Melissa H Maxman

Cohen & Gresser achieved a significant pro bono victory before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit on behalf of the National Women's Law Center ("NWLC") as an amicus in the case of Dr. Rachel Tudor, a professor in the English, Humanities, and Languages Department, of the Southeastern Oklahoma State University. Dr. Tudor is transgender and was explicitly denied tenure and fired by the University when she transitioned from male to female. The appeals court ordered the district court to reinstate her to a tenure position and correctly recalculate her front pay damages award.

While Dr. Tudor had won at trial, she was denied reinstatement by the district judge.  The Tenth Circuit embraced the arguments made in NWLC's amicus brief and found that the district court improperly concluded reinstatement would not be possible due to alleged hostility between Dr. Tudor and Southeastern. Instead, because of the legal presumption in favor of reinstatement and the particularly low risk of extreme hostility between the parties here, the court reversed and ordered that Dr. Tudor be reinstated at the University with tenure.

The Tenth Circuit also rejected Southeastern's cross-appeal in its entirety, relying heavily on the Supreme Court's decision in Bostock v. Clayton County, No. 17-1618, 590 U.S. ___ (2020), which overruled previous Tenth Circuit precedent and held that discrimination against transgender employees is sex discrimination under Title VII. Notably, Cohen & Gresser also represented the NWLC and dozens of other non-profit organizations in drafting and filing their Supreme Court amicus brief in Bostock.

Melissa Maxman led a team from Cohen & Gresser’s Washington D.C. office in advising the NWLC.

International law firm Cohen & Gresser has been once again recognized in The Legal 500 United States. The 2021 guide highlights C&G for its financial services strength – emphasizing the firm’s “understanding of complex financial products and the operations of the financial services sector” – and its “extensive experience in jury and bench trials at the federal and state level.”

Client commentary highlights C&G as “a cut above” and “very effective at knowing their audience, staying on message, and telling a persuasive and winning story.”

The Legal 500 has recognized C&G in both the Advice to Individuals category and Advice to Corporates category of the Corporate Investigations and White-Collar Criminal Defense section. The guide notes the practice’s deep bench that “includes former federal and state prosecutors, and former in-house attorneys, many of whom are active litigators, and have unique experience of federal enforcement bodies.”

C&G has also been recognized in the General Commercial Disputes category. The practice stands out for its capacity to handle “a diverse range of commercial disputes across numerous industries, including finance, software, technology and healthcare” and its ability to “handle complex, sophisticated matters in a cost-effective manner.”

For the ninth consecutive year, C&G has been recognized by The Legal 500 in the Securities Litigation: Defense category for its “work on the defense of broker-dealers, investment advisors, hedge funds, and private equity funds in securities litigation and FINRA arbitrations.”

In addition, Mark S Cohen is once again ranked as a “Leading Lawyer” for Securities Litigation: Defense. One client describes Mark as “one of the best trial lawyers I have seen” and goes on to recognize him for his professionalism, responsiveness, excellent judgment, and high-quality work.

Recognized Practices:

• Corporate Investigations and White-Collar Criminal Defense: Advice to Individuals
• Corporate Investigations and White-Collar Criminal Defense: Advice to Corporates
• General Commercial Disputes
• Securities Litigation: Defense

Recognized Individuals:

Corporate Investigations and White-Collar Criminal Defense

• Jonathan S Abernethy
• Jason Brown
• Mark S Cohen
• S Gale Dick
• Miriam González Durántez
• Melissa H Maxman

General Commercial Disputes

• Mark S Cohen
• S Gale Dick
• Lawrence T Gresser

Securities Litigation: Defense

• Mark S Cohen
• S Gale Dick
• Lawrence T Gresser
• Nathaniel P T Read

Cohen & Gresser is pleased to announce that Melissa H Maxman, Erica Lai, and Andrew J Pecoraro have been named to the 2020 Capital Pro Bono Honor Roll for their pro bono contributions during the last calendar year. The Capital Pro Bono Honor Roll is an annual report published by the D.C. Courts, in partnership with the D.C. Access to Justice Commission and the D.C. Bar Pro Bono Center, and recognizes “attorneys who have contributed 50 hours or more of pro bono work to those who cannot afford legal counsel.” Erica Lai and Andrew J Pecoraro were recognized with “high honors” for performing over 100 hours of pro bono work in 2020.

Cohen & Gresser partnered with the National Women’s Law Center in pursuing sex and disability discrimination EEOC charges against the Shelby County Division of Corrections on behalf of “Ms. N.” and other female prison guards that resulted in a favorable monetary settlement for Ms. N and the prison’s adoption of substantially bolstered sexual harassment and disability accommodation policies and protections.

Melissa H Maxman is featured in The Athletic, in which she discusses the NCAA’s argument to exempt its amateurism rules from federal antitrust scrutiny. “The NCAA is going to try to backdoor into an antitrust exemption the same way baseball did,” Melissa said. “The baseball exemption came to be accidentally through a Supreme Court ruling, and it’s just gone on and on. It is bad law. That is what I fear here.” (Subscription required.)

Cohen & Gresser is pleased to announce that 35 of the firm's New York and Washington D.C.­based attorneys have been named to the 2020 Super Lawyers List across a wide range of practice areas. C&G co-­founder Mark S Cohen and partners Jonathan S Abernethy and Daniel H Tabak have also been named to the Super Lawyers list of the top 100 lawyers in the New York metropolitan area, and partner Karen H Bromberg has been recognized as one of the top 50 women lawyers in the New York metropolitan area.

A D.C.-based C&G team comprised of Melissa H Maxman, Ronald F Wick, and Erica Lai helped secure a victory in the U.S. Supreme Court’s landmark ruling that all workers are protected under Title VII of the 1964 Civil Rights Act regardless of gender identity or sexual orientation.

The Legal 500 has once again recognized Cohen & Gresser in its United States guide. The firm is recognized for its excellence in the following categories:

• Corporate Investigations and White Collar Criminal Defense: Advice to Individuals
• Corporate Investigations and White Collar Criminal Defense: Advice to Corporates
• General Commercial Disputes
• Securities Litigation: Defense

Mark S Cohen is ranked as a “Leading Lawyer” for Securities Litigation: Defense and is described as “an outstanding trial lawyer and strategist who has excellent judgment.” The Legal 500 also notes that “[t]he Cohen & Gresser team does extremely high quality work” and that C&G is “a go-to firm for managing complex disputes.”

We are pleased to announce that 33 of our New York and Washington D.C.-based C&G attorneys have been recognized by Super Lawyers this year across a wide range of practice areas. Super Lawyers also selected C&G co-founder Mark S Cohen and partners Jonathan S Abernethy and Daniel H Tabak to its list of the top 100 lawyers in the New York metropolitan area, and partner Karen H Bromberg to its list of the top 50 women lawyers in the New York metropolitan area.

The Legal 500 has once again recognized Cohen & Gresser in its United States guide. The firm is recognized for its excellence in the following categories:

• Corporate Investigations/White Collar
• Corporate Investigations/White Collar – Advice to Individuals
• General Commercial Disputes
• Securities Litigation Defense

The Legal 500 notes that C&G has “impressive cross border capabilities and is often retained by clients in multijurisdictional disputes” and that our disputes team members are “true litigators, focused, and thoughtful - no stone is left unturned.”

C&G helped secure a victory in a case alleging that President Trump violated the Foreign Emoluments Clause of the Constitution by accepting benefits from foreign governments without seeking and obtaining congressional consent. C&G represents five legal historians who filed an amicus brief citing extensive historical sources demonstrating that the Founding Fathers shared the plaintiffs’ definition of emoluments. Judge Emmet Sullivan of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, in denying Trump’s motion to dismiss for failure to state a claim, expressly stated that “[t]he Court appreciates the illuminating analysis provided by the amici,” and that “Amici Legal Historians soundly reject the President’s narrow definition of Emolument as inaccurate, unrepresentative, and misleading.”

The National Law Journal published a piece about the importance of our clients’ amicus brief, mentioning Cohen & Gresser’s role, and quoting Washington, D.C. Managing Partner, Melissa Maxman, linked here.

This is the second time a district judge has relied in large part upon our legal historian clients’ brief in construing the Emoluments Clause.

We are pleased to announce that thirty of our New York and Washington, D.C.-based C&G attorneys have been recognized by Super Lawyers this year across a wide range of practice areas. Super Lawyers also selected C&G co-founders Mark S Cohen and Lawrence T Gresser to its list of the top 100 lawyers in the New York metropolitan area, and partners Karen H Bromberg and Alexandra Wald as two of its top 50 women lawyers in New York. Super Lawyers ranks outstanding lawyers who have attained a high degree of peer recognition and professional achievement. Fewer than five percent of all lawyers in the U.S. receive this honor.

Cohen & Gresser helped achieve a precedent-setting ruling in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit in Jerry Reeves v. Fayette SCI, et al. (No. 17-1043), that clears the way for wrongfully convicted defendants to seek federal habeas relief where their trial counsel failed to present credible evidence of their actual innocence. There is a split among federal circuit courts over what type of “new evidence” of actual innocence is required before courts can consider the merits of untimely habeas corpus petitions that allege constitutional violations.  Some circuits consider evidence only if it is newly discovered after trial, while others permit evidence available at the time of the trial that defense counsel failed to present. The Third Circuit had not weighed in on the issue. Cohen & Gresser filed a pro bono amici curiae brief on behalf of the Innocence Network and the Innocence Project of Pennsylvania urging the Third Circuit to adopt the broader newly presented standard, because the narrower newly discovered evidence standard would cut off a pathway to exoneration for innocent individuals whose attorneys failed to present exculpatory evidence at trial. In a precedential decision on July 23, 2018, the Third Circuit agreed, vacating the denial of Mr. Reeves’ habeas petition and instructing the district court on remand to consider his newly presented exculpatory evidence.

The Legal 500 has once again recognized Cohen & Gresser in its United States guide. The firm is recognized for its achievements in the following categories:

• Corporate Investigations/White Collar – Advice to Corporates
• Corporate Investigations/White Collar – Advice to Individuals
• General Commercial Disputes
• Securities Litigation Defense

The Legal 500 notes that C&G has “an excellent group of sophisticated lawyers” and "has the ability to explain complex structures in plain English.” Nine C&G partners were individually recognized in the guide.

Twenty-eight of our New York and Washington D.C.-based Cohen & Gresser attorneys have been recognized by Super Lawyers this year across a wide range of practice areas. Super Lawyers also named C&G co-founding partner Mark S Cohen to its list of the top 100 lawyers in the New York metropolitan area, and partners Karen H Bromberg and Alexandra Wald to its top 50 women lawyers in New York list. Super Lawyers ranks outstanding lawyers who have attained a high degree of peer recognition and professional achievement. Fewer than five percent of all lawyers in the U.S. receive this honor.

Melissa H Maxman was quoted in a Bloomberg article regarding Google’s internet dominance and the effects on internet searches, noting that “bringing plaintiff cases in the U.S. will be challenging, especially after the Federal Trade Commission closed its investigation of Google in 2013.”

See Politico’s coverage of the event here.

Chambers USA and The Legal 500's United States guides have recognized Cohen & Gresser and a number of the firm's lawyers for outstanding achievements during the past year in the categories of Commercial Litigation, Securities Litigation, Patents, and Corporate Investigations and White Collar Defense.

The Capitol Forum Interview Series features a discussion with Melissa H Maxman, Managing Partner of C&G's Washington, D.C. office. 

View the interview here. 

Twenty-two of our New York and Washington, D.C.-based attorneys have been recognized by Super Lawyers this year across a wide range of practice areas. Super Lawyers also named C&G co-founding partners Mark S Cohen and Lawrence T Gresser to its list of the top 100 lawyers in the New York metropolitan area, and partner Karen H Bromberg to both its list of top 50 women lawyers and top 100 lawyers in the New York metropolitan area.

Cohen & Gresser is pleased to announce the opening of its fourth office in Washington, D.C. The Washington office will be led by partner Melissa H Maxman, and will handle a range of commercial litigation and regulatory enforcement matters, with a focus on U.S. antitrust issues, criminal and civil litigation, and compliance and regulatory disputes in the federal agencies.

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Melissa H Maxman co-authored a New York Times OpEd advocating that the U.S. Senate open its upcoming impeachment debate to the public.

In this C&G Client Alert, Melissa H Maxman, Ronald F Wick, Erica Lai, and Danielle Morello discuss the U.S. Department of Justice's (DOJ) announcement that it will now consider crediting companies for “robust” compliance programs at the charging stage of criminal antitrust investigations. This signals a reversal of the DOJ’s longstanding policy of allowing substantial penalty reductions only for “early-in” whistleblowers.

C&G partner Melissa H Maxman discussed alternative dispute resolution in the U.S. for Financier Worldwide’s global Annual Review on the topic.

Melissa H Maxman and Ronald F Wick examine the impact of the Leegin Creative Leather Products Inc. v PSKS Inc. ruling a decade after the decision.

In an upcoming program for Lawline, Melissa H Maxman and Ronald F Wick explore NCAA v. Alston, the first comprehensive case addressing the NCAA's scope of authority in more than 35 years.

In June of 2021, the Supreme Court of the United States unanimously held that the National Collegiate Athletic Association ("NCAA") has violated the Sherman Act with its rules limiting the amount of education-related compensation colleges and universities can provide to student-athletes. However, the Court did not define what constitutes education-related compensation, and the NCAA still has the ability to define the outer boundaries of that term.

This webinar will consider NCAA v. Alston as it relates to the Sherman Act and the implications the Court's decision will have.

Earlier this summer, the Group of Seven (G7) held their annual summit to coordinate global policy and devise a plan to help the world build back better from COVID-19. The G7 discussed several priorities and initiatives, including a global minimum tax, international trade agreements, and other spending priorities that might significantly impact business operations across all industries and jurisdictions. So how can you prepare for potential changes to global policy, regulation, and the law?

Join Cohen & Gresser on September 28 for an international webinar that will offer practical solutions and discuss immediate steps businesses can take to develop and shape their global legislative strategy moving forward. C&G’s Adam Bramwell, Miriam González Durántez, Jeffrey Bronheim, and Melissa Maxman will discuss some of the G7’s top priorities and how the individual member nations are implementing them, with a particular focus on the U.S. budget process and spending priorities and global tax and trade regulations.

Date: September 28, 2021
Time: 5 PM BST / 12 PM EST

Topics will include:

• An overview of the G7 summit and top priorities moving forward
• Tax and spending priorities, including:
  • U.S. fiscal policy and the budget process
  • The global minimum tax
  • International investment
• International trade policy, including:
  • Priorities of the European Union
  • The impact of Brexit on global trade policy
  • The U.S. trade agenda
• Steps that companies can take right now to craft and strengthen their legislative/policy strategy.

To register for the webinar, please email us at events@cohengresser.com

In an on-demand Lawline CLE course, Melissa Maxman and Erica Lai discuss the origins of Section 2 of the Sherman Act, explain its current legal framework and standards, and examine its continued evolution, focusing on Section 2 challenges brought by state and federal governments against Google.

Melissa Maxman joined a conference call hosted by The Capitol Forum to discuss the pending Supreme Court case NCAA v. Alston. During the call, Melissa discussed antitrust exemptions and the O’Bannon case and spoke about the impact these and other issues will have on the pending Alston case.

Melissa H Maxman guest lectured at Fordham Law School’s Global Cartels course on the topic of International Cartel Enforcement and The Globalization of Antitrust.

Melissa H Maxman moderated an American Bar Association panel during the Class Actions National (Virtual) Institute that examined the ethical challenges and boundaries  to class action settlements. The panel explored several themes, including attorney communications with absent class members; potential conflicts of interest between class members; and objectors to class action settlements.

Melissa H Maxman presented a CLE on "Preventing and Defending a Private Civil Class Action Price-Fixing Lawsuit: Best Practices for a New Decade" at a program hosted by Lawline.  She outlined clear steps to ensure the best strategies to prevent and defend against different types of anticompetitive allegations.

Melissa H Maxman appeared on an episode of Our Curious Amalgam’s podcast series, titled “When is Doing Good Bad? Antitrust in Social Responsibility Agreements,” hosted by John Roberti, leader of the Antitrust Section of the American Bar Association.

Listen to the episode here.

Melissa H Maxman moderated a panel at the 2019 American Bar Association National Institute on Class Actions. The panel, “Collective Actions on a World Stage – A Global Musical,” discussed how other markets might benefit from class or collective actions in an increasingly harmonized world.

Melissa H Maxman spoke on a panel, titled “At The Intersection of Labor and Antitrust: New Trends in Non-Poaching Litigation,” at an Antitrust Economics Workshop at the 46^th Annual Conference on International Antitrust Law and Policy hosted by Fordham University School of Law.

Melissa H Maxman participated in a presentation, titled “The Incoherent Justification for Naked Restraints of Competition: What the Dental Self-Regulation Cases Tell Us about the Cavities in Antitrust Law” at the 19^th Annual Loyola Antitrust Colloquium at the Loyola University Chicago School of Law.

Partner Melissa Maxman spoke at the 22^nd Annual National Institute on Class Actions hosted by the American Bar Association in Chicago. The panel discussion, “Big Price Tags, Big Issues”, explored the proliferation of third-party financing and its challenges.

Partner Melissa Maxman appeared on Legal Talk Network’s podcast series ‘On the Road’ on the ‘Antitrust Exemptions in Sports--& More!’ episode. She joined host Creighton Macy of Baker McKenzie, and panelists Sathya Gosselin of Hausfeld and Kim Scott of Miller Canfield, in a discussion about antitrust exemptions in sports, antitrust careers, and litigating sports cases.

Melissa H Maxman moderated a panel at the 2017 American Bar Association National Institute on Class Actions, titled “Tapping the Collective Consciousness: How Americans Feel About Class Actions and Why.” The panel discussed legislation designed to correct class-action lawyers’ alleged abuse of an inefficient legal system.

Consumer Antitrust Institute in Chicago

ABA Antitrust Spring Meeting Panel, Washington DC 

ABA 20^th Annual National Institute on Class Actions in Las Vegas NV

International Association of Korean Lawyers, IAKL Seoul Conference Program, Washington, D.C.

In-House Counsel Forum, Jeju, Korea

Association of Transportation Law Professionals (“ATLP”)  87th Annual Meeting in New Orleans

Melissa Maxman moderated this event. 

Melissa Maxman was a panel chair for this event. 

Melissa Maxman was a panelist at this event. 

Melissa was a panelist at this event. 

Melissa was a speaker at this event. 

Melissa was a panelist for this event. 

Melissa was a primary commentator at this event. 

Melissa was a speaker at this event. 

Melissa was a panelist at this event. 

Melissa was a panelist at this event. 

Melissa was a panelist at this event. 

Melissa was a speaker at this event. 

Melissa was a speaker at this event. 

Melissa was a speaker at this event. 

Melissa was a speaker at this CLE course.

Melissa was a speaker at this event.