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Emily Kanstroom Musgrave

(she/her/hers)

Member / Co-chair, Appellate Practice Group

[email protected]

+1.617.348.4407

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As Co-Chair of the firm’s Appellate Practice Group, Emily represents clients in state and federal courts across the country through the entire life of a litigation: from initial strategic planning, to trial, and all the way through appellate briefing and oral argument. She has argued in state and federal courts of appeals, as well as in federal bankruptcy courts. In addition to her own role as trial counsel in both jury and bench trials, Emily works as an appellate advisor with trial teams, ensuring the case is best positioned for appeal. She also assists clients with amicus curiae submissions, including to the U.S. Supreme Court, on issues that may impact their business.

Emily’s practice spans complex commercial litigation, including securities litigation, contract disputes, and government investigations, as well as distressed debt and bankruptcy-related litigation. She has significant experience representing leading life sciences, pharmaceutical, and retail companies, and their officers and directors, in securities litigation cases, including class actions and SEC investigative and enforcement proceedings.

Working closely with bankruptcy and public finance colleagues, Emily also provides strategic advice to bond trustees and bondholders to protect their rights and to maximize recovery on their holdings in the face of complex litigation in state and federal courts, including in federal bankruptcy courts around the country.

Emily previously served as a Special Assistant District Attorney in Middlesex County, where she argued motions to suppress and took cases to both jury and jury-waived trial.

She maintains a robust pro bono practice focused on impactful amicus briefs in both state and federal courts, including to the U.S. Supreme Court. Emily also focuses on providing legal assistance to asylum seekers and survivors of domestic violence. Most recently, she helped to file a lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts against U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) alleging that USCIS wrongfully denied plaintiffs Special Immigrant Juvenile status, which allows certain children who have been abused, neglected or abandoned to seek lawful permanent residence in the United States.

Before joining the firm, Emily served as a law clerk for the Honorable Margot Botsford of the Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts. She also served as a law clerk for the Honorable Leo T. Sorokin, then a Magistrate Judge, of the United States District Court for the District of Massachusetts.

During law school, she was the managing editor of the International and Comparative Law Review. She also won the Wendell F. Grimes Moot Court Competition and was a member of the National Mock Trial team.
 

Experience

Appellate briefing, strategic guidance, and oral argument

  • Briefed and argued an interlocutory appeal before the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals on behalf of a national restaurant chain in a putative class action arising from alleged violation of California mislabeling law. Only 15 days after argument, the Ninth Circuit affirmed the judgment below in favor of Emily’s client, with a narrow remand on one issue of damages.
  • Briefed, argued, and won before the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court a case pertaining to the Massachusetts Expanded Gaming Act, G. L. c. 23K, on questions certified by the First Circuit Court of Appeals.
  • Provided strategic guidance in connection with successful appeal in the Second Circuit Court of Appeals, affirming dismissal of a whistleblower’s state and federal False Claims Act claims.
  • Briefed, argued, and won before the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court a case of statutory first impression and constitutional dimensional concerning the interpretation of G. L. c. 123, § 12, which raised the question how long a patient in psychiatric distress may be cared for in an emergency department while waiting for a bed in an appropriate in-patient psychiatric facility.
  • Provided strategic guidance, research and drafting for the Respondent’s Brief on behalf of a nationwide retailer before a California Court of Appeal, in a wrongful termination claim filed by a former employee. After submission of the Brief, the appeal was dismissed at the appellant’s request.

Appellate amicus briefs

  • Amicus brief to the United States Supreme Court on behalf of legal scholars in the cases of Moyle v. United States (No. 23-726) and Idaho v. United States (No. 23-737), which concern whether the federal Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act (EMTALA) preempts a state abortion law.
  • Amicus brief to the United States Supreme Court in support of Respondents in the cases of Students for Fair Admissions v. President and Fellows of Harvard College (No. 20-1199) and Students for Fair Admissions v. University of North Carolina (No. 21-707), in which Petitioners challenged the consideration of race in college admissions.  
  • Amicus brief to the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court on behalf of the National Homelessness Law Center, in a case concerning the rights of people experiencing homelessness.
  • Amicus brief to the United States Supreme Court in the case of County of Maui, Hawaii vs. Hawaii Wildlife Fund, (18-260), concerning whether the federal Clean Water Act regulates discharges of pollutants into groundwater that then flows into navigable waters.

Securities and Complex Commercial Litigation

  • Secured a motion to dismiss with prejudice on behalf of DBV Technologies in a class action filed in the US District court for New Jersey, alleging the company made false or misleading statements and failed to disclose sufficient manufacturing data on their key therapeutic treatment.
  • Represented Advance Auto Parts in a securities class action in the District of Delaware and successfully obtained dismissal of a related derivative action against its board of directors and certain senior executives.
  • Successfully represented bondholders who owned a majority stake of bonds used to finance a continuing care retirement community, in a dispute with the debtor and Unsecured Creditors Committee connected to the property and its bankruptcy filing.
  • Successfully opposed a motion for preliminary injunction in a case alleging trade secret misappropriation under federal and state law.
  • Achieved a decisive arbitration victory on behalf of a supplier in a complex contractual dispute with an automobile manufacturer, resulting in an award of over $10M, plus attorneys’ fees and expert costs.
  • Represented pharmaceutical company defendant in the Nexium antitrust MDL litigation, the first alleged “pay-for-delay” case to go to trial since the Supreme Court’s 2013 decision in FTC v. Actavis, resulting in a favorable settlement for Emily’s client.
  • Represented Taiwanese creditor in complex civil RICO case in California federal court involving claims against 34 foreign and domestic defendants. The firm achieved a successful settlement of the case at the commencement of trial.
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viewpoints

In 2021, approximately on quarter of all federal securities fraud class action lawsuits filed nationwide were against life sciences companies and their officers and directors. These considerations are for directors and officers of life sciences companies looking to manage disclosures and mitigate risk before a suit ever gets filed. 

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News & Press

Press Release Thumbnail Mintz

Benchmark Litigation has recognized seventeen Mintz Members in its 2024 guide to the leading litigation firms and lawyers in the US. The firm was also acknowledged for its work in Massachusetts, being named “Highly Recommended” in the Commonwealth and received top-tier rankings across three practice categories, including General Commercial, Insurance, and White Collar.

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Thirteen Mintz attorneys have been named to Lawdragon’s 2025 “Leading Litigators in America.” The list honors the “best litigators the US has to offer – in antitrust, intellectual property, white collar and investigations, securities and corporate governance litigation, and a vast array of class actions, product liability and other complex civil litigation,” according to the publication. 

Press Release Thumbnail Mintz

Mintz recently filed an amicus brief urging the US Supreme Court to protect access to emergency care for pregnant women under the federal Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act (EMTALA) in the consolidated cases Idaho v. United States and Moyle v. United States that the Court will hear on April 24th.

Press Release Thumbnail Mintz

BOSTON –  Twenty-five Mintz attorneys have been named to Boston Magazine’s Top Lawyers list.

Press Release Thumbnail Mintz

Mintz is pleased to announce that thirtneen Members have been named to Lawdragon's 500 Leading Litigators in America list, which honors the nation’s most elite courtroom advocates.

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Mintz is pleased to announce that four of its attorneys have been recognized in Benchmark Litigation’s 2023 “40 and Under Hot List,” which ranks attorneys aged 40 or younger who have been deemed the most promising rising talent in their respective litigation communities by peers and clients.

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In its second annual edition, 28 Mintz attorneys were named to Boston Magazine’s Top Lawyers list.

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Twelve Mintz Members have been named to the inaugural Lawdragon 500 Leading Litigators in America list, which honors the nation’s most elite courtroom advocates.

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Mintz achieved a significant victory for BTA Bank (BTA) on January 18, when the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit affirmed summary judgment dismissing all claims against BTA in a nearly decade-long securities fraud lawsuit alleging violations of Sections 10(b) and 20(a) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. This decisive issue of what loss causation evidence a holder of thinly-traded securities must present to prove such claims was a matter of first impression in the Second Circuit.
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Member and Co-Chair of Mintz’s Appellate Practice Group Emily Kanstroom Musgrave was profiled in Law.com’s “How I Made Partner” column, which features recent partners at Am Law 200 firms, sharing their unique journeys to becoming partner.
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An article published by Law360 reported that Mintz successfully defended the Wychmere Beach Club, a small Massachusetts resort property, in a lawsuit brought by the Conservation Law Foundation alleging that the Beach Club’s wastewater treatment facility needs a federal permit under the Clean Water Act in addition to the state permit it already has under the Massachusetts Clean Waters Act because the treated effluent from the wastewater treatment facility percolates through soil to groundwater that is connected to Wychmere Harbor. In the ruling, U.S. District Judge William Young agreed that the Beach Club’s discharges were not covered by the federal law.

The Mintz team representing the Wychmere Beach Club includes Mintz Member and Chair of the firm's Environmental Law Practice Jeffrey R. Porter, and Co-Chairs of the firm's Appellate Practice Andrew N. Nathanson (Special Counsel) and Emily Kanstroom Musgrave (Member).
Fifty-three Mintz attorneys have been named Massachusetts Super Lawyers for 2016 and thirty-one have been named Massachusetts Rising Stars. The findings will be published in the November 2016 issue of Boston Magazine and in a stand-alone magazine, New England Super Lawyers. 
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Recognition & Awards

  • Benchmark Litigation: 40 & Under Hot List (2021 - 2023)

  • Boston Magazine Top Lawyers – Appellate (2021 - 2024)

  • Lawdragon: "500 Leading Litigators in America" (2022-2025)

  • Selected Participant, Women’s Bar Association 2020 Women’s Leadership Initiative

  • Massachusetts Super Lawyers: Rising Star – Business Litigation (2016 - 2020)

  • Benchmark Litigation: Future Stars (2025)

  • Order of the Coif

  • Phi Beta Kappa

  • Boston College Law School Richard G. Huber Award for scholarship and leadership in extra and co-curricular activities

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Involvement

  • • Executive Board Member-at-Large and Massachusetts State Chair, Council of Appellate Lawyers, American Bar Association
  • Member, Women’s Bar Association
  • Selected participant, Women’s Bar Association’s 2020 Women’s Leadership Initiative
  • Member, Boston Bar Association
  • Member, Rhode Island Bar Association
  • Advisory Board, Sitters For Scholars
  • Guest Lecturer on Legal Practice, Boston College Law School
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Emily Kanstroom Musgrave

(she/her/hers)

Member / Co-chair, Appellate Practice Group

Boston