Litigation

Appellate and Constitutional Law

No firm has a stronger record of appellate success.

95+

Cases argued before the U.S. Supreme Court since 1914

Petitions for a writ of certiorari granted since 2006

Former U.S. Supreme Court clerks

300+

Former U.S. Court of Appeals clerks

Overview
Experience
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Overview

Gibson Dunn is renowned for its award-winning Appellate and Constitutional Law Practice Group, one of the largest and most experienced appellate practices in the United States.

Our appellate lawyers have briefed, argued and won high-profile disputes in the U.S. Supreme Court and federal and state appellate courts. We work closely with trial teams to preserve arguments and develop a winning litigation strategy. When the occasion calls for it, we also develop successful novel or complex legal theories long before a lawsuit is even filed.

Our practice includes several fellows of the American Academy of Appellate Lawyers and three partners who previously served in the Office of the U.S. Solicitor General. We also have more individual lawyers ranked in the Chambers USA Nationwide Appellate category than any other firm.

When government action is at issue, our appellate lawyers work with the firm’s nationally recognized Administrative Law and Regulatory Practice Group. We have achieved significant victories in some of the biggest administrative proceedings across the federal government.

No firm has a stronger record of appellate success.

Areas of Focus

Gibson Dunn has an unmatched record of success representing clients before the U.S. Supreme Court. With a diverse team of Supreme Court practitioners, Gibson Dunn routinely litigates multiple Supreme Court cases each Term, among the most of any firm.

Our team includes appellate lawyers from across the country who combined have argued over 80 cases in our nation’s highest court—appearing numerous times in the past decade in a variety of matters including closely watched cases with far-reaching significance in the class action, securities, separation of powers, insurance, First Amendment and other high-profile fields. We build Supreme Court cases from the ground up, working together with trial attorneys to develop a strong record for appellate review and position each case for Supreme Court review, if necessary.

Our Supreme Court victories have been some of the biggest and most consequential in history:

City of Grants Pass v. Johnson, which recognized that the constitutional prohibition on “cruel and unusual punishments” does not forbid regulation of camping on public property.
Department of Homeland Security v. Regents of the University of California, which struck down DHS’s attempt to rescind the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program.
Lucia v. Securities and Exchange Commission, which held that SEC administrative law judges are “Officers of the United States” who must be appointed consistent with the Appointments Clause.
Murphy v. National Collegiate Athletic Association, which struck down prohibitions on the legalization of sports wagering.
Daimler AG v. Bauman, which recognized important due process limits on courts’ exercise of personal jurisdiction over out-of-state defendants.
National Labor Relations Board v. Noel Canning, which struck down presidential appointments made while the Senate was in pro forma session.
Wal-Mart Stores v. Dukes, the most important Supreme Court decision in decades on the limits of certifying claims for class action treatment.
Hollingsworth v. Perry, which defeated an effort by the proponents of California’s Proposition 8 to defend the proposition in court.
Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission, which struck down limits on corporate independent expenditures under the First Amendment.
Bush v. Gore, which resolved Florida’s recount dispute in the 2000 presidential election.

In addition to our U.S. Supreme Court practice, Gibson Dunn attorneys handle a wide range of appellate matters in federal courts of appeals and state appellate courts. Each year, we brief and argue federal appeals in every regional circuit, the D.C. Circuit, the Federal Circuit, and dozens of state supreme courts and courts of appeal. We regularly achieve victory in the most challenging cases with the highest stakes.

Gibson Dunn’s cases set precedents, make headlines, change laws, and alter business, government, and social landscapes, achieving lasting impacts.

Some of our recent achievements include the following:

Federal Appellate

Environmental Protection Commission of Hillsborough County, Florida v. Mercedes Benz USA, LLC et al. (11th Cir. 2023): Scored an appellate win for Daimler AG and Mercedes-Benz USA in the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals, ending Florida regulator’s enforcement action.
Olagues v. Muncrief (10th Cir. 2019): Secured dismissal, affirmed on appeal by the Tenth Circuit, of a Section 16(b) “short-swing” profits claim involving withholding of restricted stock units.
Center for Biological Diversity v. U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (9th Cir. 2023): Established important guardrails on deference to agency ipse dixit and asserted technical expertise, overturning the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s designation of tens of thousands of acres of land as ‘critical habitat’ under the Endangered Species Act.
Magadia v. Wal-Mart Associates, Inc. (9th Cir. 2021): Reversed a $102 million judgment premised on supposedly unlawful wage statements and persuaded the court to enter judgment against the plaintiff class.
Harris v. Union Pacific Railroad Company (8th Cir. 2019): Secured a ruling that the district court abused its discretion when it certified a sprawling class of more than 7,000 Union Pacific Railroad Company employees.
Union Pacific Railroad Co. v. Regional Transportation Authority (7th Cir. 2023): Secured a victory for Union Pacific Railroad Company in a Seventh Circuit appeal involving commuter rail service in Chicago.
New London Tobacco Market, Inc. v. Kentucky Fuel Corp. et al. (6th 2022): Won unanimous Sixth Circuit vacatur of a default judgment for fraud, and with it, a punitive damages award for our client, Kentucky Fuel Corporation.
S. ex rel. Harman v. Trinity Industries, Inc. (5th Cir. 2017): Prevailed in a “landmark decision” (Texas Lawbook) overturning $663 million judgment, “the largest in the history of the False Claims Act,” on behalf of a manufacturer in a “legal war for its financial life and its reputation” (Dallas Morning News).
Bourque v. State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Co. (5th Cir. 2023): Secured Fifth Circuit reversal of a district court order granting class certification in a case challenging State Farm’s method of estimating the actual cash value of totaled cars.
Paymentech, LLC v. Landry’s Inc. (5th Cir. 2023): Obtained a Fifth Circuit win upholding the propriety of Visa’s standard-setting data security program and affirmative dismissal of a $12.6 million dispute against the client.
In re Zetia Antitrust Litigation (4th Cir. 2021): Won a significant victory for Merck defeating certification of an antitrust class of 35 large and sophisticated drug wholesalers on remand from the Fourth Circuit.
Crystallex v. Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela (3rd Cir. 2019): Secured a victory in the Third Circuit holding that the assets of Venezuela’s state-owned petroleum company are subject to attachment.
SEC v. Rio Tinto plc. (2d Cir. 2022): Won a unanimous Second Circuit victory in a closely-watched securities fraud case where the court refused to expand the scope of scheme liability.
Immediato v. Postmates, Inc. (1st Cir. 2022); (Levine v. Grubhub Holdings Inc. (1st Cir. 2022)); (Singh v. Uber Technologies, Inc.) (3d Cir. 2023), (Archer v. Grubhub, Inc. (Mass. Sup. Ct. (2022)): Convinced the First Circuit, Third Circuit, and Massachusetts Supreme Court that the claims of drivers who use the Uber, Postmates, and Grubhub apps, respectively, may be compelled to arbitration under the Federal Arbitration Act because they fall outside the statute’s exemption for workers engaged in interstate commerce.
Liquid Energy Pipeline Association v. FERC (D.C. Cir. 2023): Secured a unanimous decision from the D.C. Circuit reversing a Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) order reducing the rates the oil pipelines can charge for transmission and holding that FERC cannot rehear and modify its rules without complying with the APA’s notice-and-comment requirements.

State Appellate

HouseCanary, Inc. v. Title Source, Inc., No. 20-0683. (Tex. 2022): Secured an appellate victory for Amrock, LLC (formerly Title Source Inc.), a leading provider of real estate and title and appraisal services, by persuading the Fourth Court of Appeals to overturn in its entirety a $706 million trade-secrets jury verdict against Amrock—one of the largest ever in the state of Texas—and then successfully defending that win at the Texas Supreme Court.
Signature Industrial Services, LLC v. International Paper Co., 638 S.W.3d 179 (Tex. 2022): Slashed a $125 million verdict by 99 percent (to under $2 million), and eliminated the largest emotional-distress award in Texas history ($63 million).
Chevron U.S.A. Inc. v. County of Monterey (Cal. 2023): Secured a unanimous California Supreme Court decision for Chevron in a preemption case concerning a local ordinance prohibiting certain oil production methods.
Southern California Gas Co. v. Public Utilities Commissions of the State of California (Cal. Ct. App., 2nd App. Dist., Div. 1 2023): On behalf of SoCalGas, won a precedential decision from the California Court of Appeal vindicating the First Amendment associational rights of an investor-owned utility against a state public utilities regulator, and then defeating attempts by the regulator to secure review or depublication in the California Supreme Court.
Hill and Stout PLLC v. Mutual of Enumclaw Insurance Co. (Wash. 2022): Won an important ruling in the Washington Supreme Court for Mutual of Enumclaw that set precedent and is poised to resolve a long list of Covid-19 related class actions against many insurance companies.
City of Coral Springs Police Officers’ Pension Plan v. Dorsey et al. (Del. 2023): Secured dismissal, and affirmance by the Delaware Supreme Court, of a shareholder derivative action against the Board of Directors of Block (f/k/a Square) arising out of Square’s acquisition of the music streaming service TIDAL.
Ayse Giray v. Hamdi Ulukaya (N.Y. App. Div., 1st Dept. 2023): Won decision for Chobani founder and CEO affirming dismissal of ownership claims filed against him in New York State Court.
People of the State of New York v. Amazon.com Inc. et al. (N.Y. App. Div., 1st Dept. 2022): Won a major victory for Amazon.com, Inc. in New York’s First Department Appellate Division in a case filed by New York’s Office of the Attorney General asserting claims arising from Amazon’s COVID-19 workplace safety practices. The First Department unanimously reversed a trial court decision and dismissed all five of the NYAG’s claims.

Our Appellate Practice has a Tier 1 ranking from Chambers USA, Legal 500 USA, Benchmark Litigation and Best Law Firms. Gibson Dunn has more individual lawyers ranked in the Chambers USA Nationwide Appellate category than any other firm. The firm has been named Appellate Firm of the Year by Best Law Firms (in 2024, 2022), Benchmark Litigation (in 2023), and 2024 “Appellate Practice Group of the Year” by Law360— the only firm to win twelve times since 2010. The National Law Journal has named the firm to its “Appellate Hot List” which “highlights law firms that have handled exemplary appellate matters,” every year since 2008, most recently in 2023.

“Gibson Dunn maintains its premier standing in the appellate arena, calling upon a formidable array of highly experienced and deeply respected litigators to offer a wealth of experience before the U.S. Supreme Court and state and federal courts nationwide.”
Chambers USA

Experience

Recent representations include:

Slack Technologies, LLC v. Pirani (U.S. 2023): Obtained a 9-0 win for Slack Technologies in the Supreme Court, after litigating in the Northern District of California and the Ninth Circuit, in a key industry-shaping litigation regarding Section 11. It was the first securities and derivative suit relating to going public through a direct listing.
City of Grants Pass v. Johnson (U.S. 2024): Achieved a groundbreaking victory at the Supreme Court on behalf of Grants Pass, Oregon, in a landmark case addressing whether the Eighth Amendment bars local governments from enforcing public-camping regulations. In a 6-3 decision, the Supreme Court held that the constitutional prohibition on “cruel and unusual punishments” does not forbid regulation of camping on public property.
Truck Insurance Exchange v. Kaiser Gypsum Co., Inc. (U.S. 2024): Secured a victory on behalf of Truck Insurance Exchange when the Supreme Court unanimously held that insurers have a direct and obvious interest in their insureds’ reorganizations, and so have a broad right to be heard in bankruptcy cases.
Twitter v. Taamneh (U.S. 2023); Gonzalez v. Google (U.S. 2023): Prevailing in two cases of immense importance for online free speech by persuading a unanimous Court to reject claims under the Anti-Terrorism Act that social media companies did not do “enough” to block terrorist content and to preserve favorable lower-court precedent regarding section 230 of the Communications Decency Act, which immunizes websites from claims based on third-party content.
City of Los Angeles v. PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP (Cal. 2024): Persuaded the California Supreme Court to unanimously reverse a Court of Appeal decision limiting the authority of courts to impose monetary sanctions for discovery misconduct, and persuading the Court to hold that the Civil Discovery Act independently authorizes courts to impose monetary sanctions for discovery misconduct and patterns of discovery abuse.
In re Luminant Generation Company LLC (Tex. App—Houston, 1st Dist. 2023): Obtained victories for Vistra and Luminant in litigation stemming from Winter Storm Uri, securing reversal from the Houston Court of Appeals of the MDL court’s refusal to dismiss billions in personal injury and property claims against Vistra and other Texas generators.
National Association of Private Fund Managers v. SEC (5th Cir. 2024): Secured a major Fifth Circuit victory for hedge funds, private equity, and other private funds in a challenge to the SEC’s private fund advisers rule. The Court vacated in full a rule adopted by the SEC that would have fundamentally changed the way private funds and their advisers are regulated.
FCC v. Prometheus Radio Project (U.S. 2021): Defended industry members in the FCC’s decision to repeal or modify three of its media ownership rules.
Wal-Mart Stores Inc. v. Dukes (U.S. 2011): Obtained a landmark victory for the world’s largest retailer when the Supreme Court unanimously reversed class certification of the biggest employment discrimination class in history.
Rex Real Estate I, L.P. v. Rex Real Estate Exchange, Inc. (5th Cir. 2023): Represented a billion-dollar real estate company and secured—in a unanimous opinion—appellate reversal and remand for a new trial on Rex’s trademark infringement claims before the Fifth Circuit.
Crystallex v. Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela (3rd Cir. 2019): Secured a victory in the Third Circuit holding that the assets of Venezuela’s state-owned petroleum company are subject to attachment.
Wit v. United Behavioral Health (9th Cir. 2023): Won a Ninth Circuit ruling ordering decertification of classes and entry of judgment for Behavioral Health on ERISA claims for denial of benefits.
Bahamas Surgery Center v. Kimberly-Clark Corp. (9th Cir. 2020): Secured vacatur of a $350+ million jury verdict (remitted to $20+ million in post-trial motions led by Gibson Dunn) and decertification of the class in a consumer fraud class action.
Magadia v. Wal-Mart Associates, Inc. (9th Cir. 2021): Reversed a $102 million judgment premised on supposedly unlawful wage statements and persuaded the court to enter judgment against the plaintiff class.
Ad Hoc Committee of Holders of Trade Claims v. Pacific Gas and Electric Co. (9th Cir. 2022): Won Ninth Circuit reversal for an ad hoc group of PG&E trade creditors in a bankruptcy appeal concerning a question of first impression as to whether a solvent debtor must pay unimpaired creditors post-petition interest at rates governed by state law, as opposed to the federal judgment rate.
People of the State of New York v. Amazon.com Inc. et al. (N.Y. App. Div., 1st Dept. 2022): Won a major victory for Amazon.com, Inc. in New York’s First Department Appellate Division in a case filed by New York’s Office of the Attorney General asserting claims arising from Amazon’s COVID-19 workplace safety practices. The First Department unanimously reversed a trial court decision and dismissed all five of the NYAG’s claims.