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Profile Picture

Matthew D. McGill

Matthew
McGill

Partner

CONTACT INFO

mmcgill@gibsondunn.com

TEL:+1 202.887.3680

FAX:+1 202.530.9662

Washington, D.C.

1050 Connecticut Avenue, N.W., Washington, DC 20036-5306 USA

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PRACTICE

Litigation Administrative Law and Regulatory Practice Appellate and Constitutional Law Betting and Gaming Intellectual Property Judgment and Arbitral Award Enforcement Sports Law

BIOGRAPHY

Matthew D. McGill is a partner in the Washington, D.C. office of Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher. He practices in the firm’s Litigation Department and its Appellate and Constitutional Law, Intellectual Property, Sports Law, and Betting and Gaming practice groups.

Mr. McGill is a Chambers-ranked appellate litigator. In 2019, he was recognized by Benchmark Litigation as a “Future Litigation Star” in Washington, D.C. Law360 recently named him a Sports Law “MVP” for his work to legalize sports wagering in New Jersey, and previously had named him a national “Rising Star,” identifying him as one of ten appellate lawyers under 40 to watch. The National Law Journal named Mr. McGill among its “2020 Sports & Entertainment Trailblazers” for his work before the Supreme Court regarding legal sports betting. In 2016, the National Law Journal named him as a “Litigation Trailblazer” for his pioneering work against foreign sovereigns. The American Lawyer has named him litigator of the week three times. He has participated in 21 cases before the Supreme Court of the United States, prevailing in 16.  Spanning a wide range of substantive areas, those representations have included several high-profile triumphs over foreign and domestic sovereigns:

  • Murphy v. NCAA (2018) – This “historic decision” (Sports Illustrated) struck down an Act of Congress as unconstitutional and clears the path for States across the country to legalize sports betting. By establishing that the federal government has no power to “dictate[] what a state legislature may and may not do,” this “landmark ruling” (USA Today) safeguards the power of States to govern themselves. The decision capped off nearly six years of litigation in which Mr. McGill represented the Governor of the State of New Jersey in defense of New Jersey’s efforts to legalize sports betting in the Garden State.
  • Puerto Rico v. Franklin California Tax-Free Trust (2016) – Arguing before the Supreme Court on behalf of creditors that found themselves on the leading edge of Puerto Rico’s debt crisis, Mr. McGill successfully defended an injunction invalidating Puerto Rico’s emergency municipal bankruptcy legislation. The ruling protected bondholders against the “chance that the territory could write its own bankruptcy plan” (Wall Street Journal) and ensured that Congress would retain control over Puerto Rico’s rescue plan.
  • Bank Markazi v. Peterson (2016) – In this important separation-of-powers case, Mr. McGill represented victims of the 1983 Beirut Marine Corps Barracks Bombing who hold judgments against the government of Iran. Ruling in favor of the Beirut Marines, the Supreme Court rejected arguments from Iran’s central bank that Congress had impermissibly invaded the province of the Judicial Branch by authorizing victims of terrorism to seize certain assets. The ruling allowed nearly $2 billion to be distributed to Iran’s victims.
  • Argentina v. NML Capital, Ltd. (2014) – For ten years, Mr. McGill represented NML Capital in litigation against the Republic of Argentina in what the Financial Times called “the trial of the century in sovereign debt restructuring.” The Supreme Court’s decision confirmed the availability of discovery in aid of enforcement of money judgments against foreign sovereigns and helped set the stage for NML’s multi-billion-dollar settlement of its claims.
  • Hollingsworth v. Perry (2013) – This “historic” decision (Washington Post) secured the right of same-sex couples in California to marry. The Supreme Court’s decision followed a landmark trial that had invalidated California’s voter-enacted ban on same-sex marriage, Proposition 8, for violating the Fourteenth Amendment’s guarantees of due process and equal protection of the laws.
  • Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission (2010) – Hailed by the New York Times as a “doctrinal earthquake,” this decision overruled two Supreme Court precedents and established the First Amendment right of corporations to spend general treasury funds on speech activities to influence the outcomes of elections.

Outside the Supreme Court, Mr. McGill’s practice focuses on cases involving novel and complex questions of federal law, often in high-profile litigation against governmental entities. For example, he currently represents a creditor of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico that is challenging Puerto Rico’s federally-appointed Oversight Board under the Constitution’s Appointments Clause. He also represents victims of the 1998 U.S. Embassy Bombings in appeals brought by the government of Sudan raising questions under the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act.

In the intellectual property area, Mr. McGill regularly participates in significant copyright and patent cases before the Supreme Court and the courts of appeals. In the Supreme Court, he represented Nautilus in Nautilus v. Biosig, Microsoft in Microsoft v. AT&T and Microsoft v. i4i, and publisher John Wiley & Sons in Kirtsaeng v. John Wiley & Sons.

Mr. McGill also maintains an active pro bono practice. He currently represents three adoptive couples in a constitutional challenge to the Indian Child Welfare Act, and he represents persons born in American Samoa in their constitutional challenge to a federal statute that designates them “non-citizen nationals.” In 2008, he successfully defended Senator John McCain in cases contending that Senator McCain was not a “natural-born citizen” and therefore was ineligible to be President.

Prior to joining Gibson Dunn, Mr. McGill served as a Bristow Fellow in the Office of the Solicitor General at the U.S. Department of Justice. He clerked for the Hon. Joseph M. McLaughlin of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit and the Hon. John G. Roberts, Jr. of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit.

Mr. McGill earned a Bachelor of Arts degree, magna cum laude, from Dartmouth College in 1996. In 2000, he graduated from Stanford Law School, where he was elected to the Order of the Coif.

Mr. McGill is licensed to practice in New York and the District of Columbia and he has been admitted to practice before the Supreme Court of the United States, the United States Courts of Appeals for the First, Second, Third, Fourth, Fifth, Ninth, Tenth, Eleventh, District of Columbia, and Federal Circuits, and the United States District Courts for the District of Columbia and the Southern District of New York.

EDUCATION

Stanford University - 2000 Juris Doctor

Dartmouth College - 1996 Bachelor of Arts

ADMISSIONS

District of Columbia Bar

New York Bar

RECENT PUBLICATIONS

Firm News - September 9, 2020 | Matthew McGill Named a Washington, D.C. Trailblazer
Client Alert - August 3, 2020 | Developments in Immigration and Customs Enforcement of Foreign Student Visa Policy Under COVID-19
Firm News - July 17, 2020 | Theodore Boutrous, Matthew McGill and Anne Champion Named Litigators of the Week
Firm News - November 13, 2019 | Law360 Names Nine Gibson Dunn Partners as 2019 MVPs
Firm News - November 1, 2019 | Matthew McGill Named a Sports & Entertainment Trailblazer
Client Alert - October 15, 2019 | Argentina and Other States Adopt Currency Restrictions, Raising Potential Investment Treaty Claims
Firm News - July 11, 2019 | Gibson Dunn Ranked in 2019 U.S. Legal 500
Firm News - June 7, 2019 | Matthew McGill Named Litigator of the Week
Firm News - November 28, 2018 | Law360 Names Eight Gibson Dunn Partners as MVPs
Article - July 9, 2018 | Winner’s Playbook: Behind The Scenes Of Sports Bet Case
Firm News - June 18, 2018 | Gibson Dunn Ranked in 2018 U.S. Legal 500
Publications - May 18, 2018 | Webcast: Supreme Court Strikes Down Federal Limits On Sports Gambling
Article - January 25, 2018 | My Supreme Court Debut: Just Me And My Flash Cards
Article - December 8, 2017 | In re Cray Inc.: The Federal Circuit’s Antidote to Patent-Venue Forum Shopping
Article - May 6, 2015 | NML Capital v. Argentina: Enforcing Contracts in the Shadow of the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act
Client Alert - July 11, 2013 | U.S. Supreme Court Restores Marriage Equality in California
Client Alert - March 21, 2012 | Supreme Court Tightens the Standard for Patent Eligibility Under Section 101 of the Patent Act
Client Alert - June 28, 2011 | U.S. Supreme Court Invalidates California Statute Prohibiting Sale or Rental of “Violent” Video Games to Minors
Client Alert - June 9, 2011 | U.S. Supreme Court Holds That Section 282 of the Patent Act Requires a Patent Invalidity Defense To Be Proved by Clear and Convincing Evidence
Client Alert - June 7, 2011 | U.S. Supreme Court Holds That the Bayh-Dole Act Does Not Automatically Vest Title to Federally Funded Inventions in Federal Contractors
Client Alert - June 3, 2011 | Supreme Court Raises the Bar For Claims of Active Inducement of Patent Infringement In Global-Tech Appliances, Inc. v. SEB S.A., 563 U.S. ____ (2011)
Client Alert - June 28, 2010 | U.S. Supreme Court “Punts” the Issue of Patent Eligibility
Client Alert - June 26, 2009 | U.S. Supreme Court Holds That Discharge of “Fill Material” Can Be Permitted by the Corps of Engineers Under Section 404 of The Clean Water Act, Even If EPA’s Effluent Restrictions Otherwise Would Apply
Client Alert - July 2, 2008 | U.S. Supreme Court to Consider Whether Discharges of Fill Material Must Comply with EPA Effluent Limitations
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