Mehri & Skalet Welcomes New Partner Desireé Langley and Of Counsel Meredith Crafton, Expanding Work in Civil Rights, Accountability, and Public-Interest Litigation
Mehri & Skalet is pleased to welcome Desireé Langley back to the firm as a partner and Meredith Crafton as of counsel, strengthening the firm’s growing capacity to represent clients in matters involving civil rights, workplace justice, whistleblower advocacy, environmental protection, and corporate accountability.
The additions reflect the firm’s continued growth and its commitment to taking on complex matters where legal advocacy can help advance accountability and meaningful change.
“We are thrilled to welcome Desireé back to Mehri & Skalet and to have Meredith join the firm,” said Cyrus Mehri, founding partner at Mehri & Skalet. “Both bring exceptional experience and a deep commitment to pursuing justice and accountability. Their practices strengthen our ability to take on complex matters involving civil rights, whistleblowers, environmental protection, and corporate misconduct, and we look forward to the impact they will have on behalf of our clients.”
Langley brings extensive experience representing employees, executives, employers, and public school districts in high-stakes litigation. Her practice will focus on school district litigation and civil rights. Her career has given her a unique understanding of how different parties approach complex workplace and civil rights disputes. Earlier in Langley’s career, she worked on class-action discrimination, civil rights, consumer protection, and individual employment matters at Mehri & Skalet. She subsequently represented employers in complex workplace litigation at Jackson Lewis before most recently representing employees and executives at The Washington Law Firm.
Crafton brings more than a decade of experience representing whistleblowers, community organizations, nonprofits, unions, and individuals in environmental enforcement, False Claims Act, consumer protection, and corporate accountability matters. Her practice focuses on environmental protection, as well as corporate and government accountability, and she has managed several high-profile, multi-party lawsuits involving large corporations, government agencies, and government contractors. She also has experience working on large class-action lawsuits against major banks.
Crafton has represented whistleblowers who exposed fraud and other misconduct, including four whistleblowers who uncovered years of alleged overcharging and related wrongdoing at the Hanford Waste Treatment Plant in Washington State. Her work has also included environmental litigation involving the Hanford Nuclear Site. In one matter, she represented Hanford Challenge and a labor union on behalf of workers exposed to toxic chemical vapors from nuclear waste tanks. The case helped establish that the toxic vapors were subject to enforcement under the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act and resulted in a settlement requiring improved protections for workers.
Together, Langley and Crafton’s practices add significant depth to areas that have long been central to Mehri & Skalet’s work while expanding the firm’s ability to serve clients confronting complex institutional and systemic challenges.
Growing the Firm’s Capacity for Meaningful Advocacy
The arrival of Langley and Crafton comes at a time of continued growth for Mehri & Skalet and reflects the firm’s broader approach to building a practice around matters where experienced advocacy can make a meaningful difference.
From representing employees and public institutions to advocating for whistleblowers and communities affected by corporate and environmental misconduct, the firm’s work increasingly spans interconnected questions of accountability, fairness, and institutional responsibility.
Langley and Crafton bring different areas of experience to that work, but their practices share the purpose of seeking accountability when powerful interests have failed to meet their responsibilities.
With these additions, Mehri & Skalet continues to build on its longstanding commitment to advocacy that combines sophisticated litigation with a focus on the people and communities behind each case.