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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 and Co-Chair of the firm’s Judgment and Arbitral Award Enforcement and Betting and Gaming practice groups. He also is a member of the firm’s Appellate and Constitutional Law and Sports Law practice groups.

A three-time “Litigator of the Week” (The AmLaw Litigation Daily) Mr. McGill has been ranked by Chambers USA in Nationwide Appellate Law and recognized by The National Law Journal as a “Litigation Trailblazer” for his pioneering work enforcing judgments against foreign sovereigns.  In 2020, he successfully negotiated a $335 million resolution of terrorism claims against the Republic of Sudan arising from the 1998 bombings of the U.S. Embassies in Kenya and Tanzania.  Previously, he successfully resolved NML Capital’s multi-billion dollar claims against the Republic of Argentina after what the Financial Times called “the trial of the century in sovereign debt restructuring.”  He currently represents clients in public enforcement matters against the governments of the Democratic Republic of Congo, Iran, Pakistan, Spain, and Venezuela.

An accomplished appellate advocate, Mr. McGill has participated in 23 cases before the Supreme Court of the United States, prevailing in 17, including several high-profile triumphs over foreign sovereigns:

  • Opati v. Republic of Sudan (2020) – Mr. McGill successfully argued before the Supreme Court on behalf of victims of the 1998 bombings of the U.S. Embassies in Kenya and Tanzania and secured a ruling that “unanimously reinstated as much as $4.3 billion in punitive damages awarded against Sudan” (New York Times) setting the stage for the resolution of the Embassy bombing claims and the United States’ delisting of Sudan as a state-sponsor of terrorism.
  • 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 fiscal rescue.
  • 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 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 central bank assets.  The ruling allowed nearly $2 billion to be distributed to Iran’s victims.
  • Argentina v. NML Capital, Ltd. (2014) – The Supreme Court’s decision in this case confirmed the availability of broad discovery to enforce judgments against foreign sovereigns, empowering creditors to seek information concerning the debtor nation’s assets anywhere in the world.

At the intersection of sports and gaming, Mr. McGill led the effort of the Governor of New Jersey to legalize sports wagering in the Garden State, culminating in the Supreme Court’s “historic decision” (Sports Illustrated) in Murphy v. NCAA that struck down the federal law that had prohibited states other than Nevada from legalizing 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 and cleared the path for States across the country to legalize sports wagering.

Later, when the U.S. government announced in 2019 that it was abandoning its longstanding position that the Wire Act of 1961 prohibits only certain forms of sports wagering, Mr. McGill led the legal challenge to the new government policy.  Representing the technology provider for the internet-based operations of the New Hampshire Lottery, Mr. McGill secured a judgment that the Wire Act covered only sports betting, and successfully defended that judgment on appeal.  The ruling safeguarded “the entire online gambling industry as well as multi-state lotteries such as Powerball” (Am Law Litigation Daily) from an arbitrary change in government policy.  For his work toward legalizing sports wagering and confining the Wire Act to its intended scope, Mr. McGill has been recognized by Law360 as a Sports Law “MVP” and “2020 Sports & Entertainment Trailblazer” by The National Law Journal.

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.”

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

Client Alert - September 7, 2022 | D.C. Circuit Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act Enforcement Update (September 2022)
Article - August 8, 2022 | Waiting for Superbond
Client Alert - January 27, 2021 | First Circuit Narrows Scope of the Wire Act, Reversing Office of Legal Counsel Opinion
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 12, 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 14, 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 6, 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 17, 2018 | Webcast: Supreme Court Strikes Down Federal Limits On Sports Gambling
Article - January 23, 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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