Faith E. Gay

Faith E. Gay is a founding partner at Selendy Gay.

In a nationally prominent career spanning four decades, Faith has served as lead counsel in dozens of high-stakes trials, arbitrations and appeals, and she has successfully navigated bet-the-company crises and multifaceted government investigations for scores of Fortune 500 companies, Boards of Directors, and C-suite executives. She has represented government officials, municipal entities, and public service unions in a wide range of sensitive matters that combine legal, political, and reputational risk.  Faith also leads a cutting-edge impact litigation practice that focuses on constitutional and rule of law issues. Before founding Selendy Gay, Faith co-chaired the trial practice at the world’s largest litigation firm and was a highly respected federal prosecutor. Raised in rural Georgia and a resident of New York City, Faith is comfortable in courtrooms everywhere.

Chambers ranks Faith as one of the country’s top litigators, citing “significant praise for her work in high-stakes litigation covering commercial claims, white-collar issues and matters of constitutional law.” Clients have touted her "extraordinary feel for litigation,” saying: "I've never met a lawyer like her; she combines so many talents in a single human body. She's incredibly responsive, unbelievably insightful, and her advice is always sound." Law360 described Faith as “a great litigator” with “a kind of magnetic charisma, a likeability and intelligence that allow her to present complicated cases in a way that disarms tough judges, hostile witnesses, and skeptical jury members.”

Faith was recently named a Litigation Trailblazer by the National Law Journal and a Lawdragon Legend. Faith has long held a place on “best in class” elite litigator lists including Chambers, Forbes, Crain’s, Legal500, Lawdragon, Benchmark, the Daily Journal, and scores of others.  Her recent accolades include the Robert M. Kaufman Memorial Award (Fund for Modern Courts); the Gould Award for Outstanding Appellate Advocacy (the Office of the Appellate Defender); and the Dedication to Justice Award (Access Justice NYC).  Faith recently delivered the convocation address at Northwestern University School of Law and is frequently called upon by global media outlets including BBC, MS-NOW, and The Washington Post to provide legal commentary.

Prior to entering private practice, Faith was a supervisor in the Civil Rights and Special Prosecutions Units of the United States Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of New York. She twice received the Department of Justice Directors’ Award for excellence in trial litigation. 

In her commercial practice, Faith focuses on complex disputes involving contractual and financial matters, securities, crypto, bankruptcy, intellectual property, and consumer-facing plaintiff matters.  Her long roster of high-profile clients whom she has served as national or lead trial counsel includes the American Federation of Teachers, Bausch, Bridgewater, Coca-Cola, Colgate, Domtar, Eargo, E-Trade, Home Depot, MacAndrews & Forbes, McKinsey, Novartis, Nuance, Pfizer, Regeneron, Revlon, Sandoz, Schwab, and Warburg Pincus.

In her white-collar and crisis management practice, Faith has represented corporations, and high-profile individuals in investigations by the SEC, FINRA, DOJ, FDA, IRS, EPA, DOD, and numerous state attorneys general. She has led internal investigations at the request of corporations, Boards of Directors, and Special Committees. No individual or corporation that Faith has represented while under investigation has been indicted, pleaded guilty, or been forced to accept deferred prosecution.

Faith also leads trial teams in her pathbreaking public impact litigation practice. She currently represents New York Governor Kathy Hochul in a variety of matters and previously represented New York Governor David Patterson in a victory the New York Times called “stunning” in upholding the appointment of Richard Ravitch as Lieutenant Governor. Faith represented a class of public service workers in obtaining unprecedented relief related to the Public Service Loan Forgiveness program, and the American Federation of Teachers in striking down a broad-ranging anti-union statute on federal preemption grounds.  Among other matters, she represents Capitol Hill Police Officers injured during the January 6 riots, and citizens of Memphis who were harassed and threatened while peacefully recording police activity including immigration sweeps.

Recent Representative Matters (Commercial Litigation):

• Charles Schwab, in emergency litigation brought by Merrill Lynch, successfully defending against claims of systemic corporate raiding and trade secret violations. 
• E-Trade, in obtaining the dismissal of two separate putative class actions related to purportedly improper steering of trades—one alleging federal securities fraud claims, and the other alleging breach of fiduciary duties under state law.
• McKinsey, in defending against RICO and bankruptcy fraud claims in the Southern District of New York, the Southern District of Texas, the Eastern District of Virginia, the District of Delaware, and the Northern District of Illinois. All but one case was dismissed prior to the commencement of discovery.
• Regeneron, in obtaining a complete dismissal in a complex patent infringement suit, which sought over $500 million in damages.
• Warburg Pincus, in obtaining dismissal of claims in a securities and breach of contract case in federal district court in Delaware.
• A C-suite executive, in obtaining a sweeping victory after a three-week trial in a high-net-worth divorce case.

Recent Representative Matters (White Collar and Government Investigations):

• Eargo, a California-based medical device company, in a criminal investigation which DOJ closed without bringing charges.

• Two C-suite executives (CEO and Chief Legal Officer), in securing complete dismissals/acquittals on all federal criminal charges including multiple felony counts alleging financial and securities fraud as well as violations of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act.
• Former CEO of a major technology company, in connection with his complete acquittal on federal charges of wire fraud, securities fraud, and conspiracy to commit offenses, including obstruction of justice. 
• Marissa Alexander, in obtaining a complete reversal of a conviction and mandatory 20-year sentence for allegedly firing a warning shot at her serially abusive spouse.

Recent Representative Matters (Public Impact Litigation):

• Members of the American Federation of Teachers, in securing summary judgment holding that Florida’s anti-union arbitration ban is preempted by the Federal Arbitration Act, preserving faculty members’ right to binding, neutral dispute resolution.
• Public service workers and members of the American Federation of Teachers, in a pathbreaking settlement of a nationwide class action against Navient, one of the nation’s largest student loan servicers, challenging its practices with respect to advising federal student loan borrowers on their eligibility for Public Service Loan Forgiveness.
• New York Governor Kathy Hochul, in multi-district litigation in the Northern District of California against social media companies relating to negative impacts on teen mental health. The Governor obtained precedent-setting pretrial rulings relating to statewide discovery; the litigation is on-going.
• Court-appointed amicus curiae, in the Southern District of Florida, to advise whether the Court had subject matter jurisdiction to decide a dispute between President Trump and the Internal Revenue Service.
• Simon Wiesenthal Center, in securing a ruling preserving future claims against UBS and Credit Suisse relating to newly discovered Nazi-linked assets and accounts.
• Eight Capitol Police officers on duty during the January 6 riots, in securing a March 2026 decision largely denying President Trump’s immunity defenses and clearing a key path toward merits discovery and trial

Education, Affiliations & Community Involvement

Faith was an A.B. Duke Scholar at Duke University, and earned her J.D. from the Northwestern University School of Law, where she serves on the Law Board Executive Committee. She is a Trustee of the Public Theater and the U.S. Rowing Foundation and a member of the American Law Institute. She serves on the boards of Bassett Medical Center, the Campaign Legal Center, and the Clark Foundation and is a board member emeritus of the American Constitution Society and Union Theological Seminary. In 2019, Faith received an M.Div from Yale Divinity School, and is an ordained Presbyterian minister.  She is also an instrument-rated pilot.