Diane Kee is an associate in Cohen Milstein’s Public Client practice, where she focuses on the representation of state attorneys general and other public-sector clients in investigations and lawsuits involving false claims and fraudulent and deceptive trade practices.

Diane re-joins the firm after clerking for the Honorable Lara E. Montecalvo of the United States Court of Appeals for the First Circuit and for the Honorable Terrence G. Berg of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan.

Before her judicial clerkships, Diane was a fellow at Cohen Milstein, where she worked on litigation matters spanning the firm’s practices.

Prior to law school, Diane was an aide to the Chambers of Justice Elena Kagan for the Supreme Court of the United States for two years. Diane is fluent in Mandarin.

Publications

Reclaiming Access to Truth in Reproductive Healthcare After National Institute of Family & Life Advocates v. Becerra, 119 MICH. L. REV. 175 (2020).

Alex Noronha is an associate in Cohen Milstein’s Antitrust practice. He represents a broad range of individuals and businesses in civil litigation, with a focus on multi-district class actions and antitrust litigation.

Prior to joining Cohen Milstein, Alex was an associate at an internationally renowned law firm, where his practice focused on complex commercial and government-related litigation.

Alex graduated cum laude from the University of Michigan Law School, where he served as a Notes Editor on Michigan Law Review. As a student attorney at the University of Michigan Federal Appellate Litigation Clinic, Alex briefed and argued his client’s successful appeal before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit.

While in law school, Alex authored On Behalf of All Others Similarly Situated: Class Representation & Equitable Compensation, 122 Mich. L. Rev. 733 (2024). Prior to law school, Alex was a paralegal in Cohen Milstein’s Antitrust practice for almost five years.  

Kit A. Pierson is of counsel at Cohen Milstein and a member of the Antitrust practice. Kit has also had the honor of serving as co-chair of the Antitrust practice (2010-2017). Under his leadership, the Legal 500 recognized Cohen Milstein as a Leading Plaintiff Class Action Firm for seven consecutive years and Law360 selected the Antitrust practice as a Competition Law Practice Group of the Year in 2013 and 2014.

Kit has served as lead or co-lead counsel in many of the nation’s most significant antitrust class actions on behalf of the victims of corporations engaged in price-fixing, market monopolization and other unlawful conduct. Prior to joining Cohen Milstein in 2009, he spent more than 20 years primarily representing defendants in a broad range of complex matters. Some of the companies he represented included Microsoft Corp., 3M Corp. and other major corporations, national associations and individuals in class actions and other antitrust litigation. As a result of his experience as a defense lawyer, Kit possesses deep insight into defense strategies, understands the dynamics of the other side and is someone who has earned the respect and credibility of opposing counsel.

Kit is a hands-on litigator who has litigated and tried antitrust lawsuits and other complex civil cases in many jurisdictions, helping to win settlements and judgments cumulatively totaling more than $1.8 billion in the past several years. 

A champion for civil rights, Kit has also litigated a number of high profile civil rights cases, including pro bono cases:

• Ahmed v. Obama (D.D.C.): In Ahmed v. Obama, Cohen Milstein represented a young Yemeni man incarcerated in Guantanamo Bay for eight years.  After conducting one of the earliest habeas corpus proceedings challenging the legality of these detentions, a federal judge ruled that Mr. Ahmed had been illegally detained and the court directed that he be granted freedom and returned to his home.
• Maryland Public Information Act Litigation (Md.): Mr. Pierson was co-counsel with the Maryland Civil Liberties Union in this litigation seeking records relating to illegal surveillance and infiltration of the American Friends Service Committee and local peace and anti-death penalty organization by Maryland State police.  The evidence of improper law enforcement activity secured in this litigation resulted in appointment of a former Maryland Attorney General to conduct an investigation and the subsequent enactment of the Freedom of Association and Assembly Protection Act of 2009.

Kit is also a member of the Board of Trustees for the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under the Law, a national organization, and a Member of the ACLU of Maryland’s Committee on Litigation and Legal Priorities. He is also a board member of the Washington Urban Debate League.

Kit has taught Complex Litigation as an adjunct professor at Georgetown University Law School (a class that focused primarily on legal, ethical and strategic issues presented by class action litigation) and Antitrust Class Actions as a visiting lecturer at Yale Law School (a class examining legal, ethical and strategic issues in antitrust class action litigation).

At the University of Michigan Law School, Kit was a note editor of the Michigan Law Review and a member of the Order of the Coif.

James Gehrke, the executive director at Cohen Milstein, oversees the daily business operations of the firm and works closely with its executive committee. Since joining the firm, he has been focused on process improvements and increasing operational efficiency within the administrative departments and fostering collaboration across teams. Jim also spearheaded an update of the firm’s cybersecurity infrastructure and policies and procedures.

Jim brings to the firm significant leadership experience. He is a former practicing attorney; for more than 20 years he was a member of a leading Michigan law firm where he litigated complex business matters. There he advanced to shareholder, vice president, and a member of the board of directors.

After law school Jim clerked for the Honorable John Feikens of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan and Chief Justice James H. Brickley of the Michigan Supreme Court. Jim serves on the board of directors for the SSGT Ergin V. Osman Memorial Fund and is a supporter of the Ecumenical Theological Seminary in Matanzas, Cuba.

Christine E. Webber, co-chair of Cohen Milstein’s Civil Rights & Employment practice, represents victims of discrimination and wage and hour violations in class and collective actions. She is a tenacious, hands-on litigator, highly regarded for her ability to organize large, high-profile class and collective actions and work closely with economic and statistical experts on developing sophisticated statistical analyses for class claims.

Christine has been at the forefront of identifying the risk that using AI and algorithmic tools in making decisions about employment or housing can enable systemic bias.  She was the only lawyer who regularly represents workers to participate in the Technical Advisory Committee on EEO and DEI&A Considerations in the Use of Artificial Intelligence in Employment Decision Making, which issued detailed report in December 2022.  Christine is currently litigating a case challenging the use of an algorithmic decision-making tool in tenant selection, Louis v. SafeRent Solutions (D. Mass.), alleging the tenant scoring system has an adverse impact on Black and Hispanic applicants, and unfairly excludes those who use housing vouchers to pay for their rent.

Christine has represented clients in some of the largest, groundbreaking discrimination and Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) class and collective actions in the United States, including Keepseagle v. Vilsack (D.D.C.), a historic nationwide race-based discrimination class action brought by Native American ranchers and farmers against the United States Department of Agriculture resulting in a landmark $760 million settlement required the USDA to pay $680 million in damages to thousands of Native Americans, to forgive up to $80 million in outstanding farm loan debt, and to improve the farm loan services the USDA provides to Native Americans.

She was lead counsel in In re Tyson Foods FLSA MDL (M.D. Ga.), a collective action involving FLSA claims at over 40 Tyson chicken processing plants, which ultimately resolved the claims of 17,000 chicken processing workers, and Hnot v. Willis Group Insurance (S.D.N.Y.), where she represented a class of women vice presidents in Willis’ Northeast region who complained of discrimination with respect to their salary, bonuses, and promotions. This “glass ceiling” case settled for an average payment of $50,000 per woman, a record-breaking settlement in 2007 for a sex discrimination class action.

Prior to joining Cohen Milstein, Christine received a Women’s Law and Public Policy fellowship which funded the first of her four years at the Washington Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights and Urban Affairs in their Equal Employment Opportunity Project.  There, she worked on employment discrimination cases, focusing on the sexual harassment class action Neal v. Director, D.C. Department of Corrections, et al. (D.D.C.). Christine participated in the trial of this groundbreaking sexual harassment class action in 1995. She also tried the race discrimination case Cooper v. Paychex (E.D. Va.), and successfully defended the plaintiffs’ verdict before the Fourth Circuit.