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About Jim Philbin

Jim Philbin applies his diverse background and business perspective to help clients solve complex corporate challenges and effectively resolve disputes. A private practice litigator and corporate counsel, Jim leverages his 25 years of experience as a partner in a global law firm and decade of experience as a corporate executive, director and general counsel to provide pragmatic, business-oriented counsel to clients across a variety of legal areas and industries.

For 10 years, Jim served as the General Counsel of Maersk Inc., the North American subsidiary of A. P. Moller-Maersk A/S, a $50 billion international conglomerate with over 100,000 global employees in 120 countries. Jim also served in several other executive capacities at Maersk, including as Executive Vice President and most recently as Chief Executive Officer and President.

As General Counsel, Jim managed the internal legal department and outside counsel in all U.S. Maersk legal matters. Jim’s diverse portfolio of legal management included:

  • General Litigation, including employment, qui tam, asbestos, commercial, intellectual property, class action and regulatory
     
  • Corporate and Workplace Investigations, including workplace fatalities and discrimination issues and high stakes matters conducted by the Departments of Justice, Labor and Treasury, and foreign prosecutors under the False Claims Act, Federal Acquisition Regulations, FCPA, UK Bribery Act, OSHA and export control laws
     
  • Global Transactions, including the purchase and integration of international shipping company Royal P&O Nedlloyd N.V., sale of joint venture terminal operations with Dubai Ports America, start-up of Maersk Oil & Gas Americas and sales of warehousing, trucking and chassis operations
     
  • Regulatory Matters, including compliance with the FCPA, UK Bribery Act, OFAC, Competition laws and other international trade and environmental regulations and interface with Departments of Justice, Treasury, Commerce, Labor, Homeland Security and Customs, Federal Bureau of Investigations, Federal Maritime Commission, Surface Transportation Board and Environmental Protection Agency
     
  • Corporate Governance and Compliance, including service on numerous corporate boards as director and counsel, establishment of national and global compliance programs across numerous industries including, transportation, manufacturing, industrial and petrochemical

In his executive roles, Jim managed the business affairs of Maersk Inc., including corporate transactions, corporate governance, human resources, real estate and banking activities, health and welfare plans, and retirement pension and savings plans. Since 2012, Jim also served as Chairman of the Maersk Inc. Pension Committee.

Prior to joining Maersk, Jim was a partner in the New York office of Morgan Lewis LLP. Jim’s practice focused on labor and employment representing Fortune 100 companies across all industries, including manufacturing, financial services, defense, consumer products, petrochemical, pharmaceutical and public construction over his 25 years of private practice. 

Jim’s employment practice included representing clients in class actions and other cases concerning employment discrimination under Title VII, ADA, and ADEA, breach of contract, misappropriation of trade secrets, restrictive covenants, ERISA, FMLA, FLSA, OSHA, workers’ compensation, project labor agreements and the National Labor Relations Act in federal, state and administrative forums.

In addition, Jim worked extensively on labor relations matters, including collective bargaining, arbitration and Project Labor Agreements on private and public construction projects. He also represented numerous defendants in criminal investigations and prosecutions before the Department of Justice.

Beyond employment law, Jim advised clients on strategic business matters, including issues related to commercial litigation, regulatory compliance and governance programs, contracts, intellectual property, transactional strategy and due diligence and corporate restructuring.

A native of New York, Jim received a B.S. degree in Biology from the University of Notre Dame and a Doctor of Dental Surgery from the Columbia University School of Dental and Oral Surgery. After leaving a successful career in dentistry due to a work-related injury, Jim earned a Juris Doctor from the New York University School of Law.

Jim is very active in youth sports and has been coaching youth lacrosse for twenty years and served on the Board of Ridgefield Youth Lacrosse as President and Counsel.