the first instance so that they can avoid litigation whenever possible.
Katie graduated cum laude from New York University School of Law in 2009. She graduated cum laude from Boston College in 2004, earning her B.A. in Hispanic Studies and Communications.
Representative Matters
- Ramirez v. Guzman Brothers, Inc. (Cal. Sup. Ct. 2015) – Successfully defeated class certification on behalf of Guzman Brothers, Inc., owner/operator of a Mexican restaurant, against wage and hour claims brought by former employee Miguel Ramirez and “others similarly situated.”
- Successfully defended one of the largest providers of on-site auto-repair services in the San Francisco Bay Area against discrimination and related claims brought by former employee.
- Bettina Whyte, as Trustee for the SemGroup Litigation Trust v. PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP (Okla. Dist. Ct.)—Represented the Trustee of the SemGroup Litigation Trust in a suit brought against PricewaterhouseCoopers, LLP related to PricewaterhouseCoopers' breach of its professional and fiduciary duties that resulted in the multi-billion dollar collapse of SemGroup, a midstream oil company in Oklahoma. Plaintiff successfully remanded the case back to state court, survived a motion to dismiss, and defeated several key summary judgment motions. The case settled shortly before trial.
- Dr. Bondi, Extraordinary Commissioner of Parmalat S.p.A. v. Grant Thornton LLP (2d Cir.)—Represented Extraordinary Commissioner of Parmalat S.p.A., the Italian dairy and food products conglomerate, in a lawsuit against various Grant Thornton entities arising out of one of the largest bankruptcies in European history. Plaintiff successfully challenged federal jurisdiction in the Second Circuit Court of Appeals, which resulted in an order vacating an adverse summary judgment decision.
Affiliations
Admitted to practice: California, District of Columbia
Professional Memberships
- Member, Women’s Bar Association of the District of Columbia
Client Alerts & Newsletters
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"New York State Releases Final Guidance On Legislation Aimed At Preventing Sexual Harassment,"
Labor & Employment Law Alert - US
(October 5, 2018).
Contacts: Ellen Moran Dwyer, Thomas P. Gies, Trina Fairley Barlow, Ira M. Saxe, Katie Erno
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"New York State and New York City Pass Legislation Aimed At Preventing Sexual Harassment In The Workplace,"
Labor & Employment Law Alert - US
(April 24, 2018).
Contacts: Ellen Moran Dwyer, Ira M. Saxe, Katie Erno
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"Ninth Circuit Holds that Prior Salary Does Not Justify Pay Disparities,"
(April 16, 2018).
Contacts: Katie Erno, Kris D. Meade, Ira M. Saxe, Trina Fairley Barlow