Colleen E. Coveney

Colleen Coveney, a Partner at Katz Banks Kumin, joined the firm in 2012.  Ms. Coveney represents clients in a range of civil rights and discrimination matters under federal and state anti-discrimination statutes including Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the Pregnancy Discrimination Act of 1978, Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972, and corresponding state laws.  Ms. Coveney also represents whistleblowers in unlawful retaliation cases, as well as individuals submitting tips to the whistleblower-reward programs administered by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. 

During her time at Katz Banks Kumin, Ms. Coveney has litigated cases in federal and state court, as well as in administrative proceedings before the U.S. Department of Education, U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, and U.S. Department of Labor.  She is currently representing the former head coach of the women’s basketball team at the Georgia Institute of Technology in MaChelle Joseph v. Board of Regents of the University System of Georgia, et al., a Title VII and Title IX sex discrimination and retaliation case currently pending in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Georgia.  Ms. Coveney has also represented numerous employees in cases that have successfully resolved confidentially prior to and during litigation.

In the legal community, Ms. Coveney is currently a member of the D.C. Bar Labor and Employment Steering Committee.  In this role, Ms. Coveney works with her fellow committee members to plan programs, projects and other professional activities for the benefit of labor and employment law practitioners in the Washington D.C. area.  She and the committee also engage in pro bono and community outreach activities and periodically submit comments on policy issues that impact the labor and employment law community.  Ms. Coveney also serves on and contributes to panels regarding emerging employment law issues.  Most recently, she was the Faculty Chair on an ALI-CLE presentation titled “Pregnancy and Family Responsibility Discrimination, Parental Leave, and COVID-19 Complications.”  In this role, Ms. Coveney collaborated with Katz Banks Kumin Of Counsel Carolyn Wheeler, the National Women’s Law Center, and ALI-CLE to organize a panel discussion about pregnancy and parenting in today’s workforce.  She also recently presented on developments around restrictive covenants, including on the District of Columbia’s new Ban on Non-Compete Agreements Amendment Act, a recently enacted law that is one of the most comprehensive non-compete bans in the country.   

Ms. Coveney was recognized from 2019 to 2021 as a top employment attorney in the D.C. area by Super Lawyers.  Ms. Coveney received her undergraduate degree from the University of Georgia, graduating magna cum laude with Honors, and her J.D. from Georgia State University College of Law.  During law school, Ms. Coveney worked as a law clerk at the ACLU of Georgia where she helped spearhead a human rights documentation project on the immigration detention system in the U.S.  Ms. Coveney was also a founding member of the Legal Society for Intimate Partner Violence Education, a student-run organization dedicated to raising awareness about intimate partner violence and the law.  Prior to law school, Ms. Coveney worked as a legal assistant at Sullivan & Cromwell, LLP for two years. 

Ms. Coveney is admitted to practice in the District of Columbia and Georgia.