Imani N. Maatuka

MANAGING PARTNER – DALLAS OFFICE

BIOGRAPHY

IMANI MAATUKA focuses her practice on commercial litigation and disputes. Imani has experience advising clients in internal investigations, as well as investigations by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, U.S. Department of Justice, and state attorneys general. Imani has handled matters involving, among other things, alleged consumer fraud, product liability and mass tort litigation, securities fraud, financial reporting and disclosure issues, market manipulation, auditor independence, and False Claims Act allegations.

Imani has substantial experience in multidistrict litigation, including managing key workstreams, presenting oral arguments on discovery disputes, and coordinating deposition programs. In regulatory enforcement matters, she has defended clients in state attorneys general enforcement actions, developed successful dispositive strategies, prepared witnesses for depositions, and supported settlement negotiations. Imani has also advised audit committees and special committees of public company boards in internal investigations, where she has led investigations from inception through board reporting, conducted witness interviews, managed eDiscovery, and prepared materials for SEC presentations. Her experience also extends to commercial arbitration, including trade secret disputes, where she has handled all phases from arbitrator selection through post-award confirmation proceedings.

Imani maintains an active pro bono practice, including military discharge-upgrade proceedings and capital post-conviction representations.

During her time at a large international law firm, Imani was selected as a member of The National Black Lawyers’ “Top 40 Under 40” (2024)and was recently named one of Just The Beginning’s “5 Under 40” Legal Professionals, honoring outstanding young lawyers who exemplify excellence, leadership, and service in the legal community.

Imani earned her J.D. from Washington University School of Law, where she was on the Dean’s List and received the Dean’s Fellowship Award, Dean’s Leadership Award, Dean’s Service Award, and received the highest grade in the Entrepreneurship and Intellectual Property Clinic. She also served as publication editor for the Washington University Journal of Law and Policy. During her time in law school, she worked at the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission for the Enforcement Division – Collections Group, Carlson Capital, where she focused on compliance and alternative investments, and Arch City Defenders, assisting with litigation that stemmed from the Ferguson, Missouri, protests.

Imani graduated from North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University with a B.S. in journalism and mass communications, summa cum laude, and first in her class. Prior to graduation, she participated in the university’s International Business Development Program in China, where she worked closely with international Fortune 500 companies’ accounting and litigation teams.

Education & Experience

REPRESENTATIVE MATTERS:

• Represented two real estate investment companies as defendants in a complex, multi-party dispute. A plaintiff brought fraud, breach of fiduciary duty, dissolution-of-the-LLC, and other claims against eleven corporate defendants. She led the briefing and oral argument on a Motion to Dismiss, and the court granted the motion in its entirety from the bench.
• Represented a Midwest car wash franchise in a property insurance dispute with State Auto that had been pending for over two years under prior counsel. She secured a favorable settlement at one location. After the insurer moved to unwind that settlement and disqualify the client’s appraiser at a second location, she successfully opposed the motion and resolved the matter within approximately four months.
• Represented a company defending against trade secret allegations. She successfully moved to compel arbitration, and a three-arbitrator panel subsequently ruled in favor of the company on all counts.*
• Represented a company involved in multiple cases arising out of an industrial accident.*
• Represented a publicly traded company in an action in which the plaintiff alleged that the company had committed fraud over a ten-year period. She played a key role in successfully arguing that the plaintiff’s claims were barred by the general five-year statute of limitations for civil actions.*
• Represented a private equity firm in False Claims Act litigation.*
• Represented a personal care product manufacturer in large-scale product liability litigation involving allegations that extended use of certain products caused reproductive cancers and other health conditions. The litigation consisted of a federal multidistrict litigation (MDL), coordinated state court actions, and related foreign actions in Canada.*
• Represented a Houston-based biotherapeutics company in an SEC investigation that led to a rare zero-penalty resolution based on the company’s self-reporting, remediation, and cooperation.*
• Represented a publicly traded specialty retailer in an ADA class action. She managed the litigation through a bankruptcy-triggered stay and achieved a nominal, nuisance-value settlement.*

PRO BONO EXPERIENCE:

• Lead attorney in decisive victory, culminating in complete relief for client through the Air Force Discharge Review Board’s (“AFDRB”) automatic reconsideration process. The Board granted the client’s original requests in full: his Character of Service was upgraded to Honorable, and his Narrative Reason for separation has been changed from “Misconduct (Drug Abuse)” to “Secretarial Authority”*
• Represented defendant and applied for a writ habeas corpus in a capital case, seeking a reformed sentence from the death penalty to life imprisonment.*

Matters marked with an asterisk (*) were handled prior to joining Maatuka Al-Heeti Emkes, LLC.

NEWS AND INSIGHTS:

• Author, “Building Brand Awareness For A Legal Nonprofit,” Law360, May 21, 2025.
• Author, “An Opportunity to Honor Those Who Charted the Path Forward,” The Texas Lawbook, February 29, 2024.
• Guest, “Bridging the Gap Between ‘Big Law’ and Minority Students with Imani Maatuka,” Ladies who Law, December 27, 2022.
• Featured in, “Attorney Imani Maatuka Isn’t Waiting For Change, She Is Making The Change,” Sheen Magazine, November 3, 2022.
• Featured in, “Imani Maatuka on Bridging the Gap Scholarship For Budding Law Students,” Dallas Weekly, September 28, 2022.
• Featured in, “Biglaw Associate Starts Scholarship To Pay It Forward,” Above the Law, September 9, 2022.
• Featured in, “This 24-Year-Old Attorney Launched A Scholarship To Fund Black Law Students’ School Costs,” Essence, August 4, 2022.
• Featured in, “This Young Attorney Is ‘Bridging the Gap’ Between Big Law And Minority Students,” Blavity, July 25, 2022.
• Featured in, “Young, Black woman attorney launches scholarship to increase minority representation in ‘Big Law’ jobs,” Afro News, June 14, 2022.
• Featured in, “High Impact Philanthropy: Imani Maatuka Of Bridging
• The Gap Scholarship On How To Leave A Lasting Legacy With A Successful & Effective Nonprofit Organization,” Authority Magazine, May 22, 2022.

COMMUNITY INVOLVEMENT:

• The Higginbotham Inn of Court, associate (2024-2025)
• Member of The National Black Lawyers Top 40 under 40
• Dallas Bar Association
• Dallas Association of Young Lawyers
• J.L. Turner Legal Association
• Bridging the Gap Scholarship, founding board member
• The NEW Roundtable, member
• Alpha Kappa Aloha Sorority, Inc.

ACCOLADES:

• Imani N. Maatuka Named One of Just The Beginning’s 5 Under 40 Legal Professionals (2025)
• Washington University School of Law, Black Law Students’ Association (BLSA) Young Alumni Award (2022)

EDUCATION:

2021

Washington University School of Law, J.D., 2021, Dean’s List

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2018

North Carolina A&T State University, B.S., 2018, summa cum
laude, Honors College

ADMISSIONS AND CERTIFICATIONS:

• U.S. District Court, E.D. of Texas
• U.S. District Court, N.D. of Texas
• U.S. District Court, C.D. of Illinois
• U.S. District Court, S.D. of Illinois
• Texas State Bar

CAPABILITIES: