Eugene Scalia is a partner in the Washington, D.C. office of Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher. He is Co-Chair of the Firm’s Administrative Law and Regulatory Practice Group and a member of its Labor and Employment Practice Group, which he co-chaired for twelve years. He is also a member of the Firm’s Appellate and Constitutional Law Practice Group and has served on its Executive Committee and its Partnership Evaluation Committee.

Mr. Scalia has a national practice handling a broad range of labor, employment, appellate, and regulatory matters. He previously served as Solicitor of the U.S. Department of Labor, the Department’s principal legal officer with responsibility for all Labor Department litigation and legal advice on rulemakings and administrative law. He also has served at the U.S. Department of Justice, as a Special Assistant to the Attorney General. His success bringing legal challenges to federal agency actions has been widely reported in the legal and popular press.

Representative employment matters and appeals include:

• EEOC v. Ford Motor Co., 782 F.3d 753 (6^th Cir. 2015) (en banc) – Sixth Circuit decision rejecting EEOC’s position regarding telecommuting as a reasonable accommodation.
• Wynn v. Baldonado, 311 P.3d 1179 (Nev. 2013) – In Nevada Supreme Court, obtained reversal of lower court decision invalidating client’s “tip pooling” practice and authorizing a class action.
• Hendricks v. UBS Fin. Servs., Inc., 2013 WL 5969888 (5^th Cir. 2013) – Favorable Fifth Circuit decisions reversing district court orders that had denied arbitration and had certified ERISA class actions seeking $200 million.
• NLRB v. The Boeing Company, Case 19-CA-32431 – Represented company in closely-watched case regarding new South Carolina facility.
• Hohider v. UPS, 574 F.3d 169 (3d Cir. 2009) – Vacated the largest ADA class ever certified.
• Bath Marine Draftsmen’s Assoc. v. NLRB, 475 F.3d 20 (1^st Cir. 2007) – Tried and successfully appealed to the Board and First Circuit this leading case on labor contract modifications.
• EEOC v. UPS, 306 F.3d 794 (9^th Cir. 2002); 424 F.3d 1060 (9^th Cir. 2005) – Trial and two successful appeals in nationwide EEOC challenge under the ADA to a company’s physical qualification requirements for drivers.
• Representation of companies and audit committees in many Sarbanes-Oxley and Dodd-Frank “whistleblower” matters, including internal investigations and proceedings before the Department of Labor and in the federal courts.

Representative administrative law and regulatory matters include:

• Chamber of Commerce of the U.S.A. v. Dep’t of Labor, 885 F.3d 360 (5th Cir. 2018) – Vacated U.S. Department of Labor’s “fiduciary” rule, among the most controversial regulations ever adopted in the financial services industry.
• MetLife, Inc. v. Financial Stability Oversight Council, 177 F. Supp. 3d 219 (D.D.C. 2016) – Vacated MetLife’s designation as a “too big to fail” “systemically important financial institution,” in first-ever such challenge under Dodd-Frank Act.
• American Petroleum Institute v. SEC, 2013 WL 3307114 (D.D.C., July 2, 2013) – Successful challenge to “extractive industries” rule required by Dodd-Frank Act.
• ISDA & SIFMA v. CFTC, 887 F. Supp. 2d 259 (D.D.C. 2012) – Challenge to CFTC’s “position limits” regulation.
• Business Roundtable v. SEC, 647 F.3d 1144 (D.C. Cir. 2011) – Successful challenge to SEC’s controversial “proxy access” rule, regarding election of corporate directors.
• American Equity Inv. Life Ins. Co. v. SEC, 613 F.3d 166 (D.C. Cir. 2010) – Successful challenge to SEC rule regulating fixed indexed annuities.
• Retail Industry Leaders Ass’n v. Fielder, 475 F.3d 180 (4th Cir. 2007) – Successful ERISA preemption challenge to controversial Maryland law that required increased expenditures on employee health care.
• Chamber of Commerce v. SEC, 412 F.3d 133 (D.C. Cir. 2005), and Chamber of Commerce v. SEC, 443 F.3d 890 (D.C. Cir. 2006) – Two successful challenges to SEC’s controversial mutual fund “governance” rule.
• United States Telecom Association, et al. v. F.C.C., 227 F.3d 450 (D.C. Cir. 2000) – Successful challenge to Federal Communications Commission regulation regarding telecommunications surveillance by law enforcement authorities.
• U.S. Chamber of Commerce v. U.S. Dep’t Labor, 174 F.3d 206 (D.C. Cir. 1999) – Successful challenge under Administrative Procedure Act to “Cooperative Compliance Program,” one of the largest enforcement programs in OSHA’s history.

Mr. Scalia is the author of more than twenty articles and papers on labor and employment law, constitutional law, and other subjects. He is listed in Who’s Who in America and is identified as a leading labor and employment lawyer in Chambers, The Legal 500, Benchmark Litigation, PLC’s Which Lawyer?, and other publications.  He has been named Washington, D.C. Litigation Labor and Employment Lawyer of the Year by The Best Lawyers in America®, and an “Employment MVP” by Law360. He has also been named an “Appellate MVP” and “Securities MVP” by Law360, and recognized as “Lawyer of the Year” by Institutional Investor’s Compliance Reporter magazine, for his litigation involving the SEC. In addition, Washingtonian Magazine named Mr. Scalia as one of Washington’s “Top Lawyers” in Employment Defense. His success challenging federal regulations has been profiled in a Bloomberg Businessweek article titled “Suing the Government? Call Scalia,” and a Wall Street Journal article titled “Another Scalia Vexes Regulators.” The National Law Journal recognized Mr. Scalia as a “Visionary” for his litigation against financial regulatory agencies, and the Nation magazine has called him a “fearsome litigator.” He is a senior fellow of the Administrative Conference of the United States, a federal agency that makes recommendations to Congress and the Executive Branch on ways to improve the administrative process.

Mr. Scalia graduated cum laude from the University of Chicago Law School, where he was editor-in-chief of the Law Review.  From 1992-93 he served as Special Assistant to U.S. Attorney General William P. Barr, receiving the Department’s Edmund J. Randolph Award. He graduated With Distinction from the University of Virginia in 1985 and was a speechwriter for Education Secretary William J. Bennett before attending law school.  He has been a Lecturer in labor and employment law at the University of Chicago Law School.