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Together: Class actions level the playing field. They are an agent of change and a potent tool to remedy injustice.
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Adam T. Klein
Adam T. Klein
About
ADAM T. KLEIN is Managing Partner of Outten & Golden LLP, and founded the firm's class action practice area. His practice focuses on the prosecution of class actions and impact litigation relating to race, gender, and immigration-based statutory discrimination. In addition, Mr. Klein has extensive experience litigating race and restorative justice cases concerning the criminal justice system and resulting collateral consequences in the workplace and in other contexts. Mr. Klein currently serves as lead or co-lead plaintiffs' counsel in numerous major class action lawsuits involving discrimination claims in the financial services industry, the high tech industry, and challenges to the use of credit and criminal history records for employment decisions. Mr. Klein is co-lead plaintiffs’ class counsel in a gender discrimination lawsuit challenging employment practices at Goldman Sachs. Mr. Klein is also lead counsel in a recently filed major class action filed against Washington State and all 39 counties within that state on behalf of tens of thousands of people with unconstitutional felony drug convictions and related offenses seeking the restitution of LFOs (fines and fees) and other forms of relief relating to the collateral consequences of those convictions.
Mr. Klein is lead class counsel in a now concluded lawsuit against the Census Bureau, which was filed in affiliation with a consortium of civil-rights organizations challenging the use of arrest and criminal history records as a screen for employment for 850,000 applicants. In 2016, the parties reached a landmark settlement with the federal government that requires the Census Bureau to reform its hiring practices for the 2020 decennial census as well as creating a class-member Records Assistance Project housed at the Cornell University ILR School and in coordination with the Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Under Law. The Census Bureau legal team led by Mr. Klein won the Public Justice 2017 Trial Lawyer of the Year Award.
In addition, Mr. Klein serves as co-lead plaintiffs' class counsel in now settled nationwide discrimination class action lawsuits against Smith Barney (gender - Amochaev v. Smith Barney), Bank of America/Merrill Lynch (gender – Calibuso v. Bank of America), and Morgan Stanley (race - Jaffe v. Morgan Stanley). Each settlement provides class members with substantial monetary relief and creates systematic changes to company practices. Mr. Klein also served as co-lead plaintiffs' class counsel in a "glass ceiling" gender discrimination class action against MetLife, based on discrimination in promotions and compensation, which resulted in a settlement that created beneficial changes in the company.
Mr. Klein is the immediate past Co-Chair of the Executive Board of the Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Under Law. For numerous years, Mr. Klein has been selected as one of the Lawdragon 500 leading lawyers in America as well as Best Lawyers in America, New York’s Super Lawyers – Manhattan Edition, and as a member of the Hall of Fame in the Legal 500. Mr. Klein is a Fellow of the College of Labor & Employment Lawyers. Mr. Klein received his undergraduate degree from the School of Industrial and Labor Relations at Cornell University in 1987 and his law degree from Hofstra University in 1990.
(*Prior results do not guarantee a similar outcome.)
Bar Admissions & Professional Activities
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Mr. Klein is admitted to practice law only in New York.
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Mr. Klein is admitted to the following federal courts: The United States District Courts for the Southern District of New York, Eastern District of New York; and Western District of New York; and the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, the Ninth Circuit, and the Eleventh Circuit.
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Co-Chair, Executive Committee of the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law
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Member, National Employment Lawyers Association (NELA) and former co-chair of its Class Action Committee, and he served on the Executive Board of NELA’s New York Affiliate (NELA/NY) from 2000 to 2006.
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Served on the Executive Board of the Employee Rights Section of the American Trial Lawyers Association (now AAJ).
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Member, American Bar Association, where he served as the Plaintiffs' Co-Chair of the Committee on Technology and Federal Law Clerks Training Program, and is a member of the Committees on Equal Employment Opportunity and Employee Rights and Responsibilities of the Section of Labor and Employment Law and the Class Action and Derivative Suits Committee of the Section of Litigation.
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Past Plaintiffs’ Co-Chair of the largest committee within the Labor and Employment Section – the Equal Employment Opportunity Committee.
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Fellow, American Bar Foundation
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Fellow, College of Labor and Employment Lawyers
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Member, Advisory Boards of the Labor and Employment Law Program and the Scheinman Institute on Conflict Resolution at the School of Industrial and Labor Relations for Cornell University
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Member, Advisory Board of the National Wage and Hour Clearinghouse
Videos
Speaking Engagements
Mr. Klein has testified before the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and Congress on issues relating to employment law. Mr. Klein is also a frequent lecturer and has participated in programs relating to employment law sponsored by the American Constitutional Society, the Institute for Judicial Administration, the American Bar Association, Cornell University, Georgetown University Law School, New York University Law School, the Law and Education Institute, the Practicing Law Institute, the National Employment Lawyers Association, the Bar Association of the City of New York, the Impact Fund, the American Conference Institute, and Strafford Publications.
2023
- Panelist: "EEOC Navigating Employment Discrimination in AI and Automated Systems: A New Civil Rights Frontier," US Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, Webinar
2020
- Panelist: "Managing Partner Conference Series: Managing Partner Response to COVID-19," Managing Partners’ Forum of the New York State Bar Association
2017
- Speaker: "Impact Analysis: When To Use It & The Statistics To Support It," National Employment Lawyers Association (NELA), NELA 2017 Annual Convention, San Antonio, TX
2016
- Speaker: "Deep Diving Equal Pay," American Bar Association, Section of Labor & Employment, National Conference on Equal Employment Opportunity Law, Austin, TX
2015
- Speaker: "Class and Collective Actions — Rapid Fire Case Law Update," National CLE Conference - Labor & Employment, Vail, CO
- Speaker: "Title VII Class Certification—Issues Certification and Targeting Specific Employment Practices Post Dukes and Comcast," ABA Labor & Employment Section, National Conference on Equal Employment Opportunity Law, Miami Beach, FL
- Faculty: "The Boundaries of the Employment Relationship: Who is an Employee? Who is the Employer?," NYU Labor & Employment Law, Institute of Judicial Administration, NYU University School of Law, Eighteenth Annual NYU Workshop on Employment Law for Federal Judges, New York, NY
- Speaker: "Judge and Magistrate Judge Class and Collective Actions — What is Viable and What is Not?," Law Education Institute, National CLE Conference, Vail, CO
2014
- Speaker: "Challenges to Subjective Selection Systems; 'Pattern or Practice' Promotion and Pay Claims in Higher-Level Jobs," New York University, Title VII of the Civil Rights Act After 50 Years, NYU 67th Annual Conference on Labor, New York, NY
- Panelist: "Your Day in Court?: The Undermining of Access to Justice," American Constitution Society for Law and Policy (ACS) Convention, Washington, DC
- Speaker: "Legal issues and Safeguards Associated with Performance Evaluation Programs," BA Section of Labor and Employment Law, 8th Annual Labor and Employment Law Conference, Los Angeles, CA
2013
- Panelist: "Employment Discrimination," Hofstra, Hofstra Labor & Employment Law Journal 30th Anniversary Reception and Symposium, New York, NY
- Speaker: "Gender Pay Disparity: 50 Years after the Equal Pay Act," ABA Labor & Employment Section, 7th Annual Labor and Employment Law Conference, New Orleans, LA
- Panelist: "Compensation and Discrimination/Equal Pay Issues in the Financial Services Sector," ELA, Third Transatlantic Conference, London, England
- Moderator: "Advanced Class Action Topics," ABA Section of Labor & Employment Law, National Conference on Equal Employment Opportunity Law, Savannah, GA
- Lecturer: "Managing Wage & Hour Risks," Practicing Law Institute, New York, NY
2010
- Lecturer: "Managing Wage & Hour Risks," Practising Law Institute, New York, NY
2009
- Speaker: "Reacting to the Changing American Workforce and Workplace, Part I: Lifestyle Behaviors & Relationships," The 13th Annual Corporate Counsel Institute, Washington, DC
- Speaker: "Class and Collective Actions Update," National CLE Conference - Labor & Employment, Vail, CO
- Speaker: "Cross-Border Class Action Litigation," As the World Turns: Perspectives on International Labor and Employment Law, New York, NY
- Speaker: "Making the Call Whether to Settle: Assessing Damages, Settlement Structure, Administration and More," American Conference Institute, 7th National Advanced Forum on Wage Hour Claims and Class Actions, New York, NY
- Speaker: "Criminal History, Bad Credit Scores, and Hiring Discrimination: Title VII and the Use of Criminal Records and Credit History as Hiring Criteria," The American Bar Association Section of Labor and Employment Law and the ABA Center for Continuing Legal Education, Teleconference
- Speaker: "Evidence Issues/Use of Experts," Center for Labor and Employment Law, Twelfth Annual NYU Workshop on Employment Law for Federal Judges, New York, NY
Publications & Articles
70 million Americans - one in every three adults in the United States - has a criminal record of some sort. for many of these people, however, the...
Outten & Golden LLP is proud to announce that the American Bar Association Commission on Women in the Profession bestowed its Margaret Brent Women...
Co-authored by Adam T. Klein and Nantiya Ruan, American Bar Association Conference for Section on Labor & Employment (Summer 2003)
Co-Authored by Adam T. Klein and Nantiya Ruan, 776 PLI/Lit. 255, 2008
Adam T. Klein and Scott Moss, Employee Rights Quarterly, Winter 2000.
Adam T. Klein, Mark R. Humowiecki, Tarik F. Ajami, and Cara E. Greene, Employee Rights and Employment Policy Journal, Vol 10, No. 2, Winter 2006.
In The Butler's Child, Outten & Golden Senior Counsel Lewis Steel describes his career spent seeking racial justice as a civil rights lawyer. The book...
A paper on corporate outsourcing and how it cheats workers.
In this paper we discuss legal issues relevant to off-the-clock wage and hour claims. Employment law attorney Adam T. Klein.
A discussion regarding the legality under Title VII of employer use of credit-history checks as a job criterion or investigative tool. Employment attorney Adam T. Klein.
Awards & Recognition
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Best Lawyers 2008-2022
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Best Lawyers' Lawyer of the Year 2021
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Legal 500 Hall of Fame 2021
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Super Lawyers 2007-2021, 2023
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Legal 500 United States Recommended Labor and Employment Lawyer, 2019 - 2021
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Benchmark Litigation Labor & Employment Star, 3rd edition of Benchmark Litigation, Labor & Employment, 2020
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Lawdragon 500 Leading Plaintiff Employment Lawyers 2018-2021
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Lawdragon 500 Leading Lawyers in America 2012-2018, 2021 - 2023
Profiles
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Adam Klein—Public Justice
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Lawyer Limelight: Adam Klein—Lawdragon
