Justine Goeke

Justine Goeke is a litigation strategist and trial lawyer. She currently serves as national legal strategy and briefing counsel for multiple global companies, representing them in their most consequential product liability and mass tort matters. She brings deep trial experience to the critical legal issues companies face in high-stakes litigation across the country.

Justine has served as trial counsel in numerous federal courts; taken and defended critical and apex witness depositions; and briefed and argued successful dispositive, evidentiary, and discovery motions. Justine counsels clients at every stage of litigation, from case management and discovery strategy through depositions, motion practice, trial, and appeal.

Representative Trial Experience:

• Co-lead trial counsel for SES in a high-stakes two-week federal court bench trial against Intelsat in a breach-of-contract case. After the bankruptcy court found for Intelsat, the district court reversed on appeal, describing the record evidence adduced by SES at trial as “extensive,” “very strong,” and “perhaps outcome-determinative.”
• Trial counsel for a Fortune 250 company in securing a complete defense verdict after a three-week jury trial in the Northern District of Ohio arising out of asset-backed financing related to an alleged “Ponzi” scheme. The verdict was affirmed on appeal.
• Trial counsel for Nestle in consumer protection class action in the Eastern District of New York that settled on favorable terms on the eve of trial.
• Trial counsel for global law firm in securing a complete defense verdict following a week-long arbitration brought by the firm’s former client.
• Trial counsel for the former CEO of a publicly-traded technology company in an eight-week securities and wire fraud jury trial in the Southern District of New York. Defeated government request for a 20+ year prison sentence to secure a sentence of no time in prison.
• Secured a sweeping preliminary injunction against a former executive of DraftKings, enforcing his restrictive covenants after an evidentiary hearing in the District of Massachusetts. Justine was part of the team that earned recognition in The American Lawyer as “Litigator of the Week Runner-Up” for this trade secrets and noncompete win.

Representative Dispositive Motion Wins:

• Won complete dismissal at summary judgment for former PCB-manufacturer Monsanto in a high-stakes environmental mass tort case brought by the City of East St. Louis, in which the City sought hundreds of millions of dollars in damages, abatement costs, and injunctive relief.
• Secured partial summary judgment dismissing manufacturing defect claim against Monsanto in Washington state court.
• Secured complete dismissal of a putative class action lawsuit against Nasdaq in the High-Frequency Trading Litigation filed against U.S. stock exchanges in the Southern District of New York.
• Won a motion to dismiss for Guardant Health and its founders in the District of Delaware in a trade secret misappropriation and inventorship lawsuit brought by Illumina.
• Won summary judgment for a healthcare technology company and its founders in a lawsuit in the Southern District of New York filed by an early investor alleging breaches of contract and fraud.

Justine also has a winning track record on appeal. Recently, she was part of the team that secured a First Circuit affirmance of DraftKings’ preliminary injunction enforcing a nationwide non-compete against a former executive. She also successfully reversed the bench-trial decision rejecting SES’s breach-of-contract claim against Intelsat.

Justine was named to Lawdragon’s 500 Leading Litigators in America for 2026 and a “future leader of the law” in Lawdragon’s 500 X – The Next Generation guides for 2024 and 2025. Justine has been recognized as “One to Watch” by The Best Lawyers in America® for 2023 in appellate litigation.

Prior to joining Gibson Dunn, Justine served as a law clerk to the Honorable Ann M. Donnelly in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of New York and to the Honorable D. Brock Hornby in the United States District Court for the District of Maine.

Justine graduated in 2013 from Harvard Law School, where she was Secretary-Treasurer for the Harvard Legal Aid Bureau, and a finalist in the National Criminal Justice Trial Advocacy Competition. Originally from Iowa, she received her Bachelor of Arts degree from St. Olaf College in Northfield, Minnesota, where she graduated magna cum laude and was elected to Phi Beta Kappa.

Justine maintains an active pro bono practice that includes impact litigation regarding police brutality and conditions of criminal detention. She recently secured a six-figure settlement from the New York Attorney General’s Office on behalf of an inmate for violations of his constitutional rights. She has successfully assisted New Yorkers in securing public housing repairs from the New York City Housing Authority and obtaining asylum.

Justine is admitted to practice in the State of New York, and before the United States Courts of Appeals for the First, Second, and Seventh Circuits and the United States District Courts for the Southern and Eastern Districts of New York.

Capabilities

• Litigation
• Appellate and Constitutional Law
• Class Actions
• Crisis Management
• Environmental Litigation and Mass Tort
• Media, Entertainment, and Technology
• Product Liability
• Trials
• White Collar Defense and Investigations

Credentials

Education:

• Harvard University - 2013 Juris Doctor
• St. Olaf College - 2010 Bachelor of Arts

Admissions:

• New York Bar

Clerkships:

• USDC, Eastern District of New York, Hon. Ann M. Donnelly, 2015 - 2017
• USDC, Maine, Hon. D. Brock Hornby, 2014 - 2015