Alexandra Rex Mayhugh

Alix helps cutting-edge clients navigate legal gray areas in a diverse range of complex business disputes, including privacy and consumer class actions, regulatory litigation, unfair competition claims, high-stakes contract disputes, trade secret misappropriation, and patent litigation. She has extensive experience and demonstrated wins at all stages of litigation – from prelawsuit negotiation through trial and, if necessary, appeal.

Alix also helps clients navigate significant crisis management and enforcement-related issues, including whistleblower and government investigations.

Alix’s representative matters include:

• Secured the dismissal of a seminal artificial intelligence (AI) privacy class action seeking payment and sweeping injunctive relief for client’s alleged use of Internet users’ personal data to train its large language models
• Obtained the reversal of a preliminary injunction order on appeal before the US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit on behalf of a cutting-edge sharing economy company
• Advised a web-based platform through a US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) enforcement action brought against the company and former officers in relation to certain publicly reported user metrics
• Secured a favorable outcome for a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company in two affirmative lawsuits filed against a former co-founder in connection with his unsuccessful proxy contest
• Conducted several high-profile internal investigations and coordinated crisis management efforts for a premier private university, including a complete reorganization of its central offices
• Successfully defended a major telecommunications provider in a patent infringement lawsuit, receiving a unanimous jury verdict that saved the company tens of millions of dollars in damages
• Won several key summary judgment motions while defending the patent rights of a top neonatal nutritional products company and ultimately secured a complete victory, defeating multimillion-dollar claims and keeping the patents at issue intact
• Helped a higher education institution design an innovative Title IX program in response to changing regulatory and judicial legal requirements
• Obtained the dismissal of nationwide class action on behalf of an international consumer goods client
• Secured a favorable outcome for a regional sports network faced with a multimillion-dollar breach of contract claim
• Successfully resolved a breach of contract lawsuit for a leading meal kit delivery company
• Secured a successful resolution in an Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) lawsuit

While attending Columbia Law School, Alix was a notes editor for the Columbia Law Review and a research assistant for professor Carol Sanger. She also externed for Judge Debra Ann Livingston of the US Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit and Judge Naomi Reice Buchwald of the US District Court for the Southern District of New York. During her time at the University of Southern California, Alix studied biomedical engineering and worked in a molecular genomics laboratory, studying eukaryotic genomes and protein expression.

Giving back

Alix is actively engaged in the firm’s pro bono practice. She successfully argued a summary judgment motion in federal court on behalf of a class of immigrant children in government custody seeking greater due process protections. That win led to the entry of a permanent injunction, securing critical due process rights for her clients.

Alix has also partnered with the ACLU Justice Lab to bring an unlawful seizure and detention case against local law enforcement. Following a precedent-setting summary judgment win and extensive pretrial filings, the team secured a favorable settlement for the client.

Additionally, Alix partners with nonprofit organizations to draft US Supreme Court amicus briefs on issues such as race-conscious admission policies and state laws regulating social media platforms. For the past several years, she has volunteered for the Legal Education Access Pipeline (LEAP), a nonprofit organization committed to increasing diversity in the legal profession. She also serves on a number of Cooley committees aimed at increasing diversity within the firm, including Cooley’s Women’s Initiative.

Presentations

• “Discovery Disputes,” Cooley College, 2022
• “Discovery Disputes,” Cooley College, 2021
• “Internal Investigation and Crisis Response,” Cooley, 2018
• “Protecting Your Organization Through Invention Agreements and Trade Secrets,” Association of Corporate Counsel, 2018

Media mentions

• Microsoft, OpenAI Beat Overstuffed Privacy Suit, For Now, Law360, May 28, 2024
• OpenAI Sees AI Privacy Class Claims Dropped, Law360, September 18, 2023