J.D. from Harvard Law School, with pro bono honors

B.A. in Political Science and International Studies from Yale University, with distinction in the major

Law Clerk to the Honorable L. Felipe Restrepo
U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit

Emery Celli Brinckerhoff Abady Ward & Maazel LLP

Skadden Arps Slate Meagher & Flom LLP

Member of the State Bar of New York and Illinois

Member of Law360 Access to Justice Editorial Board

Marissa second-chaired a federal jury trial in San Jose on behalf of Impossible LLC, a performance lifestyle brand built around its senior use of the "IMPOSSIBLE" mark, in a dispute with Impossible Foods, the makers of plant-based meat substitutes.  Marissa and the BHB trial team secured a complete victory for Impossible LLC, including a seven-figure damages award for willful infringement. On top of the jury verdict, BHB successfully argued and obtained an order for attorneys' fees and a permanent injunction against Impossible Foods based on an “exceptional case” finding under the Lanham Act.

Impossible Foods Inc. v. Impossible X LLC, No. 5:21-cv-02419 (N.D. Cal. 2026)
Opposing counsel: Davis Wright Tremaine LLP

Marissa helped represent a major developer of Treasure Island, one of the most significant real estate projects in San Francisco Bay Area history, in a series of consolidated multi-million-dollar actions against Stockbridge Treasure Island Investment Company, LLC, WMS Treasure Island Development I, LLC and Stockbridge TI Co-Investors, LLC concerning the allocation of investment returns from the project. After several years of pitched litigation and on the eve of the deposition of Defendant’s principal in late summer 2025, BHB resolved all claims pursuant to a confidential eight-figure settlement that allowed for the redevelopment of iconic Treasure Island into a new mixed-use community. In a public statement, our client reflected its pride in having “created new opportunities, housing, and improved one of the San Francisco Bay’s most visible yet underutilized assets.”

Stockbridge Treasure Island Investment Co., LC v. Kenwood Investments, LLC, Case No. CGC-23-605537/Kenwood Investments, LLC v. Stockbridge Treasure Island Investment Co., LLC et al., Case No. CGC-23-605626 (S.F. Supp. Ct.)(consolidated); Kenwood Investments LLC v. Fancher et al., Case No. CGC-24-620087, (S.F. Supp. Ct.)
Opposing counsel: Munger, Tolles & Olson LLP, Williams & Connolly LLP

Marissa served as co-lead counsel representing a wealth management firm in its dispute with a fintech platform provider, arising from its years-long failure to deliver a fully functional, custom-built portfolio accounting and enterprise software system it had contracted and repeatedly promised. After years of assurances designed to keep our client from walking away, our client terminated the relationship upon learning that the Defendant was deprioritizing the very products at the center of the deal. Marissa and team took over the representation in late 2024 and prepared the case for a JAMS arbitration hearing in San Francisco. Hours before that hearing was set to begin in September 2025, BHB secured a favorable settlement on behalf of its client.

Marissa and the BHB team represented Carlos Murillo Vega in his claims against one of the country’s largest private prison operators challenging its practice of keeping people in solitary confinement without justification while in immigration detention. A federal court denied the prison’s summary judgment motion holding that it may be subject to liability for unjustifiably holding our client in a tiny cell for 22 hours a day for 14 months. In the wake of our summary judgment victory, the private prison operators settled. This immigration justice case resulted in the firm being awarded the 2024 Father Cuchulain Moriarty Award by the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights of the San Francisco Bay Area.

Vega v. Management and Training Corporation, Case No. 3:21-cv-01770-GPC-LR (S.D. Cal.)

Marissa helped lead and used BHB’s First Amendment press and protest freedoms litigation strategies to obtain preliminary injunction against DHS on March 9, 2026, preventing DHS from assaulting nonviolent observers and protesters in Portland.  Our strategies and precedents developed from Index Newspapers LLC v. U.S. Marshals Servs., 977 F.3d 817 (9th Cir. 2020) and later Los Angeles Press Club v. Noem, 2:25-cv-05563 (C.D. Cal.) became a template for the Dickinson case and for similar litigation against DHS across the nation, including in Chicago Headline Club v. Noem and Tincher v. Noem, which issued similar injunctions on behalf of reporters and protesters in Chicago and Minnesota.

Dickinson v. Trump, Case No. 3:25-cv-02170, (D. Or.)

Marissa is one of the lead attorneys obtaining relief for incarcerated people who had been wrongly punished and deprived of their legal mail due to the manufacture and sale of unreliable field drug tests, interfering with the constitutional rights of thousands of people. She is also leading the federal suit against the manufacturer and distributor of the faulty drug tests to hold them accountable for producing, marketing, and selling an unreliable test.

Green, et al. v. Mass. Dep’t Correction, et al., No. 2184CV02283 (Mass. Super. Ct., Suffolk Cty.)

Marissa and co-counsel Romer-Friedman Berman Law are leading a team challenging housing discrimination in New York City during a city and nation-wide housing crisis. The team filed two separate suits against two of New York’s major real estate brokerage firms for discriminating against New Yorkers with housing vouchers, seeking to end unlawful practices and ensure equal access to housing amid the city’s housing and affordability crisis.

Fair Housing Justice Center v. Oxford Property Group and Fair Housing Justice Center v. Skyward Steel LLC