Centerview Partners has agreed to settle a lawsuit filed against the boutique investment bank by a former junior banker who was terminated after telling the firm she needed eight hours of sleep a night to manage a mood and anxiety disorder.

Terms of the settlement were not disclosed.

Trial in the case was set to begin Monday and could have been closely watched – particularly in dealmaking circles, where long and unpredictable hours for junior bankers have sparked debate for years.

A group of Goldman Sachs junior bankers in 2021 detailed “inhumane” 100-hour workweeks in a slide presentation they showed their managers, asking that the bank respect its Saturday policy, which mandates that analysts be out of the office from 9 p.m. Friday to 9 a.m. Sunday.

The presentation went viral and, against the backdrop of the COVID-19 pandemic, banks boosted pay for junior bankers as a concession.

But the debate flared again in 2024, when two Bank of America bankers – both age 35 or younger – died within weeks of each other. As a response, JPMorgan Chase, for one, created a role to oversee junior bankers’ “wellbeing.”

Kathryn Shiber, who said she was fired 10 weeks into a three-year analyst program at Centerview, sued the bank in 2021, seeking $5 million in damages.

That figure once was allegedly $20 million – encompassing an estimate of lost potential earnings, emotional impact and punitive damages.

However, the judge in the case, Edgardo Ramos, said in a pre-trial conference that it would be improper for the jury to consider what Shiber would have earned had she stayed at Centerview beyond the three-year program.

Shiber, in a January court filing, said she’s earned roughly $580,000 since leaving Centerview – and that her altered trajectory has forced her to take lower-paying positions. 

Centerview, however, said there was no evidence she would have finished the program, let alone be promoted.

“Centerview has said all along that Ms. Shiber’s legal claims have no merit,” a spokesperson for the bank said Sunday in a statement seen by Banking Dive. “We were ready to prove that in court, and are confident we would have prevailed at trial. But we are nonetheless happy to put this distraction behind us and focus on delivering for our clients.”

Shiber was expected to testify at the trial, as were senior Centerview executives, including Tony Kim, the bank’s co-president. Ramos denied a request from Shiber to compel Centerview co-founder Robert Pruzan to testify. 

Brian Heller, a lawyer for Shiber, said the plaintiff “is pleased to close this chapter and looks forward to what comes next.”

Shiber joined Centerview after graduating from Dartmouth College in 2020, describing it, in a court filing, as a “dream opportunity.” But, she said, she felt the bank expected employees to work at all hours or across multiple days “without rest or stopping.” 

Early in her stint, Shiber was assigned to “Project Dragon,” an effort to defend the utility giant Duke Energy against a possible proxy contest led by hedge fund Elliott Management. 

The project involved Shiber working until 1 a.m. several days in a row, according to her lawsuit.

Shiber asserts she told Centerview’s human resources department of her condition and need for sleep, and she was granted an accommodation wherein she would not have to work between midnight to 9 a.m., according to the lawsuit. 

However, Shiber was terminated Sept. 15, 2020 – roughly two weeks after the accommodation was granted – and told that availability at all hours was crucial to her job, according to the lawsuit.

“The ability to work unpredictable hours is an essential role of an analyst and is wholly inconsistent with Shiber’s request for set working hours,” Centerview said in its own court filing, adding that it went to “great lengths” to accommodate Shiber.

Shiber’s window to log off was meant as a short-term measure, Centerview noted, adding that the accommodation was “unsustainable” for the long haul.

“As a result of Shiber’s need to sign offline at midnight each night, Shiber’s colleagues were left picking up on workstreams that Shiber would have been responsible for completing,” the bank argued, “and Centerview ultimately added a new analyst to that deal team on account of these issues, uncommon in Centerview’s lean staffing structure.”

Shiber sued Centerview for disability discrimination under state and federal law.

But Shiber and Centerview each apparently wanted to keep certain information close to the vest. In its court filing, Centerview said Shiber asked that her colleagues not be told why she required a “hard stop” at midnight.

Centerview, meanwhile, urged the judge in the case to keep figures such as the bank’s revenue, profit and financial performance under wraps in the trial. Lawyers for the bank argued such information may create a “David versus Goliath narrative.”

Ramos denied that request.

Centerview counted roughly $1.9 billion in revenue in 2024, according to The Wall Street Journal. Centerview typically ranks among the top 10 banks in the value of mergers and acquisitions upon which it advises.

Centerview had previously moved to have the case dismissed.

Ramos denied summary judgment in an October opinion, citing “a genuine dispute of fact whether the ability to be available at all hours of the day and to work long, unpredictable hours is an essential function of the analyst role.”