Melissa M. Goodman

Melissa Goodman is known for litigating and agilely managing sophisticated employment issues during mission critical scenarios. With 28 years of experience, Melissa has litigated in multiple states, courts of appeal and various arbitration forums. She is a member of the firm’s Board of Directors, serves as co-chair of the firm’s Trade Secrets Practice Group, and is the former chair of the firm's Labor and Employment Practice Group.

Melissa focuses on litigation and advising top level corporate leadership - boards of directors, in-house counsel and chief executives - on unique, complex and often crisis-level employment affairs, including:

• Internal Investigations - Conducts high-level, sensitive and complex workplace investigations, and counsels on best practices in investigations.
• Executive Transitions and Disputes - Drafts, negotiates, advises and litigates complex executive transitions and disputes such as employment and separation agreements, compensation arrangements, trade secret disputes and restrictive covenants.
• Unfair Competition - Litigates complex unfair competition-related claims (including breach of non-competition agreements, misappropriation of trade secrets, tortious interference and breach of fiduciary duty claims) extensively throughout the United States, advises and strategizes on handling such issues, and drafts and negotiates restrictive covenants.
• Whistleblowers and Retaliation Threats - Advises on all aspects of whistleblower and retaliation situations, from responding to threats to handling litigation.
• Regulatory Missteps - Counsels leadership in response to allegations of corporate wrongdoing, including allegations related to the Fair Labor Standards Act, the Sarbanes-Oxley Act and Dodd-Frank Act, and litigates claims alleging violations or retaliation resulting from such reports.
• Major Transactions - With the goal of protecting company assets, counsels leadership during major transactions, advises on purchase agreements, drafts employment and related agreements to navigating disputes and litigation.
• ERISA Litigation - Handles all aspects of incentive compensation and retirement and benefit plan litigation.
• Indemnification Claims - Provides guidance to leadership and litigates indemnification suits brought by corporate officers.

Melissa has received recognition from several directories and publications for her work in complex employment matters. For example, she has been recognized in Chambers USA, Chambers and Partners (2020-2023), Benchmark Litigation, Euromoney Institutional Investor PLC (2021-2023), The Best Lawyers in America, Woodward/White, Inc. (2013-2024), Acritas Stars (2020), D CEO Magazine’s Dallas 500, D Magazine Partners (2017-2019), D Magazine's "Best Lawyers in Dallas," D Magazine and Partners (2018), Texas Super Lawyers, Thomson Reuters (2009-2013, 2018-2023), among other recognitions. In addition to being named a D CEO influential leader in North Texas, Melissa’s successful defense of Marathon Oil Company in an ERISA pension plan case helped the Haynes Boone labor and employment team secure Texas Lawyer’s “Litigation Section of the Year” award in 2013, the inaugural year the award was presented. Melissa represented Marathon’s plan administrator against relatives of a deceased participant.

In addition to complex employment situations, Melissa is also regularly called upon by clients to provide advice on day-to-day employment law issues. Melissa is a frequent speaker for local and national audiences on a variety of labor and employment and litigation issues and is an active member of the American Bar Association and the Dallas Bar Association.