NYU Workers Enlist Former Judge in Bid for New Trial

New York University employees want a new trial in their $358 million retirement plan lawsuit, because the judge who ruled against them returned to private practice with a member of NYU’s board of directors.

Judge Katherine B. Forrest, who left the bench to join Cravath, Swaine & Moore LLP two months after ruling in favor of NYU, was conflicted and should have recused herself, the employees argued Jan. 7.

Cravath chairman Evan Chesler is a “key member” of NYU’s board of directors, and Forrest decided the NYU case while “hoping, if not actually planning,” for employment at Cravath, the ...