Meredith C. Slawe

Ms. Slawe is recognized as one of the country’s leading practitioners and has an extensive track record of success in defending clients in consumer class actions in federal and state courts nationwide and in mass arbitrations. Her clients include leading companies across industries including retail, hospitality, consumer products, media and entertainment, financial services, sports, gaming, food and beverage, technology, automotive, and telecommunications. She also has significant multidistrict litigation (MDL) experience, and is a leader in the defense of tariff refund-related class actions filed against retailers. Chambers USA notes that clients describe Ms. Slawe as “an expert and so proactive,” “tenacious, creative and fearless” and someone who “understands what’s going on in the space,” with one client noting: “Meredith is amazing. You could not ask for a better outside counsel. She intuitively understands the issues that are faced by in-house counsel and always offers strategic solutions.”

She often secures early victories to help clients avoid protracted litigation, including by developing strategies that prompt plaintiffs to dismiss their claims, achieving early dismissals through motion practice, compelling arbitration, defeating class certification and obtaining dismissals at summary judgment.

Ms. Slawe is known as one of the preeminent defense attorneys in the mass arbitration space. She has been the architect of novel and winning strategies to preserve the hallmarks of consumer and employee-friendly arbitration while diffusing the risks associated with mass arbitration for businesses across industries. Her approach has led to the swift and favorable resolution of these matters as well as significant victories in court and in arbitration, shaping the law and combatting abuses. Ms. Slawe also has drafted and revised more than 100 arbitration agreements and class action waivers for various companies.

In addition, Ms. Slawe advises retailers and other consumer-facing companies on risk mitigation measures in a host of areas, including data privacy, website and mobile app engagement (and the use of pixels, cookies, session replay and other technologies), pricing and fees (including algorithmic and surveillance pricing issues), customer communications (including text messages, calls and emails), product labeling, gift cards and online wallets, and advertising and marketing practices, as well as in connection with artificial intelligence and other advanced technologies.

Clients regularly turn to Ms. Slawe for her extensive knowledge of cutting-edge privacy, pricing and consumer protection issues under federal and state statutes. Prior to joining Skadden, she served as head of her previous firm’s retail industry practice and co-head of its class actions practice, giving her deep experience in advising retailers and consumer companies on class actions and mitigating litigation and enforcement risk. She has handled matters in several jurisdictions involving compliance with federal and state laws, including the Video Privacy Protection Act (VPPA), the Illinois Biometric Information Privacy Act (BIPA), the California Invasion of Privacy Act (CIPA), the Florida Security of Communications Act (FSCA), the Federal Wiretap Act, the Pennsylvania Wiretapping and Electronic Surveillance Control Act (WESCA), the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA), the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA), the Washington Commercial Electronic Mail Act (CEMA), the California Honest Pricing Law and the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA), among many others. She has also submitted comments before federal agencies (including the FCC and the FTC) and filed amicus briefs in the U.S. Supreme Court, federal Circuit Courts, and state Supreme Courts on behalf of industry groups and associations.

Ms. Slawe was elected to the American Law Institute and the American Bar Foundation and has been the recipient of numerous legal awards and accolades, including from The American Lawyer, Benchmark Litigation, Chambers USA and The Legal 500. She has also been named one of Lawdragon’s 500 Leading Global Litigators and 500 Leading Litigators in America, as well as one of Thomson Reuters’ Stand-out Lawyers and one of TCPAWorld’s Best TCPA Attorneys in the Nation.

She is frequently invited to speak and write on issues pertaining to class actions, mass arbitration, privacy, pricing and fees, consumer arbitration and the retail industry. In late 2025, Ms. Slawe co-authored a comprehensive report on “Private Power, Public Harm: The Coercive Dynamics of Mass Arbitration” on behalf of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Institute for Legal Reform. Additionally, she has been a guest lecturer on privacy at the University of Pennsylvania Law School and has presented on class actions at the Annenberg School for Communication and Villanova University Law School. She is a sought-after speaker and has recently presented at events including those hosted by the Retail Industry Leaders Association, Retail Litigation Center, National Retail Federation, Restaurant Law Center, Chief Litigation Counsel Association and the Association of Corporate Counsel.