NEW YORK – Katten Muchin Rosenman LLP is pleased to announce that Steven G. Eckhaus has joined the firm as a New York-based partner in its Financial Services Practice and chair of the Executive Employment Practice. Prior to joining Katten, Mr. Eckhaus was Managing Partner of McCarter & English LLP’s New York office, as well as a partner in its Corporate and Employment Law Practices.

Mr. Eckhaus is a negotiator, advisor and litigator with over 30 years of experience in the areas of executive compensation, employment law, investment management, corporate and securities law, real estate, dispute resolution and counseling. He has advised and negotiated employment agreements for hundreds of leading executives, particularly in the financial services industry. He has served as an owner's representative on the supervisory boards of several major New York City properties including the Empire State Building. Mr. Eckhaus has negotiated the purchase of a New York City office building for $152 million, directed a $57 million §1031 “like kind” exchange deferring $26 million in taxes from the sale of a New York hotel, and supervised a $21 million leasing transaction.

In litigation matters, Mr. Eckhaus successfully represented a mutual fund manager investigated by the SEC and New Jersey Department of Securities in the “Canary Capital” market timing investigation, and has also handled numerous trials and appeals involving significant public policy issues. Mr. Eckhaus was responsible for expanding the scope of protections for U.S. workers employed by foreign corporations in the 1998 Second Circuit case, Morelli v. Cedel, and for establishing the legal basis for emerging family responsibilities protections in Matter of Trezza, a 1998 case in the U.S. District Court, Southern District of New York.

A frequent public speaker, Mr. Eckhaus recently delivered keynote addresses on the subjects of incentive compensation and the subprime mortgage crisis at conferences in Shanghai and Guangzhou, China; moderated a panel discussion at the Financial Women’s Association on negotiating employment agreements; and addressed the AICPA/AAML on the topic “It’s Not Your Father’s Executive Compensation.” Mr. Eckhaus has also lectured in Washington and New York on employment law issues including ERISA, the Family and Medical Leave Act, the Americans with Disabilities Act, the Age Discrimination in Employment Act and Title VII, including the Pregnancy Discrimination Act.

Mr. Eckhaus earned his B.S. from Cornell University and his J.D. from Cornell Law School.

Katten’s Financial Services Practice represents a large number of the world’s premier hedge funds and money managers, major investment and commercial banks, leading firms and insurance companies, and several international exchanges. The firm’s more than 60 financial services attorneys regularly address the latest innovations in financial products and business strategy, along with the latest changes in the regulatory environment. This depth of experience – both with institutional users of the markets and financial intermediaries – allows the firm’s financial services attorneys to provide creative ideas while being responsive to the practice and economic needs of its clients.