Gabrielle Tenzer

Commercial Litigation; Education; Employment, Discrimination and Sexual Misconduct; Investigations and Crisis Management; Public Interest Litigation; Sports Law; Trials

Gabrielle E. Tenzer represents a diverse array of commercial clients, including companies such as Citadel, WeWork, T-Mobile, and Uber in a wide range of civil litigation matters. She also advises clients on sensitive, high-profile investigations, from matters on the front pages to those that remain confidential. In addition, Gabrielle represents and advises colleges and universities in some of their most pressing legal challenges, including Title VI and Title IX matters.

Chambers ranks Gabrielle as one of New York’s top commercial litigators, with their sources describing her as “like the calm in the middle of a storm,” “really solid even in challenging negotiations,” and “very diligent, very smart and good at balancing all the different factors that need to be considered.” She also has been named a Litigation Star by Benchmark Litigation, recognized by Lawdragon as one of its 500 Leading Litigators in America and 500 Leading Corporate Employment Lawyers, and named to the National Law Journal’s list of Employment Law Trailblazers.

Gabrielle recently secured the dismissal of breach of contract and related claims against client Columbia University in a high-impact litigation seeking millions of dollars in tuition refunds related to the COVID-19 pandemic. Gabrielle was also part of a team that conducted a comprehensive external review of gender equity issues in connection with the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), focusing on the NCAA championships. The review yielded two published reports, resulted in the adoption of several recommendations by the NCAA, and was a precursor to a new broadcasting deal with ESPN valuing the Women’s Division I Basketball tournament at about 10 times its value under the prior contract. Since the firm issued its reports in 2021, viewership of the Division I Women’s Basketball Championship Final has more than quadrupled and in 2024, for the first time, more people watched the Women’s Final than the Men’s.

Gabrielle joined the firm from Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison LLP, where she spent more than ten years in the Litigation Department. During her tenure at Paul, Weiss, she worked on multi-billion-dollar commercial cases involving complex legal issues and extensive discovery. Gabrielle also represented some of the nation’s largest financial institutions in securities litigation, shareholder derivative suits, and adversary proceedings in federal bankruptcy court.