Rebecca A. L. Megel

Active and In Good Standing, Licensed to Practice, Virginia, October 2014 Eligible for reciprocal bar admission in 39 jurisdictions throughout the United States Experienced in the areas of estate planning/probate, labor/employment, immigration, mental health law, and child welfare issues.

Advise individuals in the preparation of estate planning documents and handle trust administration tasks. Assists executors and personal representatives in fulfilling their responsibilities during the probate process. Prepares notice, inventory, and account filings for complex estates.

Advise clients seeking Chapter 7 bankruptcies in order to secure and protect their financial futures.

Drafted trusts, wills, powers of attorney, advance health care directives, and LLC formation documents in accordance with California Statutes. Regularly interacted with fiduciaries and clients and made recommendations to best accomplish clients’ objectives with the goal of preserving wealth and minimizing transfer tax liabilities.

Served as the Team Manager for a ten-person attorney review team responsible for responding to a FOIA request resulting in over one million responsive documents. Expertise in successfully supporting deliberative privilege claims within various Federal agencies. (Clearance: Public Trust/NACI)

Served as the sole Law Clerk providing support to two DOJ trial teams handling large-scale commercial litigation matters - with a focus on False Claims Act cases. Oversaw and managed all aspects of legal discovery, to include coordinating document review strategies and workflows, drafting privilege logs, and helping prepare witnesses for court or deposition appearances. Conducted factual and legal research, drafted legal documents, and summarized relevant materials for use by government staff. Regularly called upon to provide instruction, guidance and training to junior members of the trial team. (Clearance: Public Trust/NACI)

Reviewed and analyzed complex legal, financial, and scientific documents in antitrust, breach of contract, whistle blower retaliation, and government litigation matters. Experience conducing first and second level review, privilege review, and quality control inspections. Ensured adherence to discovery orders to include compliance with stipulated protective orders and the accurate creation of privilege logs. Innovative Discovery, LLC, Arlington, VA Team Lead, December 2015 – January 2016 Passed a DOJ security assessment and named team lead; provided direct supervision to 14 contract attorneys; assisted with orientation and training of new team members; ensured adherence to proper review protocol; issued assignments in accordance with shifting priorities; acted as liaison between review team and client agency staff. Clearwater Legal Staffing, Washington, DC Team Lead, June 2015 – August 2015 Served as team lead, as well as a member of the quality control and privilege review teams; worked closely with client-law firm on various special projects to finalize the production of documents; received advanced training for and then assisted in training other contract attorneys to use kCura’s Relativity electronic discovery platform.

Investigated claims of employment discrimination as requested by the EEO (Equal Employment Opportunity) officers within the US Department of Health and Human Services. Interviewed claimants, management officials, and witnesses, drafted affidavits, and submitted complete reports of investigation to the federal agencies for final adjudication. Expertly managed caseload consisting of several complex cases with varying deadlines and investigative requirements.

Assisted Executive Director with all financial matters related to organizational management including quality assurance, budget oversight, grant administration, human resources, public relations, and donor database management. Handled routine business and reporting requirements. Effectively interacted with judges, attorneys, board members, donors, vendors, and other community stakeholders. Oversaw and managed large staff to plan and execute annual charity run attracting over 500 participants each year. Researched regulations governing non-profit administration to include maintaining 501(c)(3) tax-exempt status, employment law, confidentiality, and records retention, then drafted and implemented policies to ensure organizational compliance. QC’d 25 years of organizational data in order for proper importation into a new constituent database. Acted as a CASA court representative at child abuse and neglect five-day preliminary removal hearings.