Sanford Heisler Sharp McKnight Launches AI and Technology Litigation Practice Group

National Plaintiff-Side Practice Represents Founders, Executives, Whistleblowers, Employees, Survivors and Users Harmed by Artificial Intelligence and Emerging Technologies

NEW YORK, Oct. 20, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Sanford Heisler Sharp McKnight (“Sanford Heisler”) today announced the launch of its Artificial Intelligence & Technology Litigation Practice Group, a national plaintiff-side practice bringing together lawyers from across the firm to represent individuals whose rights are affected by artificial intelligence and emerging technologies. The new practice group will be chaired by Sanford Heisler’s Palo Alto managing partner, Ella Zheng, who is also counsel to Devin Kim, in Kim’s retaliation lawsuit against xAI and SpaceX.

The new group draws on the firm’s experience in employment discrimination and retaliation, whistleblower and qui tam representation, civil rights litigation, sexual violence and victims’ rights, class actions, financial services and complex litigation. It represents employees, executives, engineers and researchers, whistleblowers, founders and other technology professionals, consumers, survivors of technology-facilitated abuse and others confronting harms caused or amplified by AI and technology.

The AI and Technology Litigation Practice Group will be divided into seven areas: Executive and Founder Representation; Technology Whistleblower, AI Fraud and Digital Ad Fraud; AI Safety and Compliance; Cyber Sexual Abuse; Privacy and Data Breach; Product Safety; and Algorithmic Bias.

Twenty-two partners and senior attorneys will join 21 junior attorneys in forming this practice group nationwide. The forty-three represent more than half of Sanford Heisler’s attorneys nationwide.

The new practice is the first of its kind to bring the full spectrum of artificial intelligence and emerging technology into the work of an employment and civil rights law firm. While other firms may focus on a single piece of the puzzle, the technology, the products, or a particular regulatory issue, we look across the entire ecosystem: the systems being built, the people building them, and the processes that determine whether they are safe, fair, and accountable.

“Artificial intelligence is developing at extraordinary speed, while the legal and regulatory guardrails needed to protect people have not kept pace,” said David Sanford, Chairman and Co-Founder of Sanford Heisler Sharp McKnight. “Congress, state legislatures, regulators and the technology industry itself are still grappling with what those guardrails should be, where they should be, and how they should be enforced. As plaintiff lawyers, we have a responsibility to help establish accountability when these powerful technologies cause real harm to people, infrastructure, and society generally.”

“AI already intersects with virtually every area of our daily lives. The technology may be new, but the fundamental rights we protect are not. Those rights are embedded in our constitutional and statutory framework and support our very identity as a nation,” added Sanford.

The Focus of the AI and Technology Litigation Practice Group

The practice focuses both on the technology industry and on the rapidly expanding use of AI throughout the workplace and society. Matters include employment and compensation disputes involving technology founders, executives, engineers, and professionals; retaliation against employees and whistleblowers who raise concerns about AI safety, cybersecurity, data practices or other potentially unlawful conduct; cyberstalking, surveillance, non-consensual sexualized imagery and AI-generated deepfakes; privacy and workplace surveillance; algorithmic discrimination and bias in employment decisions; and class actions involving systemic harms caused or amplified by emerging technologies.

Devin Kim v. xAI and SpaceX

Earlier this year, Sanford Heisler Sharp McKnight filed a whistleblower retaliation lawsuit on behalf of former xAI engineer Devin Kim against xAI Corp. and SpaceX (now SpaceXSI). The complaint alleges that Kim, one of xAI’s early employees, was terminated after raising concerns about AI safety, discriminatory bias and other risks associated with xAI’s Grok model. Qiaojing Ella Zheng, Managing Partner of the firm’s Palo Alto and San Francisco offices and Chair of its Asian American Litigation and Finance Practice Group, represents Kim and brings a particular focus to Silicon Valley and the technology sector.

“The people building these technologies are often the first to recognize significant problems endangering our welfare,” Zheng said. “Individuals should not have to choose between their careers and raising legitimate concerns about safety, discrimination or potentially unlawful conduct. Our representation of Devin Kim illustrates why experienced plaintiff-side lawyers need to be part of this rapidly developing area.”

Ella Zheng’s and Devin Kim’s Recent Testimony before the New York City Council on AI Issues

On October 16, 2026, Zheng and Kim testified before the New York City Council on AI safety, accountability, and AI whistleblower protection issues. After hearing testimony from five frontier AI labs including Google, Meta, OpenAI, Anthropic, and SpaceXSI, Zheng and Kim urged the New York legislators to promptly address the risks posed by frontier AI technologies and pass a slate of proposed legislations aimed at protecting AI whistleblowers, creating an AI whistleblower reward program, and establishing a model for responsible AI governance.

Cyber Sexual Abuse

The new practice also addresses the intersection between technology and sexual and gender-based violence. Christine Dunn, Co-Chair of the firm’s Sexual Violence, Title IX and Victims’ Rights Practice Group, will focus on technology-facilitated harassment, exploitation and abuse.

“Technology dramatically expands both the means of committing abuse and the speed and scale at which the harm spreads,” Dunn said. “Cyberstalking, non-consensual intimate imagery, AI-generated deepfakes and other emerging technologies create new avenues for abuse. These harms may occur through a screen, but their consequences for victims are very real.”

Technology Whistleblowers, AI Fraud and Digital Ad Fraud

Whistleblower representation is another significant focus as employees inside technology companies increasingly encounter safety problems, security vulnerabilities, discriminatory outcomes and other conduct that regulators and the public may not readily see.

“Employees working with these technologies can serve as an essential early warning system when companies move too quickly, ignore troubling findings or cross legal lines,” said H. Vincent McKnight, Jr., Co-Vice Chairman of Sanford Heisler Sharp McKnight and Co-Chair of the firm’s Whistleblower and Qui Tam Practice Group. “Protecting people who lawfully speak up is increasingly important as AI becomes more powerful and pervasive.”

The Artificial Intelligence & Technology Litigation Practice Group operates nationally, drawing on attorneys throughout Sanford Heisler Sharp McKnight’s offices in New York, Washington, D.C., San Francisco, Palo Alto, San Diego and Nashville.

ABOUT SANFORD HEISLER SHARP McKNIGHT

Sanford Heisler Sharp McKnight is a public interest and civil rights law firm with offices in New York, Washington, DC, San Francisco, Palo Alto, Nashville, and San Diego. The firm focuses on executive representation, wrongful termination, employment discrimination, sexual harassment, retaliation, wage theft and overtime violations, whistleblower and qui tam, sexual violence, Title IX violations and victims’ rights, financial mismanagement and ERISA litigation, and Asian American litigation and finance matters. Our lawyers have recovered over $5 billion for our clients through many verdicts and settlements.

In 2024, Forbes named Sanford Heisler Sharp McKnight Chairman and Co-Founder David Sanford to its inaugural list of America’s Top 200 Lawyers. The National Law Journal has selected Sanford Heisler Sharp McKnight as Civil Rights Firm of the Year, and it has recognized the firm as both Employment Rights Firm of the Year and Human Rights Firm of the Year. Benchmark Litigation has named the firm Labor & Employment Firm of the Year, and Law360 has recognized the firm as Employment Practice Group of the Year.

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If you have potential legal claims and are seeking counsel, please call 646-768-7070 or email david.sanford@sanfordheisler.com. Attorneys at Sanford Heisler Sharp McKnight would like to have the opportunity to help you.

Media Contact: Jamie Moss, newsPRos, at 201-788-0142 or Jamie@newspros.com.