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Profile Picture

Megan Cooney

Megan
Cooney

Partner

CONTACT INFO

mcooney@gibsondunn.com

TEL:+1 949.451.4087

FAX:+1 949.475.4778

Orange County

3161 Michelson Drive, Suite 1200, Irvine, CA 92612-4412 USA

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PRACTICE

Labor and Employment Class Actions Litigation

BIOGRAPHY

Megan Cooney is a partner in the Orange County office of Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher.  She is a member of the firm’s Labor and Employment, Class Actions, and Litigation Practice Groups.

Ms. Cooney’s practice focuses on employment and class action litigation. She has represented employers across the country in class actions, collective actions under the Fair Labor Standards Act, representative actions under the California Private Attorneys General Act, and individual actions in state and federal court alleging a broad range of employment-related claims.  Ms. Cooney has extensive experience litigating wage and hour, discrimination, retaliation, harassment, and worker misclassification claims.

Ms. Cooney also has extensive experience advising employers regarding personnel policies, employee handbooks, job classification, termination issues, and other employment-related matters.  Ms. Cooney also represents clients in connection with workplace investigations and compliance audits.  She has represented clients in a wide variety of industries, including technology, finance, healthcare, retail, industrial services, manufacturing, entertainment, and transportation.

Ms. Cooney was recognized by The Best Lawyers in America© as “One to Watch” for 2023 (Labor and Employment).  She is also named in the inaugural 2023 Lawdragon 500 X – The Next Generation guide which highlights those “who will define where the legal profession of our country goes” and whose “leadership will be called upon by businesses and individuals when they face their crossroads.”  In 2022, Ms. Cooney was recognized by Law360 as one of five Rising Stars in Labor & Employment and Lawdragon listed her in its guide of the 500 Leading Corporate Employment Lawyers in the country.

Ms. Cooney’s recent representative experience includes:

  • Complete trial victory for Amazon in an exemption misclassification action after defeating class certification and securing summary judgment on the federal claims.  Ortiz v. Amazon.com LLC (Northern District of California).
  • Full trial victory for Grubhub, Inc. in Lawson v. Grubhub Holdings Inc., et al. (Northern District of California), in the nation’s first “gig economy” independent contractor misclassification case to go to trial.
  • Defeating class certification for various clients, including related to claims premised on various wage and hour violations in courts throughout California.
  • Compelling arbitration of claims in wage and hour and worker misclassification actions for various clients.
  • Securing full dismissal with prejudice of representative action involving novel issues related to director and officer standing.
  • Advising clients in connection with major acquisitions and workforce restructuring.

Ms. Cooney earned her law degree magna cum laude in 2013 from Pepperdine University where she was a Literary Citation Editor for the Pepperdine Law Review and a member of the Interschool Appellate Advocacy Team.  She earned a Bachelor’s degree in Political Science in 2010 from California Lutheran University, graduating summa cum laude.  Ms. Cooney is a member of the State Bar of California.

 

EDUCATION

Pepperdine University - 2013 Juris Doctor

California Lutheran University - 2010 Bachelor of Arts

ADMISSIONS

California Bar

RECENT PUBLICATIONS

Firm News - July 7, 2023 | Sixteen Gibson Dunn Attorneys named in the 2023 Lawdragon 500 X – The Next Generation Guide
Firm News - February 17, 2023 | Three Gibson Dunn Cases Named Top Verdicts of 2022
Client Alert - February 17, 2023 | Ninth Circuit Holds That the Federal Arbitration Act Preempts California’s Attempt to Criminalize Employment Arbitration Agreements
Firm News - August 15, 2022 | Lawdragon 500 2022 Names 20 Gibson Dunn Partners Top Employment Lawyers
Firm News - June 1, 2022 | Law360 Names Four Gibson Dunn Partners as 2022 Rising Stars
Client Alert - May 23, 2022 | Keeping Up with the EEOC: Artificial Intelligence Guidance and Enforcement Action
Webcasts - January 11, 2022 | Webcast: Grappling with the New Normal: Addressing Mental Health and Other Struggles when the Workplace is Remote
Press Releases - November 4, 2021 | Gibson Dunn Promotes 27 Lawyers to Partnership
Client Alert - September 15, 2021 | California Court of Appeal Confirms That Trial Courts Have the Authority to Strike PAGA Claims That Are Unmanageable
Client Alert - July 16, 2021 | California Supreme Court Announces New Formula for Calculating Premium Payments for Failures to Provide Meal Periods or Rest Breaks
Client Alert - January 12, 2021 | 2020 Year-End California Labor and Employment Update
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