Hoguet Newman Regal & Kenney continues to distinguish itself as a formidable force in its native New York as well as nationally. “They have some ‘Big Law’ credentials while having that kind of personal touch you can only get from boutiques,” declares a peer. Indeed, the firm’s founding partners do come equipped with experience from global juggernaut firm White & Case and have since forged ahead on building out this boutique with a high-touch approach. While the firm has some particularly strong niche areas – insurance and labor and employment, most notably – founding partners
Dorothea Regal and Fredric Newman have instilled a culture that welcomes work that one partner quips is “pike law – anything that comes down the pike.” Whereas Regal represents international and domestic clients at trial and on appeal in complex commercial and insurance coverage litigation, Newman dedicates his practice to commercial trial representation.
While Regal and Newman remain active in these matters, the torch is being passed to younger generations of talent at the firm.
Joshua Blosveren continues to develop in the role of emergent complex commercial litigation authority. Blosveren leads a team that represents Syngenta Crop Protection in an insurance coverage litigation filed by its primary and umbrella insurance companies in Delaware Superior Court seeking a declaratory judgment of no coverage for long-tail personal injury exposure claims made against Syngenta arising out of the manufacture and sale of Paraquat pesticide products by Syngenta and its predecessor companies. The basis for the insurers’ denial of coverage is that Syngenta’s notice of the claim was allegedly late and should have been noticed before the claim was filed against Syngenta. In August 2020, the Hoguet team secured Syngenta summary judgment on the threshold issue of the timing of the claim, which secured Syngenta $24 million in coverage. At the same time, the firm team defeated the insurance company’s pre-discovery motion for summary judgment, alleging that Syngenta made a misrepresentation in its application for insurance. A bench trial was held in October 2022 and in March 2023 – the court issued a post-trial decision that handed Syngenta a complete victory. The firm team behind this matter also included future stars
John Curley and Miriam Manber.
The firm’s labor and employment capacity is largely run by
Damian Cavaleri, who has an active docket of matters for a novel and varied roster of clients. Cavaleri and Manber represent a plaintiff who was prevented from accepting an executive position with Warner Media as a result of bad-faith threats from Verizon to enforce restrictive covenants. Verizon’s actions resulted in the client losing $12 million per the proposed employment agreement. Verizon also fraudulently induced the client to accept his offer with them previously based on promises concerning certain work that would be available. In March 2023, the trial court denied summary judgment on the claim related to Verizon’s bad-faith threats to enforce the restrictive covenant and the $12 million claim will proceed to trial. Manber also works with fellow future star Helene Hechtkopf on a labor and employment matter for MTA, a longtime mainstay client for the firm.
