In 1997, after months in the national spotlight, more than 1400 African American employees of Texaco won the largest race discrimination settlement in history.

Out of that landmark case, the firm that is now Mehri & Skalet was born. In 1998, Cyrus Mehri, a lead counsel for the plaintiffs in Roberts v. Texaco, Inc., struck out on his own to form a new kind of law firm – one that would use high-caliber legal work to serve the public interest.

In 1999, Mr. Mehri’s new firm filed a race discrimination class action against Coca-Cola. Ingram v. The Coca-Cola Company built on the $176 million Texaco case, ultimately settling for $192.5 million and winning even more far-reaching programmatic reforms. Those reforms would set a new gold standard for corporate accountability and change the employment practices that affect thousands of salaried workers.

In 2001, Mr. Mehri joined forces with Steve Skalet, a well-known Washington attorney who specializes in consumer protection and financial fraud cases. Mehri & Skalet now has a thriving practice representing employees, consumers, investors, labor organizations, citizen groups and small businesses in complex, high-impact litigation against powerful corporate interests. True to its founding vision, M&S combines a focus on the public interest with an adherence to the law’s highest standards of quality and integrity.