Cohen, Weiss and Simon LLP (CWS) is pleased to announce that the Firm has elected two new partners, Eyad Asad and Marcy J. Dunlap, effective January 1, 2022. ”We congratulate these extraordinary attorneys on this well-deserved achievement,” said Lisa M. Gomez, Co-Chair of the Firm’s Management Committee. “Despite the continued challenges and uncertainty in the
world in 2021, we are excited to move forward into 2022 with Eyad and Marcy as members of the partnership.” Susan Davis, Co-Chair of the Management Committee, added, “Marcy and Eyad are integral parts of our Firm’s vision and future. They each have demonstrated an exemplary level of legal excellence, dedication to the needs of our clients and the labor movement, and commitment to a diverse and inclusive firm culture. We look forward to their continued contributions to our practice and our firm.”
Eyad Asad joined the Firm in 2021 as Of Counsel and became a partner in the Firm in January 2022. Mr. Asad practices primarily in labor and employment law.
Mr. Asad has extensive experience representing local and international labor unions, including in litigation in federal and state courts, before the NLRB, in arbitration hearings, and in contract negotiations. He also advises unions in
organizing drives, contract administration, internal union governance, political and legislative advocacy, and in navigating procurement and prevailing wage laws.
Mr. Asad also represents individual employees in negotiating employment and severance agreements and individuals and groups of employees in wage and hour litigation. He has also represented employee benefit funds in federal litigation.
Mr. Asad has worked with unions in the building service worker industry, the airline industry, and the service and construction trades.
Mr. Asad was previously an attorney and partner at Cohen, Weiss and Simon LLP. He then left to join Sen,ice Employees International Union, Local 32BJ where he worked as an attorney for over ten years representing Local 32BJ in all aspects of its work. Mr. Asad graduated from New York University School of Law in 1999. He received his undergraduate degree with honors from Rutgers College in 1995.
Marcy J. Dunlap joined the Firm in 2021 as Of Counsel and became a partner in the Firm in January 2022. She primarily practices in the area of employee benefits law.
Immediately prior to joining Cohen, Weiss and Simon LLP, Ms. Dunlap, worked for a large benefits consulting firm as weil as for a national insurance broker providing advice and compliance support related to ERISA, the Affordable Care Act, HIPAA, COBRA, FMLA, and other federal and state laws affecting employee benefit plans.
Prior to this experience, for over decade, Ms. Dunlap served as a Senior Investigator and, later, the Senior Advisor for Criminal Investigations for the U.S. Department of Labor’s Employee Benefits Security Administration. As Senior Advisor for Criminal Investigations, Ms. Dunlap provided oversight, technical guidance, and training to agency staff concerning criminal enforcement related to employee benefit plans. In addition, she partnered with the U.S. Department of Justice on prosecutions involving employee benefit plans. As Senior Investigator,
Ms. Dunlap investigated complex civil and criminal ERISA matters involving health plans, retirement plans, Taft-Hartley plans, employee stock ownership plans, professional employer organizations, multiple employer welfare arrangements, financial institutions, and service providers.
Ms. Dunlap is a member of the American Bar Association’s Labor and Employment Law Section, the International Foundation of Employee Benefit Plans, the AFL-CIO Union Lawyers Alliance and the Georgia Association of Black Women Attorneys.
Ms. Dunlap received her law degree from Howard University School of Law and her undergraduate degree from North Carolina Central University.