Steven Kayman joined Rottenberg Lipman Rich in 2022 after practicing for 40 years, more than 30 as a Partner, at Proskauer Rose, a leading international law firm. As the exemplary representations set forth below illustrate, Steve has had extensive experience litigating disputes in a diverse array of areas, including securities, bankruptcies and workouts, real estate, employment, contracts, and business break-ups. His clients have included major banks, insurance companies, hedge, and private equity firms, other financial institutions, leading consulting firms, technology companies, and media and entertainment firms, as well as the individuals who lead these businesses.

Steve’s particular area of expertise is intellectual property litigation, with a focus on disputes involving non-competes, trade secrets, and the movement of employees from one company to a competitor. Steve founded Proskauer’s Non-Compete & Trade Secrets Group and headed it for many years. Since 2016, he has been an Adjunct Professor at Brooklyn Law School, teaching a class on trade secrets. He has written extensively about trade secrets and non-competes, and has participated in and moderated many programs on those subjects.

Steve has practiced before federal and state courts in New York and other jurisdictions, doing both trial and appellate work. He has also had extensive experience with alternative dispute resolution proceedings before the AAA, JAMS, the SEC, the ITC, the NYSE, the NASD, mediators, and “rent-a-judges.”

Steve has also been active in bar association affairs and court reform efforts. He is currently chairing the NYC Bar Association’s Efficiency Working Group, which is dedicated to improving the efficiency of New York’s and America’s judicial systems. Steve believes that our laws and legal systems have become too complicated and larded with procedural requirements that were well-intentioned but disastrous in practice. As a result, it takes too long and costs too much money to obtain justice in our courts. Of course, material changes in the administration of justice are not going to happen overnight. In the meantime, for clients, Steve prides himself on being practical and, whenever possible, tries to keep his clients out of litigation. When that is not possible, he believes the exercise of good judgment, honed through years of experience, is critical to achieving favorable outcomes efficiently.

• Exemplary Representations

On behalf of his clients, Steve has successfully:

• Secured an ex parte seizure order for Magnetar Capital, a leading alternative asset manager, against a former employee who misappropriated one of the client’s most valuable trading programs. This is only one of a handful of times, nationwide, that a court has granted an ex parte seizure, the most drastic relief available in a civil case, since the enactment of the federal trade secret statute in 2016.
• Represented Sompo International/Endurance in defending a case brought by Chubb after it was acquired by ACE and 20 executives left it to join Sompo.
• Achieved a $125 million settlement recovery for a leading professional services company client in a misappropriation of trade secrets case.
• Led the defense of two executives and a leading consulting firm in a trade secret/non-compete case involving issues of Chinese and Hong Kong law. The case settled after expedited discovery and two days of trial in Delaware Chancery Court.
• Represented Ipsos, a leading global market research and consulting firm, in numerous litigation and advisory matters, mostly involving the onboarding and outboarding of employees and disputes with business partners.
• Assisted a global money management firm in recruiting and hiring from a competitor more than 20 professionals located in multiple domestic and foreign jurisdictions. The recruitment was accomplished without litigation and resulted in an important diversification of the client’s product offerings.
• Represented the Jones Group and Nine West in a case involving three senior executives who joined Kenneth Cole, allegedly in violation of contractual and common-law duties.
• Enforced a non-compete against a top executive of a major title insurance company. The Second Circuit’s decision in the case, Ticor Title Ins. v. Cohen, 173 F. 2d 63 (1999), is one of the most cited non-compete cases in New York.
• Represented McGraw-Hill Financial in enforcing a non-compete against a senior executive hired by Bloomberg L.P.
• Assisted a Fortune 500 client in hiring a new CEO who was subject to a non-compete with an even larger company, without litigation and after only a short “cooling-off” period.
• Collected $100 million for an NYSE-listed movie company that filed for bankruptcy after a bank made, and then withdrew, a commitment to establish a credit facility for the client.
• Served as lead litigation counsel in the bankruptcy of Lone Star Cement, an NYSE-listed construction materials company, and fought off an attempt by the equity holders to maintain ownership of the company by overvaluing its assets and business prospects.
• Represented Oracle Corporation in defending a trade secret claim arising from a failed joint venture.
• Secured an appellate ruling that reversed previous New York law limiting an insurance company’s exposure to the face amount of the policy it breached, even if the damage far exceeded that amount. The case, Sabbeth Industries v. Pennsylvania Lumberman’s, 238 A.D. 2d 767 (3d Dep’t 1997), later played an important role in Proskauer’s representation of Larry Silverstein in litigation arising from the 9/11 terrorist attack on the World Trade Center.
• Served as lead counsel for L-3 Communications in a four-week jury trial resulting from the acquisition of a security detection business. A verdict in favor of the plaintiff, OSI Systems, was later reversed by the Second Circuit, which ruled in favor of L-3 on almost precisely the theory Steve had advanced on summary judgment before the trial court.
• Represented Green Dot, a leading prepaid debit card company, in litigation with Sallie Mae, the education finance company, arising from a joint venture to offer Green Dot’s debit cards to college students.
• Represented Analog Devices in a trial before the ITC involving claims by Knowles Electronics that Analog’s microphones for use in cellphones and other electronic devices infringed patents held by Knowles.
• Represented Radiancy, maker of the highly successful no! no! hair removal device, in patent infringement litigation against Viatek Consumer Products Group and in unfair competition litigation against Tria Beauty.
• Represented Avis in unfair competition and false advertising cases against Hertz. A decision by a New York appellate court in one of those cases helped establish the principle under New York law that a plaintiff in an unfair competition case can generally recover only its own lost profits rather than the defendant’s gain.
• Represented a major entertainment company in preventing an on-air personality from launching a competitive program for another television company while subject to an exclusivity agreement with the client.
• Represented a hedge fund in defending six years of investigation by the SEC, including responses to two Wells notices. No charges were ever brought against the client.
• MEMBERSHIPS
• Chair, New York City Bar Efficiency Working Group, 2018-Present
• Leadership Council, Convergence Center for Policy Resolution, 2015-Present
• Chair, New York City Bar, Council on Judicial Administration, 2013-16; Member, 2008-Present
• Chair, New York City Bar Rules Joint Subcommittee, 2016-19
• Chair of New York City Bar Task Force and principal author of report aimed at protecting sensitive personal information in New York State court filings, 2008-11. The report led to the promulgation of a statewide rule in New York requiring the redaction of sensitive information from court filings.
• Chair, New York City Bar Task Force on Residential Mortgage Foreclosures, 2011-13
• Trinity College Board of Fellows, 2012-15
• New York City Bar, Federal Courts Committee, 2006-08
• New York City Bar, Judiciary Committee, 1996-2000
• New York City Bar, State Courts of Superior Jurisdiction Committee, 1989-92
• New York City Bar, Civil Court of the City of New York Committee, 1985-88
• New York City Bar, Young Lawyers Committee, 1982-85
• AWARDS & RECOGNITION
• Martindale AV Rated
• The Legal 500 United States: Litigation: Trade Secrets 2008, 2011, 2013-14, 2017-18, 2020-21
• The Legal 500 United States: Labor & Employment: Employee Mobility 2007
• New York Super Lawyers 2006-21
• Outstanding Pro Bono Service Award, Legal Aid Society, 2009
• GOVERNMENT AND EDUCATION SERVICE
• Adjunct Professor, Brooklyn Law School, 2016 – Present
• Counsel, Joint Committee on Judicial Administration, appointed by the Chief Judge and Governor of the State of New York, 1985-86
• Arbitrator, Small Claims Court, Civil Court of the City of New York
• Lead sponsor, Adopt-A-Company-Program, an initiative of the New York City Small Business Administration to assist small downtown businesses in the aftermath of the 9/11 terrorist attack