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Profile Picture

Lucas C. Townsend

Lucas
Townsend

Partner

CONTACT INFO

ltownsend@gibsondunn.com

TEL:+1 202.887.3731

FAX:+1 202.530.4254

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 Class Actions Intellectual Property

BIOGRAPHY

Lucas Townsend is a litigation partner in the Washington, D.C. office, and a member of the firm’s Appellate and Constitutional Law, Administrative Law, Class Action, and Intellectual Property practice groups.

Lucas focuses his practice on appellate, administrative law, and complex litigation matters.  He regularly litigates constitutional and statutory issues in the Supreme Court of the United States and courts of appeals around the country; represents clients in challenging and defending regulatory action by administrative agencies under the Administrative Procedure Act; and defends clients in high-stakes commercial disputes.

Lucas’s extensive experience includes representing the world’s largest online retailer in various ligation matters concerning COVID-19 safety and arbitration issues; representing an educational institution in litigation involving the U.S. Department of Education; representing a major benefits administrator in closely watched ERISA class action litigation in the Ninth Circuit; representing the holder of a $1.2 billion judgment against the Republic of Venezuela in proceedings before the Supreme Court, D.C. Circuit, Third Circuit, and District of Delaware; representing a bondholder and a bond insurer the Supreme Court in constitutional litigation arising from Puerto Rico’s bankruptcy; representing a major freight railroad in appellate matters before the Supreme Court and D.C. Circuit; serving as appellate counsel for the world’s largest social networking website and drafting successful briefing in significant patent noninfringement appeals; briefing appeals on behalf of pharmaceutical patent holders in Hatch-Waxman Act litigation; drafting successful briefing for a documentary filmmaker’s First Amendment challenge to Colorado’s campaign finance laws; briefing Second Circuit appeals in a landmark securities-fraud class action; representing a national hospital network in litigation resulting in a $60 million reduction in a jury’s punitive damages award; representing broadcasters in litigation against the Federal Communications Commission; and briefing numerous other matters in the Supreme Court involving class certification, antitrust, employment, and constitutional issues.

Lucas’ representative matters include:

  • Representing National Association of Manufacturers in defense of the Securities and Exchange Commission’s 2020 rule on proxy voting advice. Institutional Shareholder Services, Inc. v. SEC, No. 1:19-cv-3275 (D.D.C.)
  •  Successfully representing utilities and merchant transmission facilities before the D.C. Circuit in litigation concerning cost allocations for $1.3 billion in upgrades to the northern New Jersey electricity grid. Consolidated Edison Co. of New York, Inc. v. FERC, __ F.4th __, 2022 WL 3205886 (D.C. Cir. Aug. 9, 2022).
  •  Successfully representing a major pharmacy benefits manager in a mass-action arbitration appeal to the Third Circuit. Robert D. Mabe, Inc. v. OptumRX, __ F.4th __, 2022 WL 3094577 (3d Cir. Aug. 4, 2022).
  •  Successfully representing an online retailer in litigation concerning COVID-19 safety. People v. Amazon.com, 205 A.D.3d 485 (N.Y. Sup. Ct. App. Div. 1st Dep’t 2022).
  •  Author of successful briefing in high-profile arbitration appeal relating to Amazon Flex drivers. Harper v. Amazon, 12 F.4th 287 (3d Cir. 2021).
  •  Representing world’s largest provider of leveraged and inverse ETFs and mutual funds in comments to the Securities and Exchange Commission in derivatives rulemaking that resulted in withdrawal of proposed rule.
  •  Successfully representing an automobile manufacturer in an arbitration appeal before the Third Circuit. In re Mercedes-Benz Emissions Litig., 797 F. App’x 695 (3d Cir. 2020).
  •  Successfully arguing a constitutional challenge to a territorial law that restricted voting in an election on the basis of race. Davis v. Guam, 932 F.3d 822 (9th Cir. 2019), denied, No. 19-827 (U.S. 2020).
  •  Persuading the U.S. Solicitor General to confess error before the U.S. Supreme Court in an EEOC enforcement action. BNSF Ry. Co. v. EEOC, No. 18-1139 (U.S. 2019).
  •  Successfully representing a major health insurer in an administrative-law appeal to the Kentucky Supreme Court that resulted in a landmark precedent on constitutional standing. Commonwealth of Kentucky v. Sexton, 566 S.W.3d 185 (Ky. 2018), denied, No. 18-1446 (U.S. 2019).
  •  Successfully representing an American Indian tribe and its instrumentalities in a challenge to a Department of Housing and Urban Development mortgagee letter that resulted in the grant of a preliminary injunction and a withdrawal of the mortgagee letter by HUD. Cedar Band of Paiutes v. U.S. Dep’t of Housing and Urban Development, 2019 WL 3305919 (D. Utah July 23, 2019).
  •  Representing a corporate defendant in ongoing litigation in Delaware Chancery Court over the governance of student loan trusts.
  • Representing a mortgage lender in a groundbreaking constitutional and administrative law challenge to a Consumer Financial Protection Bureau enforcement action, in which we ultimately overturned a $109 million penalty against our client on administrative law grounds.  PHH Corp. v. CFPB, 881 F.3d 75 (D.C. Cir. 2018) (en banc).

Before joining the firm, Lucas served as a law clerk to the Honorable Samuel A. Alito, Jr. of the Supreme Court of the United States, the Honorable Maryanne Trump Barry of the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit, and the Honorable Harold A. Ackerman of the United States District Court for the District of New Jersey.  Lucas also served as an Attorney Adviser in the United States Department of Justice, National Security Division, from 2007 to 2009.

Lucas graduated magna cum laude from the Seton Hall University School of Law.  He received an undergraduate degree in biochemistry from Cornell University.

EDUCATION

Seton Hall University - 2004 Juris Doctor

Cornell University - 1999 Bachelor of Arts

ADMISSIONS

District of Columbia Bar

New Jersey Bar

New York Bar

RECENT PUBLICATIONS

Client Alert - February 28, 2023 | Supreme Court Holds That Bank Secrecy Act Imposes Single Penalty For Nonwillful Failure To File Timely, Accurate Annual Report Of Foreign Bank And Financial Accounts
Client Alert - February 22, 2023 | In Fair Labor Standards Act Case, Supreme Court Holds That Employees Paid A Daily Rate Are Not Compensated On A “Salary Basis”
Client Alert - June 30, 2022 | Supreme Court Upholds Limits On Environmental Protection Agency’s Authority To Shift Sources Of Energy Production
Client Alert - June 15, 2022 | Supreme Court Holds That The Federal Arbitration Act Requires Enforcement Of Agreements To Arbitrate Individual Claims Under California’s Labor Code Private Attorneys General Act
Client Alert - June 13, 2022 | Supreme Court Holds That Parties To Private Foreign Or International Arbitrations Cannot Seek Discovery Assistance From U.S. Courts
Client Alert - June 6, 2022 | Supreme Court Holds That Airline Cargo Loaders Are Exempt From The Federal Arbitration Act
Client Alert - May 23, 2022 | Supreme Court Holds Prejudice Not Required To Show Party Waived Right to Arbitrate
Client Alert - April 28, 2022 | Supreme Court Holds That Damages For Emotional Distress Are Categorically Unavailable In Discrimination Actions Against Recipients Of Federal Financial Assistance
Client Alert - April 21, 2022 | Supreme Court Holds That Late Petitions For Review Of IRS Collection Due Process Determinations Are Subject To Equitable Tolling
Client Alert - April 21, 2022 | Supreme Court Holds That Regulation Applying Different Rules To Off-Premises Advertisements Is Content Neutral
Client Alert - March 31, 2022 | Supreme Court Limits Federal Jurisdiction To Confirm Or Vacate Arbitral Awards
Client Alert - February 24, 2022 | Supreme Court Holds That A Mistake Of Law Can Excuse An Inaccurate Copyright Registration
Client Alert - January 24, 2022 | Supreme Court Holds That Investor Choice Does Not Categorically Preclude ERISA Claims For Breach Of Fiduciary Duty
Client Alert - January 13, 2022 | Supreme Court Stays OSHA Vaccine-Or-Testing Mandate
Client Alert - September 26, 2021 | White House Task Force Announces New COVID Safety Protocols for Federal Contractors
Client Alert - July 1, 2021 | Supreme Court Holds That California’s Donor Disclosure Law Violates The First Amendment
Client Alert - June 29, 2021 | Supreme Court Upholds, But Limits, The Doctrine Of Patent Assignor Estoppel
Client Alert - June 29, 2021 | Supreme Court Holds That Private Parties Can Sue States To Seize State Property Along Federally Approved Pipeline Routes
Client Alert - June 25, 2021 | Supreme Court Upholds Broad Eligibility For Small Refineries Seeking Hardship Exemptions From Compliance With The EPA’s Renewable Fuel Standards
Client Alert - June 25, 2021 | Supreme Court Holds That Article III Requires All Class Members To Prove An Injury In Fact To Recover Damages
Client Alert - June 23, 2021 | Supreme Court Holds Federal Housing Finance Agency’s Structure Unconstitutional; Remands For Further Proceedings On Appropriate Remedy
Client Alert - June 21, 2021 | Supreme Court Tells Second Circuit To Clarify Securities Class Certification Ruling, And Holds That Defendants Have The Burden Of Persuasion In Rebutting The Basic Presumption
Client Alert - June 21, 2021 | Supreme Court Holds That Sherman Act Bars NCAA From Limiting Education-Related Benefits For Student-Athletes
Client Alert - June 21, 2021 | Supreme Court Holds That The Constitution Requires Administrative Review of PTAB Decisions
Client Alert - June 17, 2021 | Supreme Court Limits Extraterritorial Reach Of The Alien Tort Statute
Client Alert - June 17, 2021 | Supreme Court Rejects A Challenge To The Affordable Care Act’s Individual Mandate Because Plaintiffs Have No Standing
Client Alert - June 17, 2021 | Supreme Court Holds That The First Amendment Prohibits Philadelphia From Requiring Catholic Foster-Placement Agency To Certify Same-Sex Couples As Foster Parents
Client Alert - June 3, 2021 | Supreme Court Narrows Scope Of Computer Fraud and Abuse Act, Holding It Does Not Prohibit Accessing Otherwise Available Information For An Improper Purpose
Client Alert - May 17, 2021 | Supreme Court Confirms That Appellate Courts Have Broad Authority To Review Entirety Of Appealable Remand Orders
Client Alert - May 17, 2021 | Supreme Court Holds That Anti-Injunction Act Does Not Bar Pre-Enforcement Challenges To Reporting Mandates Backed By Both Tax Penalties And Criminal Punishment
Client Alert - April 22, 2021 | Supreme Court Restricts Power Of The Federal Trade Commission To Seek Monetary Relief In Courts
Client Alert - April 5, 2021 | Supreme Court Holds That Google’s Use Of Oracle’s Java Software Interface Is Fair Use
Client Alert - April 1, 2021 | Supreme Court Holds That FCC Permissibly Relaxed Media Ownership Limits
Client Alert - April 1, 2021 | Supreme Court Declines To Extend Telephone Consumer Protection Act’s Coverage Of Automatic Telephone Dialing Systems
Client Alert - February 11, 2021 | 2020 Year-End ERISA Disputes Update
Client Alert - January 21, 2021 | Biden Administration Issues Rulemaking Freeze and New Orders Governing the Regulatory Process
Client Alert - December 10, 2020 | Supreme Court Holds That ERISA Does Not Preempt Arkansas’ Law Regulating Pharmacy Reimbursement Rates
Client Alert - October 22, 2020 | The Jurisprudence of Supreme Court Nominee Amy Coney Barrett
Publications - October 6, 2020 | Where Does Judge Barrett Fall on IP Issues?
Client Alert - July 20, 2020 | Supreme Court 2019 Term – Summary Of Decisions Affecting Business Litigation
Client Alert - July 6, 2020 | Supreme Court Upholds TCPA’s Robocall Ban, But Strikes Government-Debt Exception As Unconstitutional Under First Amendment
Client Alert - June 30, 2020 | Supreme Court Holds That Adding “.com” To A Generic Term Can Create A Protectable Trademark
Client Alert - June 29, 2020 | Supreme Court Holds That Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s Structure Is Unconstitutional
Client Alert - June 22, 2020 | Supreme Court Limits Disgorgement Remedy In SEC Civil Enforcement Actions
Client Alert - June 18, 2020 | Supreme Court Rejects DHS’s Decision To Terminate DACA
Client Alert - June 15, 2020 | Supreme Court Holds That Title VII’s Prohibition On Discrimination Because Of Sex Includes Sexual Orientation And Transgender Status Discrimination
Client Alert - June 1, 2020 | Supreme Court Holds That ERISA Defined-Benefit Pension Plan Participants Do Not Have Article III Standing To Sue For Fiduciary Breach
Client Alert - June 1, 2020 | Supreme Court Upholds The Appointments Of The Members Of The Puerto Rico Financial Oversight And Management Board
Client Alert - June 1, 2020 | Supreme Court Holds That The New York Convention Permits The Use Of Equitable Estoppel To Enforce An Arbitration Agreement Among Nonsignatories
Client Alert - May 18, 2020 | Supreme Court Holds That Amendments To The Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act Retroactively Authorized Punitive Damages Against Foreign State Sponsors Of Terrorism
Client Alert - May 14, 2020 | Supreme Court Casts Doubt On “Defense Preclusion”
Client Alert - May 7, 2020 | Supreme Court Holds That Copyright Protection Does Not Extend To Annotations Accompanying Statutory Text
Client Alert - April 27, 2020 | Supreme Court Holds That The Federal Government Must Reimburse Health Insurers For $12 Billion In Losses
Client Alert - April 23, 2020 | Supreme Court Holds That Courts Can Order Trademark Infringers To Disgorge Profits Without Proof Of Willful Infringement
Client Alert - April 23, 2020 | Supreme Court Holds That Clean Water Act May Require Permits For Some Indirect Discharges Of Pollutants Via Nonpoint Sources
Client Alert - April 20, 2020 | Supreme Court Holds That PTAB’s Timeliness Decisions For Instituting Inter Partes Review Are Not Judicially Reviewable
Client Alert - April 20, 2020 | Supreme Court Holds That Superfund Site Landowners Need EPA Approval To Obtain State-Law Cleanup Remedies
Client Alert - March 23, 2020 | Supreme Court Unanimously Holds That A Plaintiff Suing For Discrimination Under 42 U.S.C. § 1981 Must Allege But-For Causation
Client Alert - February 26, 2020 | Supreme Court Holds That Unread ERISA Plan Disclosures Do Not Give Participants Actual Knowledge Of The Information Disclosed
Client Alert - December 11, 2019 | Supreme Court Holds That The PTO’s Recovery Of “Expenses” Under The Patent Act Does Not Include Attorney’s Fees
Client Alert - November 5, 2019 | Appointment of Administrative Patent Judges Held Unconstitutional
Client Alert - June 28, 2019 | Supreme Court Sends 2020 Census Citizenship Question Back to the Department of Commerce, Citing Contrived Rationale
Client Alert - June 26, 2019 | Supreme Court Upholds Dormant Commerce Clause Challenge To Tennessee’s Durational Residency Requirement For Liquor Retailers
Client Alert - June 26, 2019 | Reinforcing Limits On Its Use, Supreme Court Upholds Auer Deference In Veterans Affairs Dispute
Client Alert - June 24, 2019 | Supreme Court Holds That A Federal Ban on “Immoral or Scandalous” Trademarks Violates the First Amendment
Client Alert - June 20, 2019 | Supreme Court Avoids Answering Question On Hobbs Act Deference To FCC Orders
Client Alert - June 17, 2019 | Supreme Court Holds That The First Amendment Does Not Apply To Private Operators Of Public Access Television Channels
Client Alert - June 3, 2019 | Supreme Court Holds That Title VII’s Administrative Exhaustion Requirement Is Not A Jurisdictional Prerequisite To Suit
Client Alert - May 28, 2019 | Supreme Court Holds That Third-Party Defendants May Not Remove Class Action Counterclaims To Federal Court
Client Alert - May 20, 2019 | Supreme Court Holds That Courts, Not Juries, Must Decide Whether The FDA’s Rejection Of A Proposed Warning Label Provides “Clear Evidence” To Preempt A State-Law Failure-To-Warn Claim
Client Alert - May 14, 2019 | Supreme Court Holds That iPhone Users Have Standing To Seek Federal Antitrust Damages From Apple For App Store Purchases
Client Alert - April 24, 2019 | Supreme Court Reaffirms Stolt-Nielsen And Holds That Class Arbitration Requires The Parties’ Unambiguous Consent
Client Alert - March 27, 2019 | Supreme Court Holds That Securities Fraud Liability Extends Beyond “Maker” Of False Statements
Client Alert - March 20, 2019 | Supreme Court Remands Cy Pres-Only Class Action Settlement Question Over Standing Concerns
Client Alert - March 4, 2019 | Supreme Court Holds That Copyright Owners May Not Sue For Infringement Until Copyright Office Processes Registration
Client Alert - March 4, 2019 | Supreme Court Holds That Payments For Lost Wages Are Taxable “Compensation” Under The Railroad Retirement Tax Act
Client Alert - March 4, 2019 | Supreme Court Holds Recovery Of “Full Costs” Under Copyright Act Is Limited To Those Costs Enumerated In The General Costs Statute
Client Alert - February 26, 2019 | Supreme Court Holds That The Deadline For Filing Petitions For Permission To Appeal Class Certification Orders Is Not Subject To Equitable Tolling
Client Alert - February 20, 2019 | Supreme Court Holds That Eighth Amendment’s Prohibition Of Excessive Fines And Related Forfeitures Applies To The States
Client Alert - January 22, 2019 | Supreme Court Holds That Confidential Licensing Agreements Can Trigger The America Invents Act’s “On-Sale” Bar
Publications - January 8, 2019 | Supreme Court Rejects “Wholly Groundless” Exception To Rule That Parties May Refer Arbitrability Disputes To Arbitration
Article - July 10, 2018 | President Trump Nominates Judge Brett Kavanaugh To Supreme Court
Client Alert - June 27, 2018 | Supreme Court Holds That Public-Sector Union “Agency Fees” Violate The First Amendment
Client Alert - June 25, 2018 | Supreme Court Raises The Bar For Antitrust Plaintiffs Challenging Two-Sided Platforms
Client Alert - June 22, 2018 | Supreme Court Says That Patent Holders May Recover Lost Foreign Profits Resulting From Patent Infringement In The United States
Client Alert - June 22, 2018 | Supreme Court Holds That Individuals Have Fourth Amendment Privacy Rights In Cell Phone Location Records
Client Alert - June 21, 2018 | Supreme Court Rules That SEC ALJs Were Unconstitutionally Appointed
Client Alert - June 21, 2018 | Supreme Court Holds That States Can Require Internet Retailers To Collect Sales Taxes
Client Alert - June 11, 2018 | Supreme Court Rejects Tolling Of Statute Of Limitations For Successive Class Actions
Client Alert - June 4, 2018 | Supreme Court Holds That The Colorado Civil Rights Commission Violated Cake Baker’s Religious Freedom Rights
Client Alert - May 21, 2018 | Supreme Court Upholds Agreements To Individually Arbitrate Employment-Related Disputes
Client Alert - May 14, 2018 | Supreme Court Strikes Down Federal Limits On Sports Gambling
Client Alert - April 24, 2018 | Supreme Court Holds That Foreign Corporations Cannot Be Sued Under The Alien Tort Statute
Client Alert - April 24, 2018 | Supreme Court Upholds PTO Inter Partes Review of Patent Validity
Client Alert - April 24, 2018 | Supreme Court Clarifies That Inter Partes Review Must Decide All Challenged Claims
Client Alert - April 17, 2018 | Supreme Court Holds That Recent Legislation Moots Dispute Over Emails Stored Overseas
Client Alert - April 2, 2018 | Supreme Court Says Car Dealership Service Advisors Are Exempt From FLSA Overtime Pay Requirements
Client Alert - March 20, 2018 | Supreme Court Holds States May Hear Securities Fraud Class Actions Under The 1933 Act
Client Alert - February 21, 2018 | Supreme Court Says Whistleblowers Must Report to the SEC Before Suing for Retaliation Under Dodd-Frank
Client Alert - January 22, 2018 | Supreme Court Says That Challenges to “Waters of the United States” Rule Must Be Filed in Federal District Court
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