Stephen B. Kinnaird is a partner in the firm and co-chair of its Appellate practice. He has represented clients in numerous cases in the United States Supreme Court, the federal courts of appeals and district courts, and state appellate courts. A highly experienced appellate lawyer, Mr. Kinnaird has handled matters involving energy, transportation, intellectual property, antitrust, environmental, telecommunications, administrative, criminal, and constitutional law. Specifically, Mr. Kinnaird has handled cases involving the Communications Act, the Interstate Commerce Act, the Federal Power Act, the Federal Railroad Safety Act, the Federal Employer’s Liability Act, the Social Security Act, the Sherman and Robinson-Patman Acts, the Clean Water and Clean Air Acts, CERCLA, the Patent and Trademark Acts, ERISA, the Carriage of Goods by Sea Act, and the Civil Rights Act; the Commerce, Due Process, and Takings Clauses; and the Seventh, Tenth, and Eleventh Amendments. Notable matters include:

• representation of an energy company in the U.S. Supreme Court in a case establishing private rights to coal bed methane in homestead grants;
• representation of a railroad in the U.S. Supreme Court in a case establishing preemption of state tort claims for inadequate warning devices;
• representation of a major league baseball team in the U.S. Supreme Court in a case involving taxation of back pay;
• representation of a telecommunications company in the U.S. Supreme Court and the courts of appeals in cases establishing rules of competitive access to network facilities under the Telecommunications Act of 1996 and rejecting takings and sovereign immunity defenses;
• representation of a railroad in the U.S. Supreme Court in a case establishing the protections of limited liability clauses for inland carriers engaged in international cargo transportation;
• representation of an information technology company in the Federal Circuit in cases involving patent infringement and the scope of authority of the International Trade Commission;
• representation of a telecommunications carrier in the Second Circuit in a case establishing preemption of municipal franchise requirements, and
• representation of veterans in the Federal Circuit in major cases involving veterans benefits laws.

Prior to entering private practice, Mr. Kinnaird served as a law clerk to Justice Anthony M. Kennedy of the United States Supreme Court, and to Judge John M. Walker, Jr. of the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit. Mr. Kinnaird was a management consultant in the corporate strategy practice of Booz, Allen & Hamilton before entering the legal profession. Mr. Kinnaird received a B.A. in English language and literature from Yale University, summa cum laude. He received an M.A. in philosophy, politics, and economics from Oxford University, which he attended on a Rhodes Scholarship. He received a J.D. from Yale Law School, where he served as articles editor on the Yale Law Journal and was awarded three faculty prizes for scholarship.

Mr. Kinnaird has given speeches and presentations on issues of federal and constitutional law to the Food and Drug Law Institute, Mealey’s National Asbestos Litigation Conference, and the National Association of Railroad Trial Counsel, among other organizations. His publications include All Over the High Court: Major Corporate Law Firms Dominate the Court's New Cases, Legal Times (Oct. 6, 2008); Fear-of-Cancer Claims After Norfolk Southern Railway v. Ayers, Washington Legal Foundation Legal Briefing, Vol. 18, No. 29 (July 2003); The Supreme Court’s Revolutionary Decision On Punitive Damages Promises Much Relief for Defendants, The Insurance Advocate (May 5, 2003); The Impact of State Farm Insurance Co. v. Campbell, Claims Magazine (May 2003); and Note, Public Housing: Abandon HOPE, But Not Privatization, 103 Yale L.J. 961 (1994), excerpted and discussed in Robert C. Ellickson & Vicki L. Been, Land Use Controls: Cases And Materials (2d ed. 1999); High Court to Revisit Federal Preemption, Paul Hastings - Stay Current (January 2009).

Mr. Kinnaird is a Lecturer in Law at the University of Pennsylvania Law School and co-teaches its Supreme Court Advocacy Clinic. Mr. Kinnaird is also a member of the Board of Directors of both the Washington Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights and Urban Affairs and the National Veterans Legal Services Program.