Bryan Cave Leighton Paisner

Business & Commercial Disputes

Partner - Litigation and Investigations

Meryl Macklin is a trial lawyer and mediator with over 35 years of experience trying and resolving complex business disputes. For the last 20 years, Meryl’s practice has been largely focused on M&A and corporate governance disputes, including indemnity claims, breaches of representations and warranties, pre-closing disputes, rep and warranty insurance disputes, and earnouts. Meryl works closely with deal lawyers to resolve these disputes and to consult on relevant language in underlying agreements. She co-leads BCLP’s M&A Disputes practice team and is a frequent speaker on M&A disputes.

Meryl’s trial experience has enabled her to develop targeted litigation strategies even when handling cases likely to settle, avoiding unnecessary and costly motion and discovery practice where possible.  She brings her keen understanding and awareness of parties’ and lawyers’ motivations and litigation dynamics to her mediation practice, bringing an open mind and her considerable experience to her efforts to help parties navigate the resolution of their disputes. Clients, in turn, reach out to Meryl to tap into her pragmatic ability to resolve disputes in a timely manner because they know she will get the job done.

Meryl is a member of the Northern District of California Mediation Panel and serves as a mediator for a wide range of commercial disputes. She attended mediation training at the Harvard Negotiation Project and at the Northern District of California.

CIVIC INVOLVEMENT & HONORS Legal 500 US, M&A Litigation: Defense, 2024 Fellow, Litigation Counsel of America, 2015–present Chair, LCA Complex Commercial Litigation Institute, 2022—present Member, Board of Directors, San Francisco Center for the Book, 2015 - present; Chair since 2018 Los Angeles and San Francisco Daily Journal “Top Women Lawyers”, 2012 Los Angeles and San Francisco Daily Journal “Top Women Litigators,” 2008 PROFESSIONAL AFFILIATIONS Northern District of California Mediation Panel, Member