John E. Higgins
Partner

Practice Areas

Experience

For more than 20 years, John Higgins has counseled and represented employers in all types of employment, employment discrimination, employee benefits, and traditional labor litigation and practice. He has represented employers, big and small, in labor and employment arbitrations, mediations, labor negotiations, and before the NLRB, the EEOC, OFCCP, OSHA, the New York State Division of Human Rights, the U.S. and New York State Labor Departments, and other administrative agencies.

John also has significant experience representing employers in state and federal courts, as well as on appeal, including first chair experience in both jury and non-jury trials in cases of age, sex, pregnancy, race, disability, and other types of discrimination and retaliation, and defending claims brought against employers and fiduciaries under ERISA and state common laws. John’s trial experience includes serving as lead defense counsel in class action, multiple plaintiff, and individual plaintiff cases. John is also experienced in all types of employment, affirmative action, and diversity compliance audits and in the investigation of discrimination, harassment, retaliation, employee theft, and other workplace complaints.

In recognition of his achievements as a labor and employer attorney and employment defense litigator, John has been selected by his peers in the profession as one of the “Best Lawyers in America” in the areas of labor and employment law for inclusion in the 2007, 2008, 2009, and 2010 editions of The Best Lawyers in America. He has also been named a New York “Super Lawyer” for calendar years 2007, 2008, 2009, and 2010, and he was recently named one of the top attorneys in corporate litigation in the Corporate Counsel edition of Super Lawyers (January/February 2010).

Before joining Nixon Peabody LLP in 2001, John was of counsel with Cusick, Hacker & Murphy, LLP, in Latham, New York. From 1989 to 1996, he was an associate in the Labor Department with Bond, Schoeneck & King, LLP, in both Albany and Syracuse, New York. Between 1995-1998, John was an adjunct professor of law at Albany Law School of Union University, where he taught all aspects of employment regulation. He is a frequent lecturer and trainer for the State Bar Association, and for employer and personnel groups on issues related to sexual, racial, and other types of harassment and discrimination, affirmative action, union avoidance, compliance with state and federal wage and hour laws, ERISA litigation, and legal ethics.

Admissions

John is admitted to practice in New York, before the United States district courts for the Northern, Western, Eastern, and Southern districts of New York, the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, the Federal Circuit Court of Appeals, and the United States Supreme Court.

Education

Albany Law School of Union University, J.D.
Hamilton College, B.A., Government

Affiliations

Member of the American Bar Association, the National Bar Association, the New York State Bar Association (Member, Labor and Employment Law Section), the Albany County Bar Association, the Capital District Black and Hispanic Bar Association (President, February 2004-2009), and the Capital District Trial Lawyers Association.

John is also a member of the distinguished New York Management Attorneys Conference (2007-present).

Honors

On December 21, 2009, John was reappointed by Chief Judge Jonathan Lippman of the New York State Court of Appeals to serve for a second three-year term as a member of the Independent Judicial Election Qualification Commission for the Third Judicial District. He was originally appointed to serve in this capacity in 2007 by former Chief Judge Judith S. Kaye.

In the spring of 2009, the Albany Law School Black Law Students Association honored John by presenting him with its first Award for Alumni Dedication, named after John for the work he has done over the years mentoring law students of color.

In June 2007, John received the Black and Latino Achiever’s Award from the Capital District YMCA Black and Latino Achievers Program.

From 2004-2008, John served as chair and co-chair of the NYSBA Committee on Minorities in the Profession. Appointed to successive terms by past presidents of the NYSBA since his initial appointment in 2004, John breathed new life into this important statewide committee, leading a change in the committee’s mission, creating the Hon. Constance Baker Motely Annual Diversity Symposium (now in its 6th year), organizing, serving as master of ceremonies, and raising funds for the NYSBA’s Annual Diversity Celebration, and developing the committee’s 2007 report: “Miles to Go in New York: Measuring Racial and Ethnic Diversity Among New York Lawyers,” approved unanimously by the NYSBA House of Delegates in November 2007.

John is also six-year member of the New York State Bar Association’s statewide Committee on Diversity and Leadership Development (2003-Present); and for five years he was a member of the NYSBA House of Delegates, appointed as a member of the House by five successive NYSBA presidents to further the interests of diversity in the Association.

In July 2006, John was appointed by the president of the New York State Bar Association to a Special Committee on Age Discrimination in the Profession, charged with examining mandatory retirement policies and practices in law firms. John drafted portions of the committee’s report, recommending that law firms end the practice of mandatorily retiring law firm partners, which was unanimously approved by the NYSBA House of Delegates and subsequently adopted by the ABA.

In June 2006, John was appointed by Michael S. Greco, president of the American Bar Association, to serve on the ABA’s Presidential Advisory Council on Diversity in the Profession. John was reappointed to this ABA Council by two successive ABA presidents and, as an expert in the legality and defense of diversity compliance and outreach initiatives, was a featured speaker at the ACD’s roundtable discussions, “Plumbing the Diversity Pipeline to the Legal Profession,” in Los Angeles (February 2008) and New York (August 2008).