Margaret L. Watson has more than 30 years of experience in employment litigation, internal investigations and alternative dispute resolution. She has litigated numerous cases in federal and state courts as well as in arbitrations (FINRA, AAA, JAMS) and agency proceedings. She regularly defends employers and individual managers in cases involving discrimination and retaliation claims under Title VII, Section 1981, ADA, ADEA, FLSA, FMLA, Dodd-Frank Act and related New York State and City laws, as well as common law tort and contract claims, including U-5 defamation claims and the enforcement of restrictive covenants. For approximately ten years, Margaret was employed by a large national wealth management financial services company, where she served as litigation counsel and also helped to design and manage the first corporate ombudsman office for the broker-dealer business of that company. Margaret is a graduate of Harvard Law School, and she began her career as a law clerk to the Hon. Whitman Knapp in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York.

Beth Weinman, Counsel in Ropes & Gray’s Life Sciences Regulatory and Compliance practice group, focuses her practice on FDA regulation and enforcement of laws governing pharmaceuticals, biologics, medical devices including diagnostics, and dietary supplements. Beth represents clients in investigations concerning alleged violations of the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act (FDCA) and False Claims Act (FCA). She also provides regulatory and compliance counseling related to marketing practices, good manufacturing practices, good clinical practices, and product recalls and withdrawals. Beth joined Ropes in 2018 from FDA’s Office of Chief Counsel, where she worked closely with FDA’s Office of Criminal Investigations, the Department of Justice and other government agencies on FDCA and FCA investigations and enforcement.

Vince Farhat is a partner in JMBM’s Los Angeles office and chair of the White Collar Defense and Investigations practice. Vince has extensive jury trial experience and focuses his practice on representing companies and individuals in criminal and civil investigations and prosecutions by government enforcement agencies, as well as complex federal litigation.

Before becoming a criminal prosecutor, Vince was an assistant U.S. attorney in the Civil Division of the U.S. Attorney’s Office where he represented the United States in commercial litigation and other civil cases. From 1998 to 1999, Vince served as a law clerk to the Honorable Edward Rafeedie, U.S. district court judge for the Central District of California.