OVERVIEW
Melinda serves as the US Managing Partner, responsible for the successful management and business of the firm’s US offices. Melinda strives to lead by example, embodying the firm’s values of tenacity and pragmatism throughout her work. She believes that success lies in maximizing opportunities for the professional and personal development of every team member. She seeks to empower a culture of bold actions, pioneering cases, and unconventional thinking.
Deeply committed to the firm's vision of global civil redress for those harmed by wrongdoing, Melinda also maintains an active legal practice focused on private enforcement of the antitrust laws. She has represented clients ranging from Fortune 500 companies to classes of consumers with a common goal of maximizing their recoveries from cartel price-fixing or monopolization; her clients have obtained more than $1 billion in settlements and a US Supreme Court victory.
Melinda works to safeguard free and open markets and is proud to be named one of the Top 100 Women in Antitrust by Global Competition Review.
Clients
Melinda has represented clients in the pharmaceutical, agricultural, industrial gas, auto parts, and rail freight and air cargo industries. She represents companies listed in the Fortune 200, as well as classes of direct and indirect purchasers of products impacted by antitrust violations.
EDUCATION
Georgetown University Law Center, J.D., cum laude, 2008
Tufts University, B.A., magna cum laude, 2003
BAR ADMISSIONS
Maryland
District of Columbia
United States District Court for the District of Columbia
United States District Court for the District of Maryland
United States District Court for the Western District of New York
United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit
United States Supreme Court
AFFILIATIONS
American Bar Association Antitrust Law Section, Co-Chair, International Cartel Task Force (2022 - Present)
American Bar Association Antitrust Law Section, Member, International Cartel Task Force (2018 - Present)
American Bar Association Antitrust Law Section, Member (2009 - Present)
Georgetown Journal of Gender and the Law, Former Editor
Litigation Counsel of America, Fellow (2016)
WHAT OTHERS SAY
American Antitrust Institute
- Outstanding Antitrust Litigation achievement in Private Law Practice in 2023 for In re Broiler Chicken Grower Antitrust Litigation
Best Lawyers
- Best Lawyer since 2025
- Mass Tort Litigation/Class Actions - Plaintiffs
Global Competition Review
- Litigation of the Year – Non Cartel Prosecution in 2023: an honor she received as part of the In re Google Play Developer Antitrust Litigation case team
- Litigation of the Year - Cartel Prosecution in 2019: an honor she received as part of the In re Vitamin C Litigation case team.
- Top 100 Women in Antitrust in 2016
Lawdragon
- 500 Leading Plaintiff Financial Lawyers since 2019
- 500 Leading Lawyers in America since 2022
Legal 500
- Leading Lawyer in 2024
- Next Generation Lawyer in Antitrust – Civil Litigation/Class Actions: Plaintiff since 2019
- Recommended Attorney every year since 2017
- Rising Star in Antitrust – Cartel Enforcement in 2015
"Melinda Coolidge is a strong manager and leader in the group." (The Legal 500 US, Antitrust – Civil Litigation/Class Actions: Plaintiff, 2024)
"Melinda Coolidge is really one of the best lawyers in the plaintiffs' bar." (The Legal 500 US, Antitrust – Civil Litigation/Class Actions: Plaintiff, 2024)
"Melinda Coolidge is easy to work with and very smart and responsive." (The Legal 500 US, Antitrust – Civil Litigation/Class Actions: Plaintiff, 2021)
"Melinda Coolidge and Scott Martin go above and beyond at all hours to provide the best level of customer service. They are always there with an explanation." (The Legal 500 US, Antitrust – Civil Litigation/Class Actions: Plaintiff, 2020)
"Brian Ratner and Melinda Coolidge are both first class. They are personable, knowledgeable and deliver results." (The Legal 500 US, Antitrust – Civil Litigation/Class Actions: Plaintiff, 2020)
Super Lawyers
- Super Lawyer, Antitrust Litigation in Washington, DC in 2020
- Rising Star, Antitrust Litigation in Washington, DC five years consecutively between 2014-2019
Other
- Antitrust Trailblazer by the National Law Journal in 2016
- Rising Star, Class Actions in 2015 by Law360
PUBLICATIONS
Press:
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- "Number of price-fixing lawsuits filed against CSX, other railroads jumps to 266," Jacksonville Business Journal (March 2, 2020),
- "Vitamin C Purchasers Win Unanimous Supreme Court Victory in Decade-Long Antitrust Litigation," AP News (June 14, 2018)
- "100 Women In Antitrust," Global Competition Review (2016)
- "Law360 Names Attys Who Moved Up The Firm Ranks In Q1," Law360 (April 15, 2015)
- "The Class of 2014," Global Competition Review (Mar. 5, 2015)
- "At Some D.C. Firms, More Women than Men Make Partner," The National Law Journal (Jan. 19, 2015)
EVENTS
- "Public Interest in Private Practice," UVA Law Women's Event (Oct. 22, 2024), Panel Speaker
- “Artificial Intelligence Under the Antitrust Radar,” Women’s Antitrust Forum (Oct. 8, 2024), Panel Speaker
- "Pharma Conduct Trends: Biosimilars, Generics, Pay for Delay," ABA Antitrust in Healthcare Conference (June 3, 2022), Panel Speaker
- "National Why Antitrust: Discussing Big Tech," ABA Antitrust Section Membership, Diversity, & Inclusion Committee (Feb. 26, 2021), Panel Speaker
- "The Present and Future of Antitrust Litigation," George Mason Law Review’s virtual 24th Annual Antitrust Symposium (Feb. 17, 2021), Panel Speaker
- "Cartels Hit the Kitchen Table," ABA Section of Antitrust Law (May 28, 2020), Panel Speaker
- "What is the Secret Sauce Behind Developing a Complaint?" ABA Section of Antitrust Law’s weekly podcast, Our Curious Amalgam (Sept. 18, 2019), Guest Speaker
- "Antitrust Issues in Private Enforcement Actions Against Agricultural Industries," AAI 11th Annual Private Antitrust Enforcement Conference (Nov. 7, 2017), Panel Speaker
- "Did the enforcers go bananas in Dole v. Commission? What are the boundaries of cartel conduct - and why does it matter?" GCR Live Cartels (April 5, 2016), Panel Speaker
- "Antitrust Claims: Class Actions and Opting Out," AAJ Annual Convention (July 26-29, 2014), Panel Speaker
EXPERIENCE
Antitrust/Competition
- In re Apple Inc., Smartphone Antitrust Litigation – Hausfeld represents a class of direct purchasers seeking recovery for alleged monopolization of smart phones.
- In re Google Play Developer Antitrust Litigation – Representing a class of app developers that sold apps or in-app products via the Google Play store. The developers allege that Google has abused its market power to exclude competing app stores from Android phones, stifling innovation and consumer choice, and resulting in a supracompetitive default 30% transaction fee.
- In re Broiler Grower Antitrust Litigation – Representing a certified class of broiler chicken farmers (referred to as “Growers”) claim that over twenty of the country’s largest poultry producers, including Tyson, Pilgrim’s, Perdue, Koch Foods, and Sanderson Farms colluded to suppress Grower pay through agreements not to recruit, solicit, or “poach” one another’s Growers and through comprehensive and systematic exchanges of Grower compensation information. Settlements have been reached with Tyson ($21 million), Perdue ($14.75 million), Koch Foods ($15.5 million), Sanderson Farms ($17.75 million), and Pilgrim’s Pride ($100 million) totaling $169 million.
- In re Rail Freight Fuel Surcharge Antitrust Litigation – Representing rail freight shippers against BNSF, CSX, Norfolk Southern, and Union Pacific for damages stemming from the alleged rail freight cartel in the early 2000s.
- In re Automotive Parts Antitrust Litigation – Representing various car manufacturers and other OEMs in successful recovery of damages incurred from the massive worldwide auto parts cartel. The cartel resulted in over 80 guilty pleas in the United States, and fines and decisions by regulatory authorities around the world.
- In re Thalomid and Revlimid Antitrust Litigation – Representing a class of end-payors of Thalomid and Revlimid in antitrust litigation against Celgene (settled for $34 million), and In re Zymar and Zymaxid Litigation, representing a class of direct purchasers of two eye medications against Allergan, Kyorin, and Senju.
- In re Air Cargo Antitrust Litigation – Representing freight forwarders and other direct purchasers of air cargo shipping services against a worldwide price-fixing cartel, in which her clients and the class recovered over $1 billion in settlements.
- In re Vitamin C Antitrust Litigation – Served on the trial team for the plaintiff class at trial in this case which secured a trebled jury verdict of $162 million against Chinese vitamin C manufacturer defendants. On appeal, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled 9-0 in favor of Hausfeld’s clients, creating an important precedent for any transnational litigation where U.S. victims’ rights are threatened by interpretations of foreign law and international comity principles.
- United States v. ASSA ABLOY AB – Serving as court-appointed monitoring trustee following contested merger and divestiture.
Environmental & Product Liability
- In re Prempro Products Liability Litigation – Served as primary brief writer on liability issues and represented dozens of women in a mass tort action against Pfizer and Wyeth over their hormone replacement therapy and links to breast cancer.
