MEHRI & SKALET - Key Persons
Job Titles:
- M & S As a Litigation Paralegal
- Paralegal
Adil Keri joined M&S as a litigation paralegal after graduating with honors from Hope College and receiving a Bachelor's degree in Political Science. At the firm, Adil supports attorneys on cases, conducts legal research, and assists with the preparation and filing of briefs.
Originally from Takoma Park, MD, Adil has been involved with organizations such as ONE DC, Black Workers United, and the Michigan Federation of College Democrats prior to joining M&S in 2022.
Practice Areas
Employment
Andie Forsee is an associate at Mehri & Skalet. Before joining M&S, Andie was a legal fellow at Reprieve, where she supported civilian survivors of drone strikes through litigation and policy advocacy. She previously clerked for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 8th Circuit.
Andie received her J.D. from Harvard Law School, where she organized student volunteers as co-president of the HLS Immigration Project and co-director of the International Refugee Assistance Project. Andie advocated for the rights of civilians in conflict through the International Human Rights Clinic, a clinic with PAX Netherlands, and as a research assistant for both the Armed Conflict and Civilian Protection Initiative and the Program on International Law and Armed Conflict. She spent summers working with Brady United on gun trafficking and Oxfam on pandemic-era asylum rules.
Andie earned a B.A. in Political Science and Comparative Literature from Northwestern University.
Practice Areas
Employment
Cleveland Lawrence III is a Partner at Mehri & Skalet, and is Co-Chair of the firm's Whistleblower Rights practice group - which focuses on representing individual and corporate whistleblowers at all stages of litigation under federal and state False Claims Act laws, the IRS, SEC, and CFTC whistleblower programs, the Motor Vehicle Safety Whistleblower Act, and a variety of anti-retaliation laws and regulations. Cleveland has been a thought leader on whistleblower, fraud, and compliance issues for more than a decade. From 2008 to 2016, he led the Taxpayers Against Fraud Education Fund (TAFEF) and its sister organization, Taxpayers Against Fraud, and regularly met with whistleblowers, federal and state government officials, private attorneys, and the public to combat fraud against federal and state funds. He also served as editor-in-chief of TAFEF's law journal, the "False Claims Act & Qui Tam Quarterly Review." After leaving TAFEF, Cleveland returned to private practice, and joined Mehri & Skalet in 2018. In 2020, he re-joined TAFEF's leadership; he currently serves on its President's Council, and Chairs its Diversity & Inclusion Standing Committee.
Throughout his distinguished career, Cleveland has worked with the highest levels of all three branches of Government to shape whistleblower law and policy. In addition to arguing before federal district and circuit courts on behalf of his own whistleblower clients, he has authored and filed numerous amicus curiae briefs in federal and state courts across the country - including the U.S. Supreme Court. Cleveland has also and partnered with high-ranking officials from the U.S. Department of Justice to coordinate the nation's largest annual False Claims Act conference - which often featured Directors of the IRS, SEC, and CFTC whistleblower programs. Moreover, he has testified before Congress and state legislatures regarding FCA and whistleblower-related legislation; represented a testifying witness during Congressional committee hearings; prepared draft federal and state legislation; and submitted multiple comment letters to federal agencies implementing Dodd-Frank and other whistleblower reward programs. Cleveland also has experience serving as outside defense counsel, having handled a variety of fraud, compliance, ethics, and whistleblower issues during his six-year stint in "BigLaw".
Cleveland has examined whistleblowing from multiple perspectives and frequently speaks about the topic to a variety of audiences, including: conferences, seminars, and other educational events for whistleblowers and attorneys sponsored by the American Bar Association, the Federal Bar Association, the National Healthcare Anti-Fraud Association, TAFEF, and others; law students, graduate students, compliance officers, and other groups; and media outlets such as Law360, POLITICO, the Corporate Crime Reporter, The CPA Journal, and the Whistleblower Revolution podcast.
Cleveland received a B.A. from Georgetown University and he graduated, with honors, from The George Washington University Law School, where he was a member of the Public Contracts Law Journal. A native of New Orleans, he is a founder and president of the Lagniappe Education Foundation, a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization that provides scholarship assistance to deserving college-bound graduates from his alma mater, Edna Karr High School.
Practice Areas
Whistleblowers
Cyrus Mehri is a founding partner of Mehri & Skalet, PLLC. He litigates cases involving discrimination, civil and consumer rights, and corporate fraud. Fast Company says, "He is something of a one-man army in the battle against business as usual…. His impact-both in terms of penalties and remedies-is undeniable," while the New York Times says, "Mr. Mehri's vision for corporate America involves sweeping change, not the piecemeal kind."
Mr. Mehri's reputation is well-earned. He has led and co-led some of the largest and most significant race and gender cases in U.S. history, including the two largest race discrimination class actions in history: Roberts v. Texaco Inc., which settled in 1997 for $176 million, and Ingram v. The Coca-Cola Company, which settled in 2001 for $192.5 million. Both settlements included historic programmatic relief, featuring independent Task Forces with sweeping powers to reform key human resources practices such as pay, promotions, and evaluations.
Mr. Mehri also spearheaded Robinson v. Ford Motor Company, which resulted in the creation of 279 apprenticeship positions for African American employees and a $10 million payment, as well as the creation of new state-of-the-art testing protocols for apprenticeship positions. Mr. Mehri achieved similar settlements involving selection procedures with other companies such as Alcoa and Visteon. He also played a lead role in the $24 million settlement against John Hancock Life Insurance Company, resolving claims of decades-old discriminatory practices in the sale and marketing of life insurance policies to African-Americans, including a $15 million cy pres component to be distributed to organizations that benefit African-American communities. In addition, he launched the Madison Avenue Project with the NAACP in 2009.
The "Women on Wall Street" project, which Mr. Mehri launched with the National Council of Women's Organizations to end discrimination against women in financial institutions, has achieved settlements with Morgan Stanley & Co. ($47 million), Smith Barney ($33 million), and Wells Fargo/Wachovia ($32 million), exceeding $114 million in total, along with transforming the opportunities available to women on Wall Street.
Mr. Mehri also served as co-lead counsel in the Pars Equality Center case challenging the Trump Administration's travel ban. The Pars Equality Center filed an amicus brief in Trump v. Hawaii, which was cited favorably in the dissenting Supreme Court opinions. 138 S. Ct. 2392, 2431 (2018) (Breyer, J., dissenting); id. at 2445 (Sotomayor, J., dissenting).
Mr. Mehri has a history of representing defrauded investors, pensioners, and consumers, as well as small businesses subjected to price-fixing, in other class actions. For example, in 1993, Florin v. Nations Bank restored $16 million to a pension plan that was bilked by company insiders at Simmons Mattress Company. In 1991, In re Bolar Pharmaceutical Co. returned over $25 million to defrauded shareholders. Mr. Mehri serves as co-lead counsel in numerous consumer class actions. Mr. Mehri helped to prosecute one of the largest securities cases in history, a $2.5 billion settlement with AOL Time Warner.
Mr. Mehri has worked to dramatically change the face of NFL management-and level the playing field. After he co-wrote "Black Coaches in the National Football League: Superior Performance, Inferior Opportunities" with Johnnie L. Cochran, Jr., the NFL adopted the "Rooney Rule," a comprehensive diversity program under which the NFL has reached historical numbers of black management personnel, including head coaches. For seven straight years after the 2006 season, one or both clubs in the Super Bowl featured an African American General Manager or Head Coach. Along with Mr. Cochran and John Wooten, Mr. Mehri co-founded the Fritz Pollard Alliance, an affinity group for NFL minority coaches, front office, and scouting personnel that advocates for the hiring and promotion of minority candidates within the NFL ranks. The Fritz Pollard Alliance has served as the social conscience of the NFL: in calling for the name change of the DC Football Club since 2014; in supporting the breaking of barriers by women in the League; in supporting player protests since 2016; and in supporting voter registration drives at club facilities since 2018.
The NFL also looked to Mr. Mehri to implement a new Player Assessment Test (NFL-PAT), an innovative tool to capture the non-physical attributes of a successful NFL player and to reduce socioeconomic bias in the drafting process. The NFL-PAT was unveiled at the 2013 Scouting Combine in Indianapolis and has been used by most of the NFL Clubs.
Along with Pam Coukos and Jenny Yang, Mr. Mehri founded Working IDEAL, a consulting company providing thought leadership on diversity, equity, and inclusion. Working IDEAL has brought innovative ideas and effective tools for fostering diversity and inclusion to a wide cross-section of entities, including universities, cities, labor unions, and non-profits.
Practice Areas
Employment
Job Titles:
- M & S As a Paralegal
- Paralegal
Dominic Charles joined M&S as a paralegal after graduating with a master's in history from the George Washington University. In his capacity as a paralegal, Dominic provides support on a variety of cases, conducts document review, and assists in legal research.
Before attending the George Washington University, Dominic graduated with honors from the University of Central Florida with a bachelor's degree in history and economics.
Practice Areas
Employment
Job Titles:
- Executive Assistant
- M & S in 2020 As an Executive Assistant
Jamboa Davis joined M&S in 2020 as an Executive Assistant. She has a degree in Accounting and Construction Management, and over 20 years of experience in accounting, executive administration, job costing, and contract administration. At M&S, she supports attorneys and staff with office management and accounting duties.
Jane Kim is an Associate at Mehri & Skalet. Jane specializes in class actions with a focus on antitrust and consumer protection law. Prior to joining M&S, Jane was the Seneca Falls Fellow with the Food Project of Public Justice, where she engaged in impact litigation to address corporate consolidation, worker abuse, and environmental pollution issues in the nation's food system. Jane also worked at the California Department of Justice, Antitrust Law Section, and assisted with various investigations and enforcement actions. While in law school, Jane served as an extern in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California and the Federal Trade Commission (FTC).
Jane received her J.D. from the University of California, Berkeley, School of Law, and B.A in International Studies from Korea University. Jane is admitted to practice in California and the District of Columbia.
Practice Areas
Employment
Joshua Karsh joined M&S in 2020, opening up the firm's Chicago office. In his 30 years of practice, Josh has represented all kinds of clients-individual workers and nation states, community-based organizations and litigation classes with tens or hundreds of thousands of class members, sole proprietors and large companies. He is a seasoned trial and appellate litigator, has tried multiple cases to verdict (before both judges and juries), arbitrated and mediated cases, and briefed and argued appeals across the country.
One federal judge has praised Josh for doing a "spectacular job. He [is] knowledgeable about the facts and the law, articulate, honest, sensitive to the clients he represent[s] and respectful to and respected by his opponents … [earning] my highest recommendation." Another has praised him for his exceptional tenacity, stating: "I want to tell you I've never seen such litigation in 11 years on the bench that was more difficult than this one … I actually expected, to tell you the truth, at some point that the plaintiffs would just give up because it was so hard, but they never did… And, in fact, they achieved a settlement of the case, which I find remarkable under all of these circumstances." A state court judge who hired Josh to represent her personally has praised him as "a brilliant, highly skilled and experienced litigator."
For clients he has represented as plaintiffs, Josh has recovered hundreds of millions of dollars. On behalf of defendants, he has successfully prevented what would have been crushing judgments.
Josh is a graduate of the University of Chicago Law School and Yale University, and clerked for United States District Court Judge Hubert L. Will. He is a member of the American Law Institute (ALI) and a Fellow of the College of Labor and Employment Lawyers. He has been heralded as an Illinois Super Lawyer® and listed on the Illinois Leading Lawyer Network List.
Josh has served on the Boards of Directors of the Chicago Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights and the Jewish Council on Urban Affairs, and as President of the Jewish Reconstructionist Congregation in Evanston, Illinois, where he lives with his wife and two sons.
Lee-Ann (Foster) Brady is the Paralegal Director at M&S. She has been with the firm since 2007. Lee-Ann is a graduate of the University of Pittsburgh where she majored in Legal Studies and Psychology.
Lee-Ann manages our team of paralegals and leads complex litigation support efforts. She has been involved in securing results for clients in a variety of cases from ending employment discrimination to stopping consumer fraud.
Lee-Ann played a major role in dispersing awards from the Norflet Progress Fund to non-profit organizations that do work benefiting African American communities and overseeing grantee compliance. She is also instrumental in our cases representing women correctional officers who have experienced sexual harassment by inmates.
Practice Areas
Employment
Leoni B. Benjamin has a Master's Degree in Business Administration and over 23 years of experience in accounting, administration, planning and directing executive-level administrative affairs and support.
Leoni has spent the past 15 years working in law firms where she has managed the daily administrative and clerical operations of the office in support of staff and senior level management officials. At M&S, her tasks include accounting, auditing, payroll administration, budget preparation, financial analysis, and information management.
Michael Lieder is a partner at Mehri & Skalet. He has worked with the firm since 2012 and specializes in complex employment discrimination and wage and hour litigation. He has had a leading role in all of the employment class action litigation at the firm since he arrived.
Michael is regularly recognized as a leading class action lawyer. He has been named a "Super Lawyer," one of "500 Leading Plaintiffs' Lawyers in America" by Lawdragon magazine, and one of Washington's Best Lawyers by the Washingtonian. Michael also writes and speaks about employment discrimination class actions. His article, Onward and Upward after Wal-Mart v. Dukes, co-authored with Cyrus Mehri, was published by Trial Magazine. He co-authored a book chapter, Addressing the Ever Increasing Standards for Statistical Evidence: A Plaintiff Attorney's Perspective, in Adverse Impact Analysis: Understanding Data, Statistics, and Risk (2017). In addition, he has prepared papers and/or spoken at seminars concerning mediation of employment discrimination cases, the Age Discrimination in Employment Act, Rule 23(f) review of class action certification decisions, ERISA litigation, and wage-and-hour litigation. He also has authored several amicus briefs to the Supreme Court and Courts of Appeal.
Michael is also an expert in age discrimination and claims under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 ("ERISA").
Prior to joining Mehri & Skalet, Michael was of counsel, a partner, and a member of Sprenger & Lang, PLLC for 21 years. At that law firm, he generally served as lead counsel or in another leading role in employment discrimination, ERISA, wage and hour, and consumer class action litigation, including the following prominent cases:
Job Titles:
- of Counsel
- Professor of Law at American University 's Washington College of Law, Serves As "of Counsel" to M & S
Before entering academia, Professor Duru was an associate at Mehri & Skalet, where he represented plaintiffs' interests in employment discrimination and other civil rights matters with a focus on the sports industry.
Professor Duru is active in the national sports law community, serving as a member of the United States Anti-Doping Agency's Anti Doping Review Board, the NCAA's Committees on Competitive Safeguards and Medical Aspects of Sport, and the National Sports Law Institute's Board of Advisors. He also lectures and writes extensively on sports law and employment law topics and, among other publications, is co-author of Sports Law and Regulation: Cases, Materials, and Problems (5th ed.) (Wolters Kluwer) and The Business of Sports Agents (3rd ed.) (University of Pennsylvania Press), and is author of Advancing the Ball: Race, Reformation, and the Quest for Equal Coaching Opportunity in the NFL (Oxford University Press). In 2018, Professor Duru received both the American University Faculty Award for Outstanding Teaching and the Washington College of Law Award for Excellence in Teaching.
After receiving his undergraduate education at Brown University, Professor Duru completed a joint-degree program at Harvard University, receiving a Master's degree in Public Policy from the John F. Kennedy School of Government and a Juris Doctorate from Harvard Law School. He then served as a law clerk to the Honorable Damon J. Keith of the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit.
Oluwadamilola Animashaun joined the firm as an Associate in 2023. Before joining the firm Oluwadamilola worked as a Greenfield Fellow at Bredhoff & Kaiser PLLC and prior to that as a Research and Policy Fellow for the Stanford Center for Racial Justice.
Oluwadamilola received a J.D. from Howard University School of Law, where he was awarded Howard's Voluntary Pro Bono Pledge for his contributions and legal services provided to underserved communities. He also obtained an Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) certificate for developing a proficiency in dispute resolution processes through rigorous academic and experiential learning in the processes of negotiation, mediation, and arbitration. While attending law school, he also interned at the American Civil Liberties Union of Maryland and the Public Defender Service for the District of Columbia.
Oluwadamilola earned his B.A., magna cum laude, double majoring in Africana Studies and Political Science from the University of Rhode Island and was awarded the University Provost's Excellence Award in Africana Studies.
Practice Areas
Employment
Paris Shan graduated from Swarthmore College, where she earned a Bachelor's degree in Political Science. As a Paralegal Fellow at M&S, Paris provides support to attorneys by assisting with case work, conducting comprehensive legal research, and aiding in the preparation and filing of briefs.
Before joining M&S, Paris was actively involved with numerous human rights organizations dedicated to tackling issues such as gender discrimination, prisoner's rights, international peacekeeping, and gun violence prevention.
Practice Areas
Employment
Richard Condit is a partner at Mehri & Skalet and co-chairs the firm's Whistleblower Rights Practice. Before joining Mehri & Skalet, Richard worked at the Government Accountability Project (GAP)-first from 1987-1995 and again in 2007. In his first stint at GAP, he helped develop the organization's environmental whistleblower and citizen enforcement programs. When Richard returned to the organization, he served as Senior Counsel and led GAP's in-house litigation of whistleblower and open government cases. Richard is also the former General Counsel for Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER), where he led the group's whistleblower litigation efforts. Additionally, Richard previously served as an adjunct faculty member of the University of the District of Columbia David A. Clarke School of Law, teaching Whistleblower Law and Practice in the classroom and through the school's highly regarded clinical program.
Richard is admitted to practice before the U.S. Supreme Court and multiple federal district courts. He has also appeared before several U.S. Courts of Appeal and regularly practices before the U.S. Department of Labor, the U.S. Office of Special Counsel, the U.S. Merit Systems Protection Board, and various state courts and agencies.
Richard's expertise is recognized by whistleblower advocacy and support organizations. In 2021, he appeared at Whistleblowers of America's first Workplace Promise Institute conference and spoke on a panel focused on legal protections for whistleblowers. Richard also spoke at the Taxpayer's Against Fraud 21st Annual Conference. At the TAF conference, he moderated a panel that discussed the mental health challenges, stress, and trauma experienced by whistleblowers.
Richard's work was recognized in Tom Mueller's 2019 book, Crisis of Conscience: Whistleblowing in the Age of Fraud; former U.S. EPA senior criminal enforcement lawyer Richard Emory's 2019 book, Fighting Pollution and Climate Change; and Chip Ward's 1999 book, Canaries on the Rim - Living Downwind in the West.
Job Titles:
- of Counsel
- Advisor to the Federal Reserve Board
- Consumer Protection
- Principal and Managing Partner in the Firm
Steven A. Skalet is a principal and managing partner in the firm of Mehri & Skalet, PLLC. Mr. Skalet has over 40 years of litigation and transactional experience in real estate, consumer fraud, bank fraud and class action litigation.
Mr. Skalet has been an advisor to the Federal Reserve Board on credit and banking matters. He has served on the Montgomery County Advisory Committee reviewing the wholesale simplification of the Montgomery County Code. He also served on the District of Columbia Bar Committee responsible for drafting form commercial leases and the Montgomery County Board of Realtors committee responsible for drafting residential real estate contracts. He has been peer selected as a Super Lawyer and as a "Top Attorney in Washington DC." Mr. Skalet is an officer and director of Public Justice, P.C, one of the premier non-profit public interest law firms in the country.
Job Titles:
- M & S As Litigation Paralegal
- Paralegal
Tena-Lesly Reid joined M&S as litigation paralegal after graduating with honors from George Washington University and receiving a Bachelor's degree in Political Science with minors in Law & Society and Economics. Tena supports attorneys across all practice areas in legal research, court filings, and assists with overall case management.
Prior to joining M&S, Tena has been involved in nonprofit organizations such as the Leadership Conference on Human and Civil Rights, the Connecticut Coalition for Achievement Now (Conncan), and the National Security Archive.
Practice Areas
Employment