Wendy F. Klein, a Member in the Litigation, Employment, and Tax, Trust & Estates Departments, is a trusted business advisor who represents entities and individuals in all aspects of business disputes, including contract, employment and shareholder litigation, as well as in substantial trust and estate matters.

Experience

Wendy is deputy chair of the Litigation Department and has served on the firm’s Executive Committee. Wendy advocates on behalf of her clients in New Jersey and New York state and federal courts, as well as in private and FINRA arbitrations and mediations, including in complex commercial, discrimination, restrictive covenant, partnership, bankruptcy, fiduciary liability, professional negligence and will contest cases. Wendy also has a significant appellate practice and has argued before the New Jersey Supreme Court, the New Jersey and New York Appellate Divisions, and the New Jersey Disciplinary Review Board. The New Jersey Superior Court frequently has appointed her in difficult cases to act as counsel, discovery master, or mediator.

Representative Matters

Wendy has successfully represented and advised a wide range of clients, including:

• A controlling shareholder defending against claims of minority shareholder oppression in a closely-held corporation
• A law firm and its corporate partner who were sued for legal malpractice allegedly stemming from a buyout transaction of one shareholder by the other
• An attorney facing disbarment for alleged misappropriation of trust funds
• Partners seeking damages and dissolution of family-owned general and limited partnerships
• A defense contractor from which a business partner was seeking substantial commissions
• A commercial employer accused of sexual harassment and discrimination
• An attorney who served as a trustee and business advisor whom beneficiaries claimed had breached his fiduciary duties in administering trusts
• Multiple entities in bankruptcy adversary proceedings
• A business owner being impersonated and defamed over social media
• Commercial tenants enforcing a lease option to purchase the property
• A financial services employer recovering valuable business assets taken by departing employees to establish a competing business
• A surety the project owner sought to hold responsible for correction of construction defects
• An employer alleged to be paying discriminatory compensation
• Family members invalidating gifts and estate documents as the product of undue influence
• A commercial employer enforcing common law and contractual restrictions against unfair competition
• Homeowners disputing the insufficient compensation provided to them when their property was taken by eminent domain
• Principals of a construction company whom subcontractors were seeking to hold personally liable for payments owed

Networks & Affiliations

Wendy was recently named to the governing Board of the Law Firm Alliance, a network of national and international firms of which Cole Schotz is a member.  She served on the Bergen County Ethics and Fee Arbitration Committees and on the Nominating Committee for the Bergen County Bar Association. She is a Trustee of the New Jersey Women Lawyers Association and co-chair of its Endorsements Committee. She also was a barrister in the Sidney Reitman Employment Law American Inn of Court. She speaks regularly on shareholder and LLC disputes and has served on panels with current and former Chancery Division judges regarding issues arising in LLC disputes. Wendy has written for various publications on employment and commercial law, including co-authoring chapters on franchise litigation and discovery practice. She also was a guest lecturer at Seton Hall Law School.