Attorneys

Mr. Sanford is the Chairman and co-founder of Sanford Heisler Sharp, LLP. Since 2004, Mr. Sanford has recovered more than $1 billion for individual clients and the United States government.

Throughout his legal career, Mr. Heisler has had notable success in employment and civil rights class actions and complex multi-party and multi-state litigation, producing more than $500 million in benefits to class members.

Judge Sharp is the Managing Partner of Sanford Heisler Sharp’s Nashville office, which opened in the spring of 2017. He joined Sanford Heisler Sharp after serving as a judge on the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Tennessee from May 2011 through April 2017, serving from 2014 to 2017 as the Court’s Chief Judge.

As Co-Chair of the Firm’s whistleblower practice, Mr. McKnight represents whistleblowers in sealed and unsealed False Claims Act/Qui Tam suits under investigation by the government.

Mr. Chapin is a veteran trial lawyer whose individual and class action practice includes unfair business practices, professional negligence, insurance coverage, toxic torts, serious personal injury and wrongful death matters.

Russell Kornblith is the New York Managing Partner who works on both qui tam / whistleblower cases and on discrimination cases. He received his law degree from Harvard Law School in 2012.

Deborah K. Marcuse is the Managing Partner of Sanford Heisler Sharp’s Baltimore, Maryland office. She received her law degree from Yale Law School in 2008.

Felicia Gilbert is the Managing Partner of Sanford Heisler Sharp’s San Francisco office. She represents employees in individual and class actions involving race, gender, and pregnancy discrimination.

Mr. Melzer is Co-Chair of the Firm’s wage and hour practice and has helped return millions of dollars of lost wages to employees in presuit negotiations, active litigation, and trials.

Mr. Palmer serves as Co-Chair of the Firm’s wage and hour practice and also has the expertise to represent individuals in False Claims Act and employment discrimination actions.

Ms. Mueting is responsible for managing much of the KPMG gender discrimination litigation and also represents employees in other individual and class discrimination and overtime cases.

As Co-Chair of the Firm’s Financial Services practice, Mr. Field leverages his decades of practice focused on commercial transactions and regulation to recover investments that have been mishandled or lost.

Ali Harwin is a partner in the New York Office of Sanford Heisler Sharp and Co-Chair of Sanford Heisler Sharp’s Title VII practice.

Steve Kelly is a Partner at Sanford Heisler Sharp and Co-Chair of the firm’s Criminal/Sexual Violence Practice Group. He represents plaintiffs, especially those from traditionally marginalized groups, who seek justice as victims of violence.

Ms. Bireda joined Sanford Heisler Sharp after three years as a member of the senior political staff at the U.S. Department of Education in Washington, DC.

Mr. Blankenstein handled significant cases involving financial institutions and employee benefits. He brings a wealth of experience in many areas of the law to the Firm’s practice.

Mr. Henderson litigates employment, housing, consumer, environmental, education and voting individual and class action cases and has briefed and argued appeals in the appellate courts including the U.S. Supreme Court.

Jennifer Siegel is a Senior Litigation Counsel in the New York office who works on both qui tam/whistleblower cases and on gender discrimination cases. She received her law degree from Harvard Law School in 2011.

As Co-Chair of the Firm’s whistleblower practice, John McKnight works primarily on qui tam/whistleblower cases. He received his law degree from University of Maryland Law School in 2011.

Christine Dunn is Co-Chair of Sanford Heisler Sharp’s Criminal/Sexual Violence Practice Group and a Senior Litigation Counsel in the firm’s Washington, DC office. Ms. Dunn’s practice involves a range of matters, including criminal/sexual violence cases, whistleblower/qui tam matters, and employment discrimination actions.

David Tracey is a Financial Services Litigation Practice Group Co-Chair and a Senior Litigation Counsel in the New York office who works primarily on discrimination and wage and hour cases. He received his law degree from NYU Law School in 2013.

Danielle Fuschetti is Senior Litigation Counsel in the San Francisco office who works primarily on matters ranging from private negotiations to class action lawsuits.

Melinda Koster represents employees with a wide range of claims, including discrimination on the basis of gender, pregnancy, and age, in both public litigation and privately negotiated settlements. She received her law degree from Stanford Law School in 2012.

As Co-Chair of the Firm’s whistleblower practice, Inayat Ali Hemani works primarily on whistleblower/qui tam cases. He received his law degree from NYU Law School in 2012.

Andrew Miller co-manages Sanford Heisler Sharp’s opioid litigation and also represents whistleblowers under the False Claims Act and the SEC whistleblower program, employees who have suffered discrimination or other mistreatment on the job, and survivors and family members of those who have been harmed by crime.

Prior to joining Sanford Heisler Sharp, Ms. St. Charles was an associate at Arnold & Porter Kaye Scholer, LLP in Washington, DC, where her practice involved a variety of complex commercial litigation matters in both federal and state courts.

Meredith Firetog is a Senior Litigation Counsel in the New York office. She graduated Phi Beta Kappa from Swarthmore College, received a Masters of Studies in Women’s Studies from the University of Oxford, and her law degree from Stanford Law School in 2014.

Katie Mesner-Hage is a Senior Litigation Counsel who works on gender discrimination cases, qui tam/whistleblower actions, and the firm’s opioid litigation on behalf of dozens of counties and cities across the nation.

Qiaojing Ella Zheng (郑巧晶 律师) is the Asian American Litigation and Finance Practice Chair for Sanford Heisler Sharp. She is fluent in Mandarin Chinese and has extensive experience representing China-based clients in legal matters arising under U.S.laws.

Ms. Kennedy’s long history of successful representation of False Claims Act whistleblowers makes her particularly effective when working for clients in cases under investigation by the United States government.

As Co-Chair of the Firm’s Financial Services practice, Mr. Morris’ extensive experience covers the full range of client claims, including discrimination, wage and hour/unpaid wages, whistleblower/qui tam, and financial malfeasance claims.

Ms. Sanford is a trial lawyer who has successfully represented clients in Southern California in cases involving gender discrimination, sexual harassment, contracts and business fraud.

Mr. Sullivan has focused his practice on insurance regulatory law for more than 27 years. He also has significant expertise in tax law and corporate governance issues.

Scott Sullivan has litigated and written widely on civil and human rights issues both domestically and internationally.

Johan has over 17 years of experience in commercial litigation and has tried dozens of cases in state and federal courts representing businesses, individuals and localities.

Ms. De Luca began her legal career in 2011 as a prosecutor at the Suffolk County District Attorney’s Office in Boston, Massachusetts.

Ms. Wiitala represents employees in a wide range of disputes, including claims of unlawful termination, unlawful denials of promotions, unequal pay, and hostile work environment, related to race, gender, pregnancy, protected leave, and disability.

During law school, Ms. Wolf represented immigrant clients in deportation proceedings as part of NYU’s Immigrant Rights Clinic.

Prior to law school, Mr. Martínez began his career as a low wage, agricultural worker. His years of experience as a manual laborer provide valuable context to his representation of employees.

Prior to law school, Ms. Linehan worked in international development on legal reform.

Prior to joining Sanford Heisler Sharp, Mr. Cooper clerked for the Honorable Robert Pitman of the United States District Court for the Western District of Texas.

As an associate attorney at Motley Rice, Ms. Van Dorn researched legal issues that are critical in securities fraud, defective medical devices, and asbestos litigation.

Prior to joining Sanford Heisler Sharp, Ms. Guentert was a clinical teaching fellow in Georgetown University Law Center’s Domestic Violence Clinic.

Mr. Ahern represents employees in individual and class actions involving discrimination and civil rights.

During law school, Rob worked as a student-attorney in Georgetown’s Civil Rights Clinic and as a legal intern at various civil rights and legal aid organizations in Washington, DC.

Prior to joining Sanford Heisler Sharp, Mr. Tepe clerked for the Honorable Sarah A. L. Merriam, United States Magistrate Judge for the District of Connecticut.

During law school, Shaun worked as a student-attorney in the Entrepreneurship Legal Clinic, and as a legal intern at SeniorLAW Center.

Before joining the firm, Austin Webbert served as an Equal Justice Works AmeriCorps Legal Fellow at the Land of Lincoln Legal Assistance Foundation.

Prior to joining Sanford Heisler Sharp, Clare clerked for the Honorable Karen Nelson Moore on the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals and for the Honorable Rebecca Goodgame Ebinger on the Southern District of Iowa.

As part of Harvard’s Domestic Violence and Family Law Clinic, Ms. MacMullin represented individuals experiencing domestic violence in seeking orders of protection and provided legal assistance on a range of family law matters.

Mr. Nadig was a Litigation Associate at Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison LLP, where he worked on a variety of complex commercial litigation matters and various pro bono cases.

While obtaining his LL.B. in Beijing, Yikai participated in the Disability Rights Clinic and led a team to explore a legal strategy to combat employment discrimination.

At Constantine Cannon, LLP, Mr. Powell was a member of the team that successfully prosecuted and negotiated a $2.75 billion settlement on behalf of the plaintiff in Discover Financial Services v. Visa USA, Inc.