MARTHA E. GIFFORD

The sole practitioner of the Law Office of Martha E. Gifford in New York since 2007, Martha E. Gifford is an esteemed attorney who focuses her practice on antitrust law and related representation before federal and state agencies. As an antitrust counselor with extensive experience in advising and assisting in structuring business decisions on pricing, distribution, promotions, mergers and joint ventures, her goal is to achieve the best possible commercial results while minimizing competition law risks. Ms. Gifford also boasts extensive expertise in book publishing, music rights, specialty chemicals, pharmaceuticals, health care products distribution, among other areas. She has provided representation before the antitrust division, the Federal Trade Commission and the state Attorneys General.

Ms. Gifford’s career in antitrust law began while working at her inaugural firm as an associate attorney of Donovan, Leisure, Newton and Irvine in New York and Los Angeles between 1976 and 1982. Fascinated by this area of the law, she has since enjoyed an extremely rewarding career. Some of Ms. Gifford’s experiences included representing clients investigated by grand juries or in civil investigations by government agencies such as the Federal Trade Commission and the Department of Justice.

Ms. Gifford has also handled matters of grand jury investigations of a Fortune 100 company that involved the representation of the witnesses. Prior to working at Donovan, Leisure, she held appointments as a trial attorney for the Antitrust Division of the U.S. Department of Justice and for a private practice law firm as an associate, of senior counsel and chairman of its antitrust practice group. Early in her career, Ms. Gifford notably served as a contributing author of the book, “Lawmaking in Connecticut,” in 1973.

Born in Providence, Rhode Island, Ms. Gifford moved to New York full-time after finishing college. Becoming actively involved in her community, she devoted several years to the Young Women’s Christian Association of Brooklyn, where she worked as the director from 1996 to 2001. She is currently a preserve steward with the Coastal Rivers Land Conservancy since 2015. A nonprofit land trust and conservation organization, it is dedicated to preserving and promoting the natural, cultural and historical heritage of the Damariscotta-Pemaquid region in Maine.

Ms. Gifford attended Connecticut College, where she acquired a Bachelor of Arts in 1973. Accepted to the University of Chicago, she soon after received a JD in 1976. Ms. Gifford has since been admitted to practice by the New York Bar Association, the Supreme Court of the United States, the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York and the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit.

Aligned with several industry-related organizations, Ms. Gifford is a past president of the New York Women’s Bar Association. She recently served on the board of the New York State Attorney-Client Fee Dispute Program from 2000 to 2016 and has since been serving as chairman. She is a member of the Association of the Bar of the City of New York, where she once served on the committee on women in profession from 1996 to 1999, and is a co-founder and board member of the New York Women’s Bar Association Foundation. Furthermore, Ms. Gifford has been a speaker and co-founder of the Martha E. Gifford Summer Program, “What It’s Really Like to Practice Law in NYC as a Woman,” through the New York Women’s Bar Association. Active with several other professional organizations as well, Ms. Gifford is currently a member of the president’s leadership council at Connecticut College since 2013, and a member of numerous environmental and women’s rights organizations.

The recipient of several accolades, Ms. Gifford received a Joan Ellenbogen Founders Award and a Florence B. Allen Award from the Women’s Bar Association of the State of New York, and a William Lifland Service Award from the antitrust law section of the New York State Bar Association. She has also been bestowed with an Alumni Achievement Award from the Connecticut College Alumni Association. A celebrated Marquis listee, Ms. Gifford has been featured in the 55^th edition of Who’s Who in America.