Sarah E. Bouchard
Sarah Bouchard helps companies respond to workplace crisis situations. She leads internal investigations and advises employers and boards of directors on appropriate responses and remediation measures. She is a seasoned litigator and trial lawyer, who litigates highly sensitive and complex discrimination, noncompetition, trade secret and whistleblower matters across a variety of industries and concerns, including financial services, food and drug safety, airlines, energy, export controls, and college sports. As co-leader of the firm’s whistleblower group, she is a prolific speaker and writer, and led the first federal jury trial of a whistleblower claim under the Food Safety Modernization Act. Sarah has been Chambers listed since 2008.
Sarah is a co-leader of the firm’s whistleblower taskforce. Her whistleblower experience includes litigating numerous cases before the US Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), administrative law judges, and federal courts. She defends clients against allegations involving complex regulatory and compliance issues, including value-added tax (VAT) treatment and free trade zone issues; inventory booking and corresponding implications on quarterly earnings reports; accurate revenue accounting treatment; proper internal control procedures; and stock option agreements and compensation models. On behalf of Morgan Lewis, she has published comments to the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on the Dodd-Frank whistleblower program, and is a frequent speaker on Sarbanes-Oxley (SOX) and Dodd-Frank whistleblower issues.
Sarah also advises employers on the preemptive creation of crisis management plans before harassment allegations are made, and she advises on workplace culture assessments to evaluate companies’ policies, practices, and processes for handling sexual harassment and other workplace complaints. Sarah has handled workplace harassment investigations and counseled on workplace crises for employers in the financial services, legal services, and media and entertainment industries.
In addition to her whistleblower and crisis management work, Sarah provides advice regarding compliance with Title IX and investigates claims of discrimination and harassment under Title IX. She also advises on best practices for organizations navigating Title IX investigations.
A seasoned litigator with first- and second-chair trial experience in numerous matters, Sarah handles cases alleging violations of employment laws, including individual, US national, and regional collective class actions under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) and state wage and hour laws. She also litigates noncompete and trade secret matters for clients across the United States, most recently in the medical device and technology sectors.
Sarah also routinely advises employers on sexual harassment, employee leave rights, wage and hour compliance, and litigation avoidance, conducting training and internal audits related to these issues.
Sarah is the Firm Partner of Industries and Strategic Initiatives.
