A member of the firm’s Litigation and Employment teams, Megan Gao advises public and private companies, as well as individual clients, in high-stakes complex commercial disputes and investigations.
Megan represents plaintiffs and defendants in a wide variety of business disputes, spanning employment matters—including restrictive covenants, compensation, separation negotiations, discrimination, and retaliation—to commercial cases involving contracts, mergers and acquisitions, securities fraud, and consumer protection. She brings creativity and pragmatic problem-solving to every engagement, guiding clients through legal strategy in service of their broader personal and business objectives. Megan has experience with all stages of litigation, from pre-suit counseling and negotiated resolutions through trial, and has represented leading companies across the finance, technology, sports, legal, nonprofit, energy, and transportation sectors.
Megan maintains an active pro bono practice, including housing, public policy, immigration, family law, and employment matters, and has been recognized by nonprofit organizations and bar associations for her pro bono contributions. She helped the Asian American Bar Association of New York (AABANY) relaunch its award-winning pro bono clinic serving low-income and low English-proficiency individuals in 2021 following a pause due to the pandemic and served as a vice chair of AABANY’s Pro Bono & Community Service Committee in 2022-2023. In law school, Megan also successfully represented asylum applicants in immigration court as a member of the Immigrants’ Rights Clinic and interviewed and counseled asylum seekers in Texas, Louisiana, and Mexico.
Before joining Harris St. Laurent, Megan was a litigation associate at Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison LLP.
Notable Matters
Some of Megan’s representations include:
- Advising employees and employers on offer letters, compensation, restrictive covenants, termination, and settlement agreements.
- A telehealth company in the investigation of hostile work environment claims against a senior executive.
- The founder/CEO of a publicly traded sportswear company in a regulatory investigation that was terminated without any charges.
- Winning a motion to dismiss a consumer protection lawsuit alleging misleading “drip pricing” practices by adding mandatory fees to advertised rates.
- Member of trial team that won a defense jury verdict on all claims brought by a former employee against a major law firm in a three-week jury trial in the Southern District of New York.
- A telecommunications company in lawsuits involving claims of gender discrimination, retaliation, and the enforceability of restrictive covenants, resulting in a favorable settlement on the eve of trial.
- A pharmaceutical company in a securities class action alleging misrepresentations and omissions about the company’s drug used to treat rare blood disorders, which settled on favorable terms after discovery and mediation.
- Advising clients on data privacy laws and regulations.
These matters include cases handled at Ms. Gao’s prior firm.