Charles W. Fournier

Charles W. Fournier counsels clients with regard to all aspects of labor and employment laws, with particular focus on workforce restructurings; policy development and implementation; design and delivery of training programs; the workforce aspects of acquisitions, dispositions, and integrations; internal investigations; and the early identification and resolution of employment disputes.

Mr. Fournier spent the first 18 years of his career in private practice at large law firms in New York City, where he litigated all manner of employment disputes in courts and arbitral forums throughout the country. He then served for 17 years as Senior Vice President of Employment Law for NBCUniversal, where he led a team of attorneys responsible for all employment law matters for NBC, Universal Studios, Telemundo, their owned cable networks and television stations, and related news, entertainment and digital media businesses throughout the world. Mr. Fournier and his team provided employment law support for the acquisitions and integrations of Universal Studios, DreamWorks Animation, Telemundo, Bravo, Oxygen, and a number of other cable networks and television stations, as well as NBCUniversal’s 2011 acquisition by Comcast. Mr. Fournier and his team also designed and implemented the first company-wide alternative dispute resolution program among the major studios and television networks, one that has been copied by other Fortune 100 companies. Mr. Fournier also helped guide NBCUniversal’s development of one of the earliest and most successful workplace diversity programs in the entertainment industry.

Mr. Fournier is a graduate of Yale Law School, where he was an editor of The Yale Law Journal. He then clerked for Judge Robert Sprecher of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit in Chicago. Mr. Fournier also holds a Master’s Degree in Anglo-American Legal History from Yale University and a Bachelor’s Degree, summa cum laude, in History and Music from Trinity University, where he was elected to Phi Beta Kappa. He has been a guest lecturer at the New York University School of Law and Baruch College of the City University of New York, and he is a frequent speaker and panelist for bar and industry groups. Mr. Fournier has served on the Board and as Board Chair of The Town School of New York City, and he is an active fund raiser for a number of educational and cultural institutions.