Morgan V. Manley

Partner / New York

Morgan V. Manley is a Partner in the Litigation, Art, and Bankruptcy practices of Smith, Gambrell & Russell, LLP.

  • Full Bio

    Morgan assists clients in a wide variety of sectors with navigating complex issues, including those involving business torts and breakups, condo/coop disputes, art law related issues, valuation disputes, management-side employment disputes, and alleged fraudulent conveyances. Morgan has extensive experience arbitrating and litigating in state and federal courts throughout the country, including the Commercial Division of the New York State Supreme Court.

    Morgan joined the New York office as an associate in June, 2019. Morgan is an active member of SGR’s Pro Bono Committee through which she expanded the firm’s outreach and services to low-income clients. She has focused her own pro-bono practice on assisting low-income artists and art-related groups. As co-chair of the summer associate committee, she also is deeply committed to training the next generation of lawyers.

    During the three years prior to joining SGR, Morgan was a Commercial Division Law Clerk to the Honorable Marcy S. Friedman in the Supreme Court of the State of New York located in Manhattan. The docket was composed of complex commercial cases with amounts in controversy exceeding $500,000 or for equitable or declaratory relief involving business, corporate or insurance issues.

    Morgan earned her J.D. from Fordham University School of Law in 2016. At Fordham, she was President of the Art Law Society, which hosted a record number of art constituents at various conferences she helped organize. In addition, she was an art law intern at Christie’s Inc. and the International Foundation for Art Research (IFAR). Morgan was also a Notes and Articles Editor for the Fordham International Law Journal, a position for which she was co-recipient of the annual Outstanding Notes and Articles Editor Award. In addition, she was the 2015 recipient of the William O’Connor Award for her student note, “The (Inter)National Strategy: An Ivory Trade Ban in the United States and China,” 38 Fordham Int’l L.J. 1511 (2015), which analyzed developments in the import/export laws of antique ivory.

    Morgan received her undergraduate degree in Art History and International & Global Studies from Brandeis University in 2011, where she graduated Summa Cum Laude.

    In her personal time, Morgan continues to enjoy her years-long interest in the arts by being involved in the art community as Young Fellow of the Frick Gallery and as a member of various other art institutions and organizations.

  • Representative Experience

    • Enforcement of arbitration provisions in two heavily contested multi-defendant actions commenced in the Southern District of New York to obtain a stay of the claims against the client.
    • Achievement of a successful outcome of an article 78 proceeding commenced on behalf of a state governmental agency against another state official.
    • Obtainment of a declaration on behalf of a holder of unsold shares against the cooperative board and successful defense of the court’s decision in the Appellate Division, First Department, of the NYS Supreme Court.
    • Achievement of a favorable outcome on behalf of a company against their former employee in an action for misappropriation of confidential information and trade secrets and unlawful solicitation of the company’s clients in the Northern District of New York.
    • Obtainment of a substantial final award in a strongly challenged multi-party arbitration before the American Arbitration Association and subsequent confirmation of the award in the United States District Court for the District of New Jersey.
    • Assistance in the defense of putative class action involving multi-million dollar-data breach claims in the Eastern District of New York.
    • Resolution of an aircraft dispute involving multiple maintenance issues and warranty claims.
    • Successful defense of RICO and other fraud claims in actions commenced in the Southern District of New York and New Jersey state courts.
    • Representation of plan administrator in the Coudert Brothers Bankruptcy including obtainment of judgments in adversary proceedings against former partners and the final decree.
    • Representation of artists, artists’ estates, and art dealers in a variety of matters including negotiating the purchase and subsequent sale of a Giacometti Sculpture; renegotiation of prime lease for an artists’ studio in Brooklyn; obtaining relief on behalf of jeweler for products sold to a luxury retailer in Chapter 11 bankruptcy proceedings; and assisting the estate of a musician in terminating prior grants of licenses of the musician’s copyrights in over a hundred songs written by the musician.
    • Assistance during and preparing for a wide variety of trials in actions commenced in multiple states, including on behalf of a board against a sponsor for structural defects in a residential condominium building in an action in NYS Supreme Court; on behalf of a company in defense of fraudulent conveyance claims in the Commercial Division of NYS Supreme Court; and on behalf of the defense in a multi-national breach of contract dispute in the Southern District of New York.
    • Assistance with the successful defense of unfair trade practices claim filed in the United States District Court for the District of New Jersey.
    • Successful negotiation of a resolution of a dispute involving securities obtained as part of employee compensation.

  • Bar Admissions

    New Jersey
    New York
    U.S. Court for the Southern District of New York
    U.S. Court for the Eastern District of New York
    U.S. Court for the District of New Jersey

  • Education

    Undergraduate
    • Brandeis University

    Law School
    • Fordham University

  • Languages

    Conversational French and Conversational Spanish

  • Memberships

    Frick Collection, Young Fellows Steering Committee

    The Met Apollo Circle

  • Recognitions


    Best Lawyers: Ones to Watch® in America, Commercial Litigation; Litigation – Intellectual Property (2026)
    Honorable Judith S. Kaye Commercial & Federal Litigation Scholarship, New York State Bar Association’s Commercial & Federal Litigation Section (2025)
    NYSBA EASL Phil Cowan Memorial/BMI Scholarship
    Archibald R. Murray Public Service Award
    William O’Connor Award

  • Publications and Speaking Engagements


    “The Photographer Plays Big Brother: The Legal Implications of “Surveillance Art,” 26 Ent. Arts & Sports L. J. 30 (Spring 2015)

    “The (Inter)National Strategy: Legal and Policy Implications of the Ivory Trade Ban in the United States & China,” 38 Fordham Int’l L. J. 1511 (2015)

  • SGR Publications

  • Press