Member Profiles

Mary Joyce is recognized for her representation of clients under OECD guidelines and coordination of investor prosecution of cases under European Competition Law. In that capacity, Ms. Carlson supervised the workload of lawyers litigating French, Italian & German antitrust complaints coming before the European Commission. Her international work has included collaboration with the European Public Service Union and the European Federation of Food, Agriculture & Tourism Trade Unions. She has also represented clients before the Brazilian Labor Prosecution Service (Ministério Público do Trabalho), and holds an International Global Legal (IGL) designation. Ms. Carlson’s career has featured critical wins in Labor & Employment Law, and she has gained an international reputation for creating new lines of inquiry and innovative legal theories that result in successful litigation, particularly in regards to coordinating complex EU anti-competition matters. Ms. Carlson has built an impressive portfolio of clients and professional contacts that include large nonprofit organizations, NGOs, academic institutions, advocacy groups, professional associations, and national labor unions, including SEIU, CWA, and UAW. In addition, Mary Joyce provides due diligence and client consultation on responsible investments and union-side investment funds, including shareholder litigation. As counsel for The Fight for Fifteen, Mary Joyce Carlson played a key role in elevating more than 22 million workers to win $62 million in raises, a successful legal battle that MSNBC’s Chris Hayes stated, “…has completely changed the politics of the country.” Mary Joyce served as Distinguished Scholar & Speaker at Cornell University, conducted faculty-student lectures, spoke at many ABA International Law meetings, and has been quoted in Washington Post, New York Times, Wall Street Journal, and more. Throughout her career, Ms. Carlson has served on select panels, including the ABA “Future of Worklife, Post Pandemic” panel. She recently served as guest commentator at the IIT Chicago-Kent College of Law’s 36th Annual Kenneth M. Piper Lecture, featuring Jared Bernstein, former chief economist and economic adviser to Vice President Joseph Biden. For the Harvard Law School Clean Slate Project Working Group, she played an active role in drafting solution sets and proposals for a variety of constituencies and communities. A native of rural Tennessee, Mary Joyce participated in student Civil Rights protests while earning her undergraduate degree. She later earned a Juris Doctor degree from Duke University School of Law, where she prepared for her career in Civil Rights and Economic Justice. After practicing law in Georgia and Maryland, Ms. Carlson continued her career in Washington, DC, where she successfully challenged the longstanding discriminatory gender and racial composition of juries, helped lift a cap on the wages of nurses, brought winning antitrust lawsuits against hospital networks for colluding to depress nursing salaries, and played a critical role in reforming racially biased policies on nursing assignments to hospital specialty units. Mary Joyce was subsequently appointed by President Clinton to the position of Deputy General Counsel for the National Labor Relations Board. Ms. Carlson recently won the prestigious Sidney Hillman Foundation George “Citizen” Barrett Award for Public Interest Law. She is a lifelong believer in positive change to foster meaningful progress in Civil Rights, Economic Justice, and Gender Equality. Mary Joyce’s compassionate engagement style, visionary legal acumen, strong international business expertise, and proven capacity to advance her clients’ interests, have all combined to position her as a trusted advocate for her growing client portfolio.

Mr. Brennan, founding partner of Laurie & Brennan, LLP, concentrates his practice on advising owners, designers and contractors on risk management in the construction process; prosecuting and defending construction claims including professional negligence, cost overrun, and delay claims; negotiating and drafting construction and design contracts for architects, engineers and owners; and advising clients with respect to design and construction of accessible facilities under Title III of the Americans with Disabilities Act and the Fair Housing Act.

FGA Attorneys & Advisors is dedicated to providing comprehensive corporate, tax, and immigration services to individuals and companies doing business in the U.S. and Mexico. Our firm is able to meet the diverse legal and tax needs of local, national, and international clients because we have an experienced team of attorneys and advisors with extensive experience in corporate, tax law, and cross border transactions. We are an international oriented firm with multilingual capabilites including English, Spanish, and Italian.

Brian is a founding partner of Lippitt O’Keefe, PLLC, along with Norman L. Lippitt. He supervises the firm’s transactional, real estate, business, and personal planning departments. During his more than 25 years as an attorney, Brian has represented local, regional, and national entities in general business and corporate matters, including formations, financing, mergers and acquisitions, dispositions, and dissolutions. He represents lenders, borrowers, and developers in sophisticated real estate transactions. In addition, he represents individuals and entities in business and personal planning matters. Brian has focused his practice in recent years in the areas of venture capital financing where, among other things, he has represented both private equity funding sources and individuals and entities receiving angel and venture capital. Brian received a Bachelor of Arts degree from Michigan State University in June 1981, graduating cum laude. He then attended Columbus School of Law at the Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C., where he achieved the degree of juris doctor in May, 1986. His professional memberships include the State Bar of Michigan, the Oakland County Bar Association, and the American Bar Association. He has also sat on the Board of Directors of the Young Entrepreneurs Organization of Michigan and the Manresa Retreat House. Brian has been given the highest ranking of AV by the Martindale-Hubbell Law Directory.

Hillary is a business, consumer products (food & beverage, beauty & wellness, sports & entertainment, fashion & apparel) and technology attorney. Hillary represents sports & entertainment talent, entrepreneurs, start-up businesses and established brands as well as angel, venture capital and private equity investors. She serves as the Chair of the firm’s Business Group, its Sports, Arts & Entertainment, Food & Beverage and Beauty & Wellness practice. Hillary counsels clients on a full range of matters, from day-to-day operational concerns to sophisticated transactions. Like the innovative entrepreneurs, talent and brands she advises, Hillary strives to bring creative yet practical strategies to legal services, assisting clients with brand and asset protection, risk management and dispute resolution. The matters on which Hillary counsels are often cross-border in nature. The clients of her business practice include entrepreneurs, start-up businesses and established brands as well as angel, venture capital and private equity investors. Hillary has a broad transactional background, advising her business clients with a variety of matters, including corporate structure, capital raising and financing, commercial matters, intellectual property matters, mergers and acquisitions and other exit transactions. Hillary’s food & beverage and consumer packaged goods (CPG), beauty & wellness practice focuses on advising clients in the better-for-you, natural, organic, plant-based, vegan, cultivated, cultured meat or cell-based meat, food tech as well as pet food arenas, including brands disrupting their categories and those developing innovative technology. She also serves international brands expanding into the United States, as well as investors and vendors partnering with these brands. She counsels these clients on operational concerns and sophisticated transactions including raising capital, intellectual property development and protection, manufacturing/packing, broker, distribution, supply and other services arrangements as well as on other commercial matters and exit transactions. With the increasing trend of brands and celebrities to partner, Hillary often finds her food & beverage and sports & entertainment practices intersecting and assists brands or their celebrity partners on investment and/or endorsement transactions. The Food & Beverage practice produces a weekly publication focusing on regulatory, market, operations and transactions in the start-up and emerging food & beverage industry called the Emerging Food & Beverage Update.  Hillary’s sports & entertainment clients include new and established athletes, recording artists, actors, television personalities, writers, producers, journalists, broadcasters, photographers, fashion designers, chefs and talent agents and managers. Her counsel to them spans a broad range of services on matters such as brand and intellectual property protection and licensing, services arrangements, rights acquisition and disposition, entrepreneurship and investment and post-career planning. Hillary’s fashion & apparel practice provides a full suite of legal services to designers, manufacturers, distributors and retailers of fashion, jewelry, apparel, footwear and accessory products sold at all price points – from affordable goods to luxury offerings. She regularly advises fashion and apparel clients on launching, investing in, scaling, and protecting their valuable brands in a global marketplace. She provides boutique quality specialized industry knowledge and experience backed by the resources of a full-service mid-sized international law firm. She understands that effective representation involves leveraging a variety of areas of law to accomplish the objectives of the fashion and apparel brands she services. Her experience also includes handling trial and appellate litigation. Hillary has successfully advocated before the Appellate Division of the State of New York. She has participated in numerous alternative dispute resolution forums involving commercial and tort matters. In addition, Hillary serves as an arbitrator in the Small Claims Part of the Civil Court for the City of New York. When not serving her clients, Hillary dedicates time to pro bono service to both non-profit organizations and individuals unable to afford legal services and serves as a volunteer to a variety of public charities. Hillary’s involvement in the legal community includes membership in local bar associations such as the New York County Lawyers’ Association, where she served as chair of its Corporation Law Committee for seven years. She is also a member of the Sports, Entertainment and International Law and Practice Sections of the American, New York State, and New York Women's Bar Associations. Hillary is also a member of the Sports Lawyers Association and the Business Law Section of the American Bar Association and the New York City Bar Association.