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Geri L. Haight

(she/her/hers)

Member

[email protected]

+1.617.348.1705

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Geri has a multifaceted practice focusing on employment litigation, counseling, and compliance, as well as intellectual property and trade secret matters. In addition, she chairs the steering committee of the Mintz Women’s Initiative, an affinity group dedicated to supporting and enriching the lives and careers of the firm’s female attorneys.

Geri leverages extensive experience as an in-house attorney and trial lawyer and with a broad range of business and employment issues to advise clients across a variety of industries, including food & beverage, consumer products, retail, and technology. Her work primarily involves both litigation and counseling on a broad spectrum of employment issues, including trade secret and intellectual property protection, the enforcement of noncompetition and nondisclosure agreements, independent contractor and employee classification, internal investigations, as well as compliance matters. 

Geri returned to Mintz after more than seven years as in-house counsel with a national fast-casual restaurant chain, most recently as vice president and deputy general counsel. In that role, she managed employment, litigation, intellectual property, contract, marketing and advertising, and data security and privacy matters and provided guidance on a broad spectrum of workplace issues and employment-related compliance matters. 

During her prior tenure with Mintz, Geri was a Member and Associate, practicing in the firm’s litigation and intellectual property practices for 14 years. She handled litigation, arbitration, and mediation of trademark, trade secret, copyright, false advertising, domain name, and patent disputes in courts throughout the country, as well as matters before the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board. Her practice also involved counseling clients on intellectual property matters and negotiating settlement and licensing agreements. 

Geri is also actively involved in pro bono work on behalf of the firm, including representation of the Human Rights Campaign. She has also served as an adjunct professor of trademark law at the Northeastern University School of Law.

viewpoints

Many employers experienced whiplash in 2023 from the flurry of judicial, administrative and legislative activity aimed at restricting the use of employee non-competition, non-solicitation, and non-disclosure agreements. Can you still require your employees to sign a non-compete agreement? What about requiring your employees to assign their inventions to your business? What updates to your agreement templates are required to ensure compliance with the latest changes in your jurisdiction? We summarize the relevant legal changes below, forecast what employers can expect in 2024 (spoiler alert – expect even more change), and offer practical tips for how best to comply in the ever-changing landscape of employee restrictive covenants.
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New York Widens its Employee Intellectual Property Protections

October 19, 2023 | Blog | By Geri Haight, Evan Piercey, Talia Weseley

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Mintz Co-Hosts Annual Pro Bono Clinic for Nonprofits with ACC-NE

April 19, 2023 | Blog | By Geri Haight, Christopher Buontempo

For the twelfth consecutive year, Mintz organized a pro bono clinic bringing together in-house counsel and nonprofit organizations. Following a training session on privacy, data security, and social media policies led by Mintz Member Geri L. Haight and Associate Christopher J. Buontempo, more than 35 in-house counsel teamed up in small groups to advise Boston-area nonprofits.
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Reinventing the Employment Relationship: A Moderated Discussion about the Future of Work

February 15, 2023 | Podcast | By Jennifer Rubin, Geri Haight, Paul Huston

The worldwide pandemic, focus on social justice, sharp political divisions, quiet quitting and the Great Resignation are all events that have impacted and altered employment relationships. At the same time the modern workplace is becoming dispersed, virtual and vocal, workplace regulation – the laws that form the structure of the traditional employment relationship – is becoming even more challenging for employers struggling to meet the challenges of the next generation of workers.
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Finally, Judicial Guidance Interpreting the Massachusetts Noncompetition Agreement Act

February 7, 2023 | Blog | By Geri Haight, Natalie C. Groot, Danielle Dillon

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Mintz’s pro bono work for The Food Project, a nonprofit focused on youth development and reducing food insecurity, has included advising the organization on governance, real estate, employment, privacy, and litigation matters.
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Webinar Recording: Vaccination and the Workplace – Solving for the Latest Challenges Facing Employers

June 17, 2021 | Webinar | By Michael Arnold, Geri Haight, Jennifer Rubin, Corbin Carter

The CDC’s latest guidance lifting many restrictions for most fully vaccinated individuals has forced employers to consider whether and how to implement workplace vaccination policies. During this webinar, our speakers explored the current workplace vaccine compliance landscape and offered best practices for implementing vaccination policies aimed at making workplaces safe and while accounting for jurisdictional, political, philosophical and physical divides.
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Conference Recordings: Mintz's Annual Employment Law Summit

March 12, 2021 | Webinar | By Michael Arnold, David Barmak, Micha Mitch Danzig, Geri Haight, Andrew Matzkin, David Lagasse, Jennifer Rubin, Alexander Hecht, Danielle Bereznay, Delaney Busch, Corbin Carter, Emma Follansbee, Natalie C. Groot, Paul Huston, Brendan Lowd, Nicole Rivers, Richard Block

Mintz’s Annual Employment Law Summit brought together thought leaders to discuss the most pressing issues employers are facing in today’s unprecedented work environment. Attendees heard presentations on the continued impact of COVID-19; social justice and diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives; recent and anticipated changes to employment laws; and best practices for managing sensitive employee situations.
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News & Press

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Mintz is pleased to announce that 120 firm attorneys have been recognized as leaders by Best Lawyers® in the 2024 edition of The Best Lawyers in America©.
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BOSTON – Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly has recognized Mintz in its inaugural Empowering Women awards program, which honors law firms that have shown a strong commitment to supporting and elevating women attorneys in Massachusetts, and showcase tangible and innovative efforts by law firms to advance women attorneys in the workplace and community.
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Member and chair of the firm's Women's Initiative Geri Haight was quoted in SHRM discussing when employees develop long COVID-19, what the implications could be for employers.
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Mintz continues its ongoing commitment to ensuring the firm is an equitable workplace, establishing a new Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) committee that reports directly to the firm's main decision making body, the Policy Committee. The new Equity Advisory Council (EAC) will be responsible for driving equity for the firm’s attorneys, especially women, attorneys of color and LGBTQ+ attorneys.
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Law360 reported that Geri Haight has rejoined Mintz as a Member in the firm’s Employment, Labor & Benefits Practice, based in Boston.
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Publications

Co-author, "Contract Corner," The Licensing Journal (November-December 2023).

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Recognition & Awards

  • Featured in Best Lawyers in America, Employment Litigation (2024)

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Involvement

  • Chair, Legal Affairs Committee, Association of National Advertisers (2018-2020)
  • Co-Chair, Intellectual Litigation Committee, Boston Bar Association (2009–2011)
  • Member, Boston Bar Association
  • Member, American Bar Association
  • Member, Massachusetts Bar Association
  • Member, International Trademark Association (INTA)
  • Member, American Intellectual Property Law Association
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Geri L. Haight

(she/her/hers)

Member

Boston