Bio

Gena Usenheimer is the co-creator and co-leader of Seyfarth’s interdisciplinary Transactional Risk Insurance Group. Operating as a model of cross-departmental entrepreneurship, the Transactional Risk Insurance Group has quickly become one of the industry’s leading underwriting counsel practices. Gena and her team of over 60 Seyfarth attorneys world-wide advise RWI markets on all aspects of a deal, including advising at the pre-bid stage, crafting deal-specific and highly tailored underwriting call agendas, leading underwriting calls, running the underwriting process, preparing narrowly tailored exclusions, identifying key legal risks and assisting with policy drafting. The Seyfarth team’s experience extends beyond traditional reps deals, and has grown to encompass real estate and REIT transactions as well as acquisitions relating to music publishing. Further, leveraging the Firm’s long history of success in the capital market space, the Seyfarth team is the RWI market-leader in secondary transactions. The Transactional Risk Insurance Group also serves as underwriting counsel on contingent risk and tax policies, and continues to grow. Gena’s practice also includes employment advice and counsel, and litigation work. Gena counsels employers, works with them to avoid litigation, and represents her clients in litigation, as necessary. Gena routinely leads the defense of single-plaintiff, multi-plaintiff, and complex class and collective actions, including for some of the Firm’s largest clients. Over her 17 years of practicing employment law, Gena has gained substantial litigation experience in both state and federal courts, and has successfully defended clients facing claims of discrimination, hostile work environment, and retaliation arising under federal, state, and municipal laws. She has defended employers in wage and hour class and collective actions, complex discrimination class actions, class and individual arbitrations, and in administrative proceedings before various agencies, such as the US Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and the New York State Division of Human Rights. Gena has also assisted clients in navigating wage and hour investigations and audits before the US Department of Labor and state investigative agencies. Prior to joining Seyfarth, Gena defended the MTA New York City Transit Authority in employment disputes.