Kellam M. Conover is a senior associate in the Washington, D.C. office of Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher.  He practices in the firm’s Litigation Department and is a member of its Appellate and Constitutional Law Practice Group.

Mr. Conover represents clients from a wide variety of industries in high-stakes appellate and administrative law matters, ranging from constitutional law, to securities fraud, patent, government contracts, and Administrative Procedure Act cases.  Mr. Conover has represented parties before numerous federal appellate courts, including the Supreme Court of the United States, and the Second, Third, Eighth, Ninth, D.C., and Federal Circuits.  He was named by Best Lawyers as “One to Watch” in both Appellate Practice and Administrative Law in 2022 and 2023.

Mr. Conover maintains an active pro bono practice.  In 2019, the team he led received DV LEAP’s Pro Bono Team of the Year award for their work in the Supreme Court on behalf of the petitioner in Monasky v. Taglieri, 140 S. Ct. 719 (2019).

Before rejoining the firm, Mr. Conover clerked for the Honorable Raymond C. Fisher of the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit.

Mr. Conover received his law degree from Stanford Law School in 2013, where he was a Dolores Zohrab Liebmann Fellow and won the Hilmer Oehlmann, Jr. Award for Excellence in Legal Writing.  Prior to attending law school, he received a Ph.D. in Classics from Princeton University, where he received the University’s top academic honor for graduate students.  He received his undergraduate degree, magna cum laude, in Greek and Latin from Swarthmore College.

Representative matters include:

• Obtained landmark Supreme Court victory for Raymond J. Lucia in decision holding that SEC administrative law judges are “inferior Officers” under the Appointments Clause. Lucia v. SEC, 138 S. Ct. 2044 (2018).
• Persuaded Supreme Court not to invalidate the Patent Office’s IPR regime in case considering whether administrative patent judges were properly appointed under the Appointments Clause. United States v. Arthrex, Inc., 141 S. Ct. 1970 (2021).
• Successfully opposed appeal of pre-award challenge to Defense Department’s $10 billion JEDI procurement. Oracle Am., Inc. v. United States (Fed. Cir. & U.S.).
• Represented large engineering firm in Supreme Court merits case on whether Item 303 of SEC Regulation S-K is enforceable in a private Section 10(b) securities fraud action; case settled before oral argument. Leidos, Inc. v. Ind. Pub. Ret. Sys., No. 16-581 (U.S.).
• Persuaded the Second Circuit to limit the scope of scheme liability to schemes involving fraudulent conduct beyond any misstatements or omissions. SEC v. Rio Tinto PLC, 41 F. 4th 47 (2d Cir. 2022).
• Successfully defended the FCC’s repeal of its “net neutrality” regime in the D.C. Circuit, on behalf of cable broadband providers trade association. Mozilla v. FCC, 940 F.3d 1 (D.C. Cir. 2019).
• Represented large data analytics company in appeal of adverse $375+ million judgement for patent infringement; case settled after oral argument. Eagle View Techs., Inc. v. Xactware Sols., Inc., No. 21-1048 (Fed. Cir.).
• Secured Second Circuit affirmance of dismissal of putative securities class action against global mining company; on remand, secured denial of reconsideration. Colbert v. Rio Tinto PLC, 824 F. App’x 5 (2d Cir. 2020).
• Successfully defeated bet-the-company motion for preliminary injunction on behalf of energy drink company in trademark and trade-secrets litigation.  Outlaw Bev., Inc. v. Collins, No. 19-0342 (Del. Ch.).