Margaret (Maggie) draws on 20 years of diverse investigative, trial, and appellate experience to provide strategic counsel to individuals and organizations facing complex legal challenges. She advises organizations in crisis, defends individuals and institutions, and pursues justice for clients impacted by misconduct. Before entering private practice, Maggie spent years conducting complex investigations and high-stakes trials as a prosecutor at the federal and state level.

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Maggie joins Shihata & Geddes LLP from a boutique law firm she co-founded. Maggie has represented educational institutions and other organizations on matters related to criminal law, sexual misconduct (including Title IX compliance), and other workplace misconduct. She has extensive experience conducting sensitive internal investigations and external reviews of organizational policies and practices, notably including a historical investigation of an organization's ethics system that culminated in a public report.

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Maggie routinely advises families whose children have experienced harm at school or online as they navigate the criminal justice system, Title IX process, or seek civil remedies for harms they’ve endured. She co-founded a nationwide working group of Title IX practitioners and advises students impacted by sexual misconduct on campus. She also represents individuals who have experienced discrimination and harassment in the workplace, and in negotiating employment, severance, and separation agreements.

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Maggie has extensive trial experience in federal and state court. She served as an Assistant United States Attorney in the Eastern District of New York, where she was appointed as the Deputy Chief of the Organized Crime and Gang section. As a federal prosecutor, Maggie investigated and prosecuted sophisticated criminal organizations engaged in racketeering offenses, as well as individuals involved in sex trafficking, murder, production of child pornography, fraud, and corruption in a city-run jail.  Her efforts twice earned her the Prosecutor of the Year award from the Federal Law Enforcement Association, and the True American Hero award from the Federal Drug Agents Foundation.

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Maggie began her career at the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office, where she conducted extensive and often complex investigations, including those related to organized crime, international drug trafficking, and money laundering. She first served in the Office of the Special Narcotics Prosecutor where she was awarded a commendation for Extraordinary Service.  She later served in the Rackets Bureau where she investigated organized and white-collar crimes and public corruption.  She prosecuted the first case in New York county charging a violation of the state terrorism statute.

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While in law school, Maggie provided direct legal services to people impacted by domestic violence and was awarded the Shapiro Public Service Award.