Biography

Marie DeForest focuses her practice on a wide range of areas involving complex commercial litigation including employment litigation, white collar criminal defense matters, creditor rights litigation and legal malpractice matters.  Marie frequently argues motions in the state courts of Pennsylvania and New Jersey, represents clients in depositions, and drafts substantial memoranda of law in a wide range of civil and criminal disputes.  

Representative Matters include the following:

• Won motion to dismiss for prominent American-owned company in a multi-million dollar contract dispute in the Eastern District of Pennsylvania.
• Successfully obtained summary judgment for a lender in million dollar construction loan dispute before the Superior Court of New Jersey, Law Division Burlington County.
• Won on appeal to the Superior Court of Pennsylvania obtaining affirmation of trial court decision granting summary judgment on behalf of a national water company in a catastrophic personal injury matter.
• Defended corporate executives in civil and grand jury investigations initiated by the Securities and Exchange Commission, Department of Justice and Financial Industry Regulatory Authority.
• Represented Philadelphia-area public entity in employment disputes involving sexual harassment, Family Medical Leave Act, and American with Disabilities Act issues.
• Prevailed on motion to compel arbitration of RICO action resulting in dismissal of matter before the Eastern District of Pennsylvania.

While studying law at the University of Richmond, Marie served as Articles Editor to the University of Richmond’s Journal of Law & Technology. As Articles Editor, she reviewed numerous articles for publication involving a broad range of legal and technological issues including the patentability of human embryonic stem cells, how technology can affect law and the importance of metadata in e-discovery.  Additionally, she served as an intern to the Commonwealth of Virginia’s Office of the Attorney General, Employment Litigation Section. With the Office of the Attorney General, Marie helped represent numerous public entities, including several colleges and universities, regarding Title VII, the American with Disabilities Act and workers’ compensation matters.

Marie is an avid marathon runner.  In her hometown, she ran the Pittsburgh Marathon in 2009 and 2010.  She also ran the New York Marathon in 2010 for the charity The Hole in the Wall Gang, which provides camp experiences to children with life-threatening illnesses.

Marie is also an accomplished horsewoman and has traveled extensively throughout the United States to compete in three-day eventing competitions. She won numerous eventing awards including:

• First Place, Mid-South CCI* three-day eventing competition in Lexington, Kentucky;
• United States Pony Club Cavalry Award for winning an international eventing competition; and
• United States Pony Club Harry T. Peters Award, which is awarded to the highest ranking eventing rider for excellence in riding and horsemanship at the United States Pony Club National.

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