Margaret Coughlin LePage
Clients look to Meg LePage for help on a wide range of workplace disputes and seek her counsel when looking to minimize legal risks in connection with hiring, discipline and discharge, discrimination and harassment complaints, family medical leave requests, wage payment disputes, non-competition agreements, and a wide variety of other employment issues.
Meg's clients include healthcare and educational institutions, financial services companies, insurance companies, manufacturers, social service agencies, summer youth camps, and hospitality and recreation facilities. With extensive experience in both employment litigation and advice and counsel work, Meg provides employers with sound, practical and timely advice coupled with efficient and effective advocacy in state and federal courts and administrative agencies. She also regularly presents workplace training programs for employers on a variety of issues, including unlawful harassment and discrimination, workplace diversity, performance management, accommodating disabilities, attendance and leave management and individual and group terminations.
In addition to her employment work, Meg serves as general outside counsel to a number of independent schools and colleges, advising on such issues as student admissions, faculty and staff discrimination and harassment; student sexual misconduct and Title IX compliance and investigations; academic integrity violations, student disciplinary proceedings; accommodations for disabled students; faculty employment and advancement; tuition disputes, and access to educational records.
Meg also serves as general counsel to the Maine Principals' Association, which regulates interscholastic high school athletic and extracurricular competitions across the state. She was the principal drafter of the MPA's groundbreaking policy expanding opportunities for transgender student athletes while preserving athletic equity and ensuring safety for all student athletes.
Prior to arriving at Pierce Atwood in 1987, Meg practiced with the Labor and Employment group of a major Seattle law firm. Meg is a member of the Pierce Atwood Management Committee and serves as the firm’s Human Resources Partner, advising the firm on employment-related matters.
Honors & Distinctions
- Rated AV® Preeminent™ by Martindale-Hubbell
- Recognized as a Leader in Maine employment law in Chambers USA
- Included in The Best Lawyers in America® since 2003 in the areas of Education Law, Employment Law-Management, and Labor Law-Management; and was named Portland, Maine 2011 "Lawyer of the Year" for Labor and Employment Law, 2013 "Lawyer of the Year" for Employment Law-Management, 2015 "Lawyer of the Year" for Education Law, and 2018 "Lawyer of the Year" for Employment Law-Management
- Recognized as a top-rated Employment and Labor attorney by New England Super Lawyers since 2007
- Received the "Women of Achievement" award in 2003 from the Cumberland County YWCA for her professional accomplishments and contributions to the community and in 2006 received the Unsung Hero Award through Family Crisis Services
Professional Activities
- Member, The American Employment Law Council
- 2016 Chair of Maine's Campaign for Justice, raising over $600,000 from lawyers and judges to support civil legal services for low-income Maine residents
- Member, Judicial Advisory Committee, Maine Court Appointed Special Advocates (CASA), 2002-2017
- Pro bono attorney for guardians ad litem representing abused or neglected children in child protective cases, 1989-present
Civic Activities
- Board of Trustees, The Dempsey Center, 2018-present
- Board of Trustees, Vice President, Cancer Community Center, 2014-2018
- Board Member, Dartmouth Club of Maine, 2005-present
- Board of Trustees, Saint Joseph's Rehabilitation & Residence, 2009-2013
- Board of Trustees, Chair, Opportunity Farm for Boys & Girls, 1995-2005
- Board of Trustees, North Yarmouth Academy, 1995-2004