In Deadspin, Professor Minna Kotkin Weighs in on NDAs Used by Wall Street Financier Accused of Sexual Assault

While the news cycle has extensively covered the court cases of Harvey Weinstein and Jeffery Epstein, another case involving the abuse of vulnerable women by Wall Street financier Howard Rubin has gone under the radar. Since 2017, eight women have brought charges in civil court against Rubin accusing him of sexual assault. The plaintiffs claim that Rubin (previously best known for losing more money than anyone else on Wall Street before the 1987 crash) plied them with alcohol and drugs to coerce them into signing non-disclosure agreements (NDAs) before the assaults.

In an in-depth Deadspin article about the cases, Professor Minna Kotkin—a frequent commentator in the media about sexual harassment and the #MeToo movement—breaks down the legal limits of an NDA’s protection of bad actors.

“What they are designed to do is protect things that are supposed to be secret, like trade secrets, or to keep people from saying bad things about the company they worked for, or to not reveal the marketing techniques and things like that,” says Kotkin. “They weren’t designed to hide legal violations.”

She adds, “They are enforceable, to an extent, but not with regard to crimes.”

Kotkin teaches, writes, and lectures extensively about employment discrimination law and sexual harassment issues, as well as clinical legal education. She has served as chair of the Association of American Law Schools’ Section on Litigation and Section on Clinical Legal Education. She currently serves on the board of directors of Disability Advocates, Inc., and the United State District Court, Eastern District of New York Litigation Fund.

Read the full article on Deadspin.