Appellate and Constitutional Law

LEADERS

Caitlin Halligan

New York

Mark Perry

Washington, D.C.

Nicole Saharsky

Washington, D.C.

VIEW ALL PRACTICE MEMBERS
VIEW ALL PRACTICE PUBLICATIONS
VIEW ALL PRACTICES

Overview

The Appellate and Constitutional Law Practice Group’s lawyers participate in appeals in all 13 federal courts of appeals and state appellate courts throughout the United States and have presented arguments in front of the Supreme Court of the United States more than 100 times.  The group has broad experience in complex appellate litigation at all levels of the U.S. federal and state court systems.

In addition to traditional appellate litigation activities, the Appellate and Constitutional Law group provides a wide range of services on constitutional and related issues that include:

  • Formulating and briefing new legal arguments in the trial courts to ensure that legal arguments are developed and preserved for appeal
  • Developing and advancing constitutional and policy arguments on proposed legislation and regulations
  • Managing complex litigation
  • Developing novel or complex legal theories, sometimes long before the suit is filed
  • Advising on possible constitutional challenges to statutes and the effects of regulations on proposed transactions or business plans
  • Analyzing proposed legislation and regulations from legal and policy perspectives, testifying before the U.S. Congress and state legislatures, and engaging in other forms of legislative and public policy advocacy
  • Counseling government entities, allowing them to anticipate legal challenges and to avoid needless litigation

In recognition of its achievements, Gibson Dunn was named a Finalist by The American Lawyer in its 2018 Litigation Department of the Year competition.  This award followed our firm’s unprecedented three wins in this biennial competition – as the 2016, 2012 and 2010 Litigation Department of the Year – and 2014 Finalist honors.  Recognized by additional top legal publications including Chambers and The National Law Journal, we are proud of our reputation as aggressive, creative appellate lawyers and constitutional law practitioners.

The Appellate and Constitutional Law group has been involved in matters that cover a wide array of constitutional, statutory, regulatory and common-law issues.  Our experience and expertise extend beyond the courts in the U.S. jurisdictions where we maintain offices — California, Colorado, New York, Texas and Washington, D.C. — to include many others.

The Appellate and Constitutional Law group’s team of lawyers has a winning track record for grants of certiorari petitions, exceeding by far the Supreme Court’s average grant rate.  Our partners include the former Solicitor General of the United States Theodore B. Olson, and former Assistants to the Solicitor General Miguel Estrada and Nicole Saharsky.  In addition, Caitlin J. Halligan was Solicitor General for the State of New York.  Daniel M. Kolkey previously served as an Associate Justice on the California Court of Appeal, Third Appellate District.

Our strong, high-profile and successful presence before the Court includes appearances on behalf of clients that have included major U.S. corporations, U.S. states and presidential candidates.  Our group aims to win each case, but we also seek to address the root causes of your legal difficulties and, if possible, improve the legal, social and policy environments in which your rights will be decided.

RECENT PUBLICATIONS

Supreme Court Holds That Individuals Have Fourth Amendment Privacy Rights In Cell Phone Location Records

-June 22, 2018

Supreme Court Says That Patent Holders May Recover Lost Foreign Profits Resulting From Patent Infringement In The United States

-June 22, 2018

Supreme Court Holds That States Can Require Internet Retailers To Collect Sales Taxes

-June 21, 2018

Supreme Court Rules That SEC ALJs Were Unconstitutionally Appointed

-June 21, 2018

Supreme Court Rejects Tolling Of Statute Of Limitations For Successive Class Actions

-June 11, 2018

Supreme Court Holds That The Colorado Civil Rights Commission Violated Cake Baker’s Religious Freedom Rights

-June 4, 2018

Supreme Court Round-Up (June 1, 2018)

-June 1, 2018

California Supreme Court Spring 2018 Round-Up

-May 31, 2018

Federal Circuit Update (May 2018)

-May 30, 2018

Supreme Court Upholds Agreements To Individually Arbitrate Employment-Related Disputes

-May 21, 2018

Webcast: Supreme Court Strikes Down Federal Limits On Sports Gambling

-May 18, 2018

Supreme Court Strikes Down Federal Limits On Sports Gambling

-May 14, 2018

First Quarter 2018 Update on Class Actions

-May 4, 2018

ATS Ruling Narrows the Judicial Role in International Law

-May 4, 2018

Federal District Court Enjoins Philadelphia Ordinance Prohibiting Employers from Asking Applicants About Their Wage History

-May 2, 2018

Reining In Abusive Alien Tort Statute Cases

-April 30, 2018

Supreme Court Upholds PTO Inter Partes Review of Patent Validity

-April 24, 2018

Supreme Court Clarifies That Inter Partes Review Must Decide All Challenged Claims

-April 24, 2018

Supreme Court Holds That Foreign Corporations Cannot Be Sued Under The Alien Tort Statute

-April 24, 2018

Does a Nonresident Del. Officer’s Service to a Corporation Allow Courts to Compel Testimony?

-April 18, 2018

Supreme Court Holds That Recent Legislation Moots Dispute Over Emails Stored Overseas

-April 17, 2018

Supreme Court Says Car Dealership Service Advisors Are Exempt From FLSA Overtime Pay Requirements

-April 2, 2018

Supreme Court Round-Up: A Summary of the Court’s Opinions, Cases to Be Argued Next Term, and Other Developments (April 4, 2018)

-April 4, 2018

Federal Circuit Update (March 2018)

-March 29, 2018

Percoco Highlights Pre-Verdict Remedies For False Testimony

-March 28, 2018

Delaware Supreme Court Holds That Forum Non Conveniens Dismissals Do Not Require An Alternative Available Forum

-March 22, 2018

Supreme Court Holds States May Hear Securities Fraud Class Actions Under The 1933 Act

-March 20, 2018

D.C. Circuit Applies U.S. Copyright Law to Video Content Streamed from Abroad

-March 9, 2018

Midway Through the Momentous 2017 Supreme Court Term

-February 23, 2018

Supreme Court Says Whistleblowers Must Report to the SEC Before Suing for Retaliation Under Dodd-Frank

-February 21, 2018

Gibson Dunn Named Appellate Firm of the Year

-February 20, 2018

Alert – Federal Circuit Update (January 2018)

-January 31, 2018

Fourth Quarter 2017 Update on Class Actions

-January 31, 2018

Supreme Court Says That Challenges to “Waters of the United States” Rule Must Be Filed in Federal District Court

-January 22, 2018

Law360 Names Gibson Dunn Among its Appellate 2017 Practice Groups of the Year

-January 18, 2018

Federal Circuit Update (November 2017)

-November 30, 2017

2016/2017 Federal Circuit Year in Review

-November 2, 2017

Supreme Court Round-Up: A Summary of Upcoming Arguments and Other Developments (October 2017)

-October 2, 2017

California Supreme Court Fall 2017 Round-Up

-September 28, 2017

Federal Circuit Update (September 2017)

-September 26, 2017

US Courts: Can’t Pray at Work, Can’t Pray at Home

-September 1, 2017

Federal Circuit Update (July 2017)

-July 31, 2017

New York Court of Appeals Round-Up

-July 10, 2017

’Consent’ is the Next Big Battle Over Personal Jurisdiction

-July 5, 2017

Getting the Deal Through: Appeals 2017

-July 1, 2017

Supreme Court Round-Up: A Summary of the Court’s Opinions, Cases to Be Argued Next Term, and Other Developments (June 29, 2017)

-June 29, 2017

United States Supreme Court Limits Class-Action Tolling

-June 26, 2017

Supreme Court Strikes Down Ban on Registration of Disparaging Trademarks on First Amendment Grounds

-June 21, 2017

United States Supreme Court Limits Power of State Courts to Exercise Specific Personal Jurisdiction over Defendants

-June 19, 2017

TC Heartland—A Renewed Opportunity to Challenge Venue in Patent Infringement Cases

-June 15, 2017

United States Supreme Court Limits SEC Power to Seek Disgorgement Based on Stale Conduct

-June 5, 2017

Supreme Court Round-Up: A Summary of the Court’s Opinions, Cases to Be Argued Next Term, and Other Developments (June 2017)

-June 2, 2017

Federal Circuit Update (May 2017)

-May 24, 2017

Supreme Court Grants Review in Securities Case About Duty to Disclose

-April 3, 2017

Supreme Court Establishes National Test to Determine When an Artistic Element of a Useful Item Is Protectable Under the Copyright Act

-March 31, 2017

Judge Neil Gorsuch’s Potential Impact on the Development of Antitrust Law

-March 30, 2017

Judge Neil Gorsuch’s Potential Impact on the Development of Antitrust Law

-March 30, 2017

Federal Circuit Update (March 2017)

-March 28, 2017

Supreme Court Round-Up: A Summary of the Court’s Opinions, Cases to Be Argued Next Term, and Other Developments (March 2017)

-March 23, 2017

Supreme Court Rules That Supplying a Single Component of a Patented Invention Does Not Violate 35 U.S.C. Section 271(f)(1)

-March 22, 2017

Judge Neil Gorsuch’s Potential Impact on the Development of Labor and Employment Law

-March 20, 2017

Judge Neil Gorsuch’s Potential Impact on the Development of Environmental Law

-March 17, 2017

Judge Neil Gorsuch’s Potential Impact on the Development of Arbitration Law

-March 16, 2017

2016 Year-End Update on Class Actions

-February 1, 2017

Summaries of Opinions of Supreme Court Nominee Judge Neil Gorsuch

-January 31, 2017

Federal Circuit Update (January 2017)

-January 26, 2017

Claims Involving a Limited Partnership Deal Are Derivative Under ‘Tooley’ Test

-January 18, 2017

Offensive Trademark Arguments at High Court

-January 18, 2017

Supreme Court to Review Federal Circuit’s Decisions in Heartland and Lexmark

-January 3, 2017

Potential Sources to Guide Interpretation of RJR’s Domestic Injury Requirement

-December 8, 2016

2015/2016 Federal Circuit Year in Review

-December 7, 2016

Federal Circuit Update (November 2016)

-November 30, 2016

California Supreme Court Fall 2016 Round-Up

-November 21, 2016

Will the High Court Resolve Circuit Split on Class Waivers in Employee Arbitration Agreements?

-November 10, 2016

Third Quarter 2016 Update on Class Actions

-October 27, 2016

Extraterritoriality: The ATS In Focus

-October 25, 2016

PHH Achieves Historic D.C. Circuit Victory Declaring CFPB Structure Unconstitutional and Rejecting Agency’s Imposition of $109 Million Penalty Under RESPA

-October 13, 2016

The Interrelationship Between Price Impact and Loss Causation After Halliburton I & II

-October 3, 2016

Federal Circuit Update (September 2016)

-September 29, 2016

The Gray Zone: What All Lawyers Need To Know About Providing (Or Not Providing) Business Advice After Peterson v. Katten Muchin

-September 15, 2016

Appealing After A Win: How To Use Conditional Cross-Appeal

-September 2, 2016

Poor Children Need a New Brown v. Board of Education

-August 29, 2016

Conflicting Courts on Neutral Canons

-August 24, 2016

Rule Of Law Trumps Rhetoric In Chevron’s 2nd Circ. Win

-August 19, 2016

Chevron Earns Decisive Victory in Second Circuit Civil RICO Appeal Concerning Corrupt Scheme to Obtain $9.5 Billion Ecuadorian Judgment Through Bribery and Fraud

-August 9, 2016

Federal Circuit Update (July 2016)

-July 27, 2016

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and the Future of Class Action Waivers

-July 7, 2016

New York Court of Appeals Round-Up

-July 5, 2016

Supreme Court Round-Up: A Summary of the Court’s Opinions, Cases to Be Argued Next Term, and Other Developments (June 2016)

-June 29, 2016

New York Courts at the Forefront of Arbitration Law

-June 24, 2016

U.S. Supreme Court Clarifies Extraterritorial Reach of Civil RICO

-June 21, 2016

The Other Del. Business Courts? Litigating Derivative Suits in NY

-June 14, 2016

Eleventh Circuit Limits SEC Power to Seek Disgorgement and Declaratory Relief

-May 27, 2016

Federal Circuit Update (May 2016)

-May 26, 2016

Supreme Court Round-Up: A Summary of the Court’s Opinions, Cases to Be Argued Next Term, and Other Developments (May 2016)

-May 26, 2016

Third Circuit Strikes Down FCC Rule Prohibiting Joint Sales Agreements and Stresses FCC’s Legal Duty to Review All Broadcast Ownership Rules Every Four Years

-May 26, 2016

U.S. Supreme Court Holds That Violation of a Statutory Right, Without a Resulting “Concrete” Injury, Does Not Satisfy Article III’s Injury-in-Fact Requirement

-May 17, 2016

California Supreme Court Spring 2016 Round-Up

-April 28, 2016

Why Dallas Has the Right to Block the Exxxotica Expo from the Convention Center

-April 21, 2016

Federal Circuit Update (March 2016)

-March 24, 2016