Ana M. Montoya

Ana is an attorney in the Labor and Employment department with broad experience in representing clients in the financial services industry. 

Ana counsels and represents employers in all aspects of employment issues including discrimination, harassment, and wrongful discharge. Ana litigates on behalf of organizations faced with high-value salary, bonus, and equity disputes. She guides her clients through their obligations and rights under city, state and federal labor laws and regulations. 

Ana is a problem solver. She utilizes her knowledge and experience to diagnose potential issues for clients and prevent compilations and disputes. When conflict isn’t avoidable, Ana prides herself in being a zealous advocate for her clients’ needs.

Ana is a sports nut. There’s nothing she loves more than the sound a crowd makes when the home team makes a big play or gets a big win. In her spare time, Ana enjoys bodyboarding and swimming in the ocean.  

Ana is an experienced employment law attorney with thorough knowledge of New York state and federal employment law. She has represented sophisticated and discerning clients in the financial services industry and secured multiple large settlements.

Ana also has experience in managing cases in FINRA arbitration from inception through discovery, briefing, and adjudication.

Some of Ana’s representative matters over the course of her career include:

• Performed significant work as part of a team that won a nearly $4M FINRA arbitration award.
• Represented executive in FINRA arbitration against investment bank with claims for breach of promissory note and client poaching and worked to successfully overturn arbitration award against client.
• Represented executive in breach of promissory note action in FINRA arbitration against investment bank.
• Represented highly compensated executive in Virginia defending FINRA arbitration award.
• Performed extensive work for an investment bank employee following DOJ investigation on trading violations, resulting in a six-figure settlement for the client.
• Represented plaintiff with claims for breach of New York Labor Law, breach of contract, and quantum meruit where defendants failed to provide a written commission plan and failed to pay earned commissions.
• Worked to successfully negotiate settlement for client following substitution of counsel after defending against summary judgment motion in claim for failure to provide commission agreement.
• Second-chaired wage and hour action under New York Labor Law and the Fair Labor Standards Act in federal court.
• Served as counsel in a multimillion-dollar action against tech start-up for shares in equity, breach of contract, breach of employment agreement, and breach of stock shares claims; defended counterclaims for defamation, intellectual property theft, disparagement, and breach of fiduciary duty.
• Represented plaintiffs with multimillion-dollar claims against a real estate investment firm, where defendants misrepresented to plaintiffs that refinancing was complete pre-investment.
• Successfully opposed motion to dismiss and successfully opposed attempt to quash subpoena for four plaintiffs in action against real estate investment firm with nearly $1 million claims for breach of shareholder agreement, fraud, and negligent misrepresentation.
• Represented corporation and obtained dismissal of claims asserting aiding and abetting fraud, breach of fiduciary duty.
• Represented highly compensated employee in action involving breach of offer letter and employment agreement which included salary and equity guarantees.

Ana graduated University of Pennsylvania (B.A) with Honors, including summa cum laude, with Distinction in History. She obtained her J.D. at Harvard Law, followed by LL.M. in Intellectual Property Law at Queen Mary, University of London. Her dissertation was on “The Shifting Sands of the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement: ACTA and its Compatibility with the European Union.”

Ana’s professional affiliations include:

• Member, Cafecito Network (Hispanic and Latina Lawyers)
• Member, LeGaL (LGBT Bar Association of New York)