Michael Corcoran

Michael Corcoran is an associate in the Washington, D.C. office of Gibson Dunn. He practices in the firm’s Litigation Department where he is a member of the Appellate and Constitutional Law and Administrative Law and Regulatory Practice Groups.

Michael represents clients in high-stakes matters at all levels of the judiciary, with a particular emphasis on appeals and administrative law issues.  He has been recognized by AmLaw Litigation Daily as a “Litigator of the Week” for his nationally recognized defeat of the FTC’s “Click-to-Cancel” rule, in which Michael represented seven different trade associations and a small business in convincing the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit to vacate the rule.  Michael has also been recognized as a Litigator of the Week “Runner-Up” for securing an unprecedented writ of mandamus from the Fifth Circuit against the FTC for violating the federal lottery statute that governs many challenges to agency actions.  Prior to joining Gibson Dunn, Michael served as a law clerk for Justice Clarence Thomas on the Supreme Court of the United States, Judge Stephanos Bibas on the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit, and Judge Jerry E. Smith on the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit.  Michael also practiced as a litigation associate at another national law firm, where he litigated appeals and complex commercial disputes.

Representative litigation matters include:

• Representing Delta Airlines in obtaining a stay from the Eleventh Circuit of a Department of Transportation order terminating approval of a joint venture between Delta and Aeromexico, and ongoing litigation against the Department regarding that order.
• Represented a major energy company in successfully resolving a substantial antitrust lawsuit in Louisiana state courts.
• Represented a major Digital Asset Treasury company in successfully persuading a prominent index provider against de-listing DATs from its indices.
• Representing the Central American Bank for Economic Integration before the D.C. Circuit in litigation concerning RICO claims against its former Executive President.
• Representing Hill-Rom Holdings, Inc., in defending against a proposed nationwide class action seeking antitrust damages before the Third Circuit.
• Representing a major financial services company defending against multiple lawsuits that concern the intersection between state and federal regulation of event contracts traded on commodities markets.
• Successfully persuaded the Pennsylvania Supreme Court to hold that a significant amendment to the Pennsylvania Constitution was unconstitutionally enacted, with the Court determining that the amendment itself was void.*

Michael also maintains a robust pro bono practice, focusing on religious liberty, administrative law, and criminal procedure issues.  Among other things, Michael has represented a prison inmate before the Third Circuit and filed amicus briefs* on behalf of multiple members of Congress, religious liberty professors, and litigation advocacy organizations in a wide variety of cases before the U.S. Supreme Court, the federal courts of appeals, and state supreme courts.     

Michael graduated from the University of Virginia School of Law in 2017, where he was a member of Order of the Coif and received the Roger and Madeleine Traynor Prize for the best written work by a graduating student. While there, he also served as an Articles Editor for the Virginia Law Review. He earned his Bachelor of Arts degree summa cum laude, Phi Beta Kappa from Villanova University in 2014.

He is admitted to practice in Pennsylvania and the District of Columbia, as well as the U.S. Supreme Court and multiple other federal courts.

*Includes matters handled prior to joining Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher LLP. 

Capabilities

• Appellate and Constitutional Law
• Administrative Law and Regulatory Practice
• Litigation
• Product Liability
• White Collar Defense and Investigations

Credentials

Education:

• University of Virginia - 2017 Juris Doctor
• Villanova University - 2014 Bachelor of Arts

Admissions:

• District of Columbia Bar
• New York Bar
• Pennsylvania Bar

Clerkships:

• US Supreme Court, Hon. Clarence Thomas, 2022 - 2023
• US Court of Appeals, 3rd Circuit, Hon. Stephanos Bibas, 2018 - 2019
• US Court of Appeals, 5th Circuit, Hon. Jerry E. Smith, 2017 - 2018