Harter Secrest & Emery LLP, a full-service business law firm with offices throughout New York, is pleased to announce that Benjamin E. Mudrick and Christine M. O’Connor have been elected partners in the firm.
“Ben and Christine have made significant contributions to our clients, to the overall culture of our law firm, and to our entire community,” said Craig S. Wittlin, Harter Secrest & Emery managing partner. “They continue to distinguish themselves as exceptional attorneys and are deserving of this next step in their careers. We are pleased to welcome them to our partnership.”
A member of Harter Secrest & Emery’s Labor & Employment practice, Mudrick partners with business executives and human resources personnel to navigate complex employment issues. He provides counsel on all aspects of the employment relationship including hiring, discipline, termination, equal employment opportunity, wages and hours, restrictive covenants, and union relations. Where contentious employment-related disputes cannot be avoided, Mudrick advocates for his clients in front of federal and state administrative agencies, including the Department of Labor, Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, New York State Division of Human Rights, and National Labor Relations Board. He regularly provides training to executives, employee groups, and trade organizations on non-harassment and equal employment opportunity, wage and hour compliance, and other labor and employment topics.
Mudrick was named to the 2017 Upstate New York Rising Stars list by Super Lawyers, and was recognized as an Up & Coming Attorney in The Daily Record’s annual Excellence in Law awards in 2017. He regularly provides pro bono service to unrepresented litigants at the 7th Judicial District Court Help Center and has represented multiple clients as part of the Volunteer Lawyers Service Project of Monroe County. He is a United Way Emerging Leader and has served as a board member and in leadership positions and for multiple non-profit organizations. Mudrick graduated from Brigham Young University and the University of Virginia School of Law.
O’Connor is a member of the firm’s Private Equity and Venture Capital practice where she concentrates on private equity, venture capital, mergers and acquisitions, management buyouts, telecommunications and general corporate matters. O’Connor’s clients include private equity funds, private equity-backed companies, venture capital funds, fundless sponsors, family offices, individual investors, startups and strategic buyers, sellers and investors. O’Connor guides her clients through a wide range of corporate transactions, including leveraged buyouts, mergers, stock and asset deals, convertible note, common stock and preferred stock financings, corporate clean-up, corporate reorganization, regulatory filings with the New York State Public Service Commission and commercial contracts. O’Connor has extensive experience in the financial services, software and tech, telecommunications, manufacturing and product distribution industries.
She was recognized in Chambers USA 2017 America’s Leading Lawyers in Business, and was named to the 2017 Upstate New York Rising Stars list by Super Lawyers. O’Connor is AV Preeminent® Peer Review Rated by Martindale-Hubbell. In 2017, O’Connor was recognized as an Up & Coming Attorney in The Daily Record’s annual Excellence in Law awards, and was one of the Rochester Business Journal’s Forty Under 40 honorees in recognition of her outstanding professional achievement, civic involvement and impact of achievement.
O’Connor currently serves as the chair of the Board of the South East Area Coalition, and has been involved with the South Wedge Planning Committee, the Monroe County Bar Association’s Business Unit Council, the Greater Rochester Association for Women Attorneys, and the Upstate Capital Association of New York. O’Connor graduated from Carnegie Mellon University with high honors, and received her law degree from Vanderbilt University Law School, where she was an Honors Scholar.