Rachael E. Meny

Meny is proud that women attorneys are more and more often leading trial teams in major civil litigation.

"I think that is a trend that has increased greatly in the last five years... as clients recognize the importance of getting diverse lawyers into first-chair positions," she said. "I definitely have benefited from that in my practice from clients who are willing to say, 'Rachael... should be first-chairing a trial.'"

She first co-led a trial team in a very high-profile arbitration in 2018 in which she and partner Robert Van Nest won a $179 million award for Google against infamous self-driving car pioneer Andrew Levandowski. "That was my baby; I did it from the very beginning," she said.

Levandowski next filed for bankruptcy, and Meny headed Google's representation in that action, including the adversary proceeding brought against Uber. "The plan was I was going to be lead counsel at trial," she said, but the matter settled in April. In re Levandowski, 20-30242 (Bankr. N.D. Cal., filed March 4, 2020).

Meny also led a team that won a trial over patent licenses on behalf of a biotech firm against a competitor and Harvard University. 10X Genomics Inc v. 1 CellBio Inc., 2018-03355 (Suffolk, Mass., Super. Ct., filed Oct. 29, 2018).

The two-week trial opened just before pandemic lockdowns began. When Meny flew home from Boston afterwards, "there was no one on the plane," she said.

One large portion of her practice over the last few years has been defending gig-economy companies such as Lyft, Inc. and InstaCart in misclassification lawsuits brought by drivers. Since the adoption by voters of Proposition 22 in 2020, that work has slowed down. But she is representing Lyft in similar consolidated litigation first filed by the California attorney general. Uber Technologies Wage and Hour Cases, CJC21005179 (S.F. Super. Ct., coor'd Aug. 12, 2021).

Meny also frequently helps clients by investigating and perhaps resolving any potential legal claims prior to litigation. "It's a part of the practice that I really enjoy because you get to learn a lot about a particular business," she said.

- Don DeBenedictis