Joseph Gallagher

Joe represents senior financial services executives and other professionals, as well as companies, partnerships, and startups in a wide variety of matters nationwide.

His employment practice includes high-profile compensation and non-compete disputes in arbitration, litigation and other dispute resolution forums. Joe has helped clients hold employers accountable for unpaid compensation and advises both individual professionals and companies in resolving sensitive and highly contested claims.

In Joe’s diverse business litigation history, he has recovered millions lost in fraud schemes, defended securities class actions arising from bank failures, and prosecuted complex contractual disputes. He also leads internal investigations and represents whistleblowers before the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, guiding clients through some of their most consequential legal challenges.

Prior to joining the firm, he practiced at Davis Polk & Wardwell LLP and Freshfields US LLP.

Notable Matters

Employment Disputes

• Represented more than 40 former Buzzfeed employees in arbitration related to the company’s 2021 IPO, and defeated Buzzfeed’s efforts in the Delaware Court of Chancery to block that arbitration. (Buzzfeed Media Enterprises Inc. v. Anderson et al., C.A. No. 2023-0377)
• Represented several former members of Signature Bank’s digital assets group in litigation against the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) to recover millions in unpaid compensation from the bank’s receivership estate; defeated the FDIC’s motion to dismiss. (Seibert et al. v. FDIC, No. 24-cv-427).
• Represented a well-known activist investor in arbitration against his former business partner over significant breakup payments.
• Regularly advises a national roster of professionals and companies in litigation and negotiations involving alleged breaches of non-compete agreements.

Commercial and Civil Litigation

• Represented a U.K.-based defense contractor in Delaware litigation against a U.S.-based technology company — one of its key suppliers — over alleged breaches of an exclusive reseller agreement and other contractual covenants.
• Represented the City of Portland in recovering $6.75 million stolen through a sophisticated fraud scheme.
• Successfully represented defendant in a now dismissed class action arising out of the fall of Signature Bank, which alleged billions of dollars of damages under the federal securities laws.
• Represented trustee of an entity alleged to have facilitated a multi-million-dollar fraud, which was resolved via confidential settlement after the filing of our motion for summary judgment.

White Collar Engagements

• Leading an internal investigation on behalf of a broker-dealer alleged to have engaged in improper bond trading.
• Advising clients in confidential government investigations involving the Bank Secrecy Act, Anti-Money Laundering Act and sanctions compliance.
• Advised the court-appointed monitor for a leading money services business on compliance issues related to transaction monitoring and fraud prevention.*
• Representing whistleblowers before the U.S. Securities & Exchange Commission.

*Matter handled during tenure at a prior firm