The Maine Employee Rights Group (MERG) is pleased to announce that award-winning attorney Allan Townsend has joined the firm. Allan comes to MERG from the U.S. Department of Justice, Civil Rights Division, Employment Litigation Section, where he worked for the past seven years protecting the rights of employees of state and local governments as well as military service members.
DOJ entrusted Allan to represent the United States in some of its most high profile cases including a large class action challenging the New York City Fire Department’s (FDNY) pattern of discrimination against Black and Hispanic applicants—which settled for about $100 million—and the first-ever employment discrimination lawsuit that DOJ filed to protect the rights of a transgender individual.
“Allan began his career in Maine and we are thrilled that he has returned from Washington, DC. He is an extraordinary attorney and a dogged advocate for his clients. Allan has spent his entire career fighting for working people and all Maine workers should be thankful that he has returned,” said MERG principal Peter Thompson.
“I’m thankful for the opportunity to work at MERG where I will continue to fight for the rights of workers. It was an honor and a privilege to serve in the Civil Rights Division of the U.S. Department of Justice as a career trial attorney. The career attorneys and staff of the Civil Rights Division are now, and always have been, patriots deeply committed to enforcing our nation’s civil rights laws. Unfortunately, an Attorney General determined to undermine and roll back civil rights protections currently leads DOJ. In this environment, private firms like MERG are more important than ever to the cause of civil rights,” said Allan Townsend.