Helene Hechtkopf focuses her practice on a wide range of litigation, in particular, employment, commercial, and construction. She has a long and impressive record of wins in litigation matters at the intersection of transportation and employment law. She has defended employment cases under a variety of state and federal statutes, including Title VII, the Americans with Disabilities Act, the Federal Railroad Safety Act, and the Federal Employers Liability Act. Her expertise spans race and gender discrimination, disability discrimination, and whistleblower laws.
As a first-chair litigator, she has become an advocate of choice for New York’s Metropolitan Transportation Authority, North America’s largest transportation network, as well as other public entities facing discrimination and retaliation claims. Helene represented Metro-North in a precedent-setting case, holding that employees must have a good faith belief that they would encounter a hazardous situation to refuse to work under the federal whistleblower laws. Helene’s civil rights and discrimination defense experience also encompasses class actions: she is currently defending New York City Transit and the MTA in a long-running class action alleging that frequent elevator outages violate the ADA, and in another class action alleging that New York City Transit Authority’s Transit Adjudication Bureau violated the civil rights of individuals who are issued summonses for violation of the subway rules by collecting their tax refunds when they fail to pay their fines.
Helene’s work extends well beyond railroad clients. For example, she defended the Albert Einstein College of Medicine in a federal lawsuit alleging disability discrimination. She also successfully led several confidential internal investigations for a state entity into employee allegations of sexual harassment by a coworker, gender discrimination, sexual orientation discrimination, and age discrimination.
Outside of her litigation work, Helene serves as the diversity chair for HNRK, a women-owned litigation boutique. In that capacity, Helene is helping her firm meet and exceed the commitments it made in becoming a signatory to the New York City Bar Association’s Statement of Diversity Principles, aimed at fostering more inclusive work environments. Helene is the Chair Elect of the prestigious Commercial & Federal Litigation Section of the New York Bar Association. She has presented and written on various litigation topics, including depositions of corporate entities under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 30(b)(6). In addition, she emerged as a thought leader on employment considerations surrounding the COVID-19 crisis, with national publications like The Wall Street Journal and SHRM turning to her for insights on issues including religious exemptions to vaccine mandates.
Helene has been recognized as a Rising Star (New York Law Journal), shortlisted for a Rising Star Award for Best in Litigation: General Commercial (Euromoney Legal Media Group), and named a Woman Worth Watching (Profiles in Diversity Journal). She has been named a New York Super Lawyer several times, and has been named to the 40 & Under List (Benchmark Litigation) since 2020.
Year Joined Firm: 2008
Education:
- Cardozo School of Law (J.D.)
- University of Virginia (B.A.)
Updated Sep 2024
