Ms. Manley joined the New York office as an associate in June, 2019. Her practice involves complex commercial litigation and she has extensive experience in both New York and New Jersey state and federal courts. Some of her recent representative matters include:

• 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 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 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.
• Assistance in the defense of putative class action involving multi-million dollar-data breach claims in the Eastern District of New York.
• 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.
• Preparation 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.
• Obtainment of a judgment on behalf of general contractor for unpaid sums against the owner of a development in Brooklyn, New York.
• Successful negotiation of a resolution of a dispute involving securities obtained as part of employee compensation.

As the New York associate member of SGR’s Pro Bono Committee, Ms. Manley has assisted in expanding 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.

During the three years prior to joining SGR, Ms. Manley 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.

Ms. Manley earned her J.D. from Fordham University School of Law in 2016. At Fordham, Ms. Manley 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). Ms. Manley 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.

Ms. Manley 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, Ms. Manley is an avid horseback rider/pacer, skier and cook.