Supreme Court and Appellate Litigation

Combining elite appellate experience with a business-minded approach, Paul Hastings’ Supreme Court and Appellate Litigation practice has amassed an impressive track record handling clients’ most important legal challenges. Our lawyers regularly appear in federal and state appellate courts throughout the country, addressing everything from major government regulations and intellectual property disputes to complex commercial, arbitration, employment and environmental matters.

Working closely with experienced practitioners in the firm’s other market-leading practices, our Supreme Court and Appellate practice also regularly assists clients at earlier stages of litigation. Our lawyers collaborate with trial teams to brief dispositive motions, shape case strategy and preserve critical issues for appeal.

Our practice is distinguished by its ability to:

• Take on the largest jury verdicts in the country, often beginning with post-trial motions and handling appeals at every level of the federal and state court systems.
• Secure favorable rulings from the U.S. Supreme Court in landmark securities, patent, employment and immigration cases.
• Shape the law not only by representing litigants but also by collaborating with business and trade associations as amicus curiae, giving businesses a powerful voice in significant cases nationwide.

Representations

A series of recent nationally significant appellate wins highlights the strength and effectiveness of our team:

• Secured a 5th Circuit win for Career Colleges and Schools of Texas, blocking the implementation of a major Department of Education regulation.
• Obtained multiple writs of mandamus on behalf of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce from the 5th Circuit, preventing transfer of a challenge to a major Consumer Financial Protection Bureau regulation from Texas to Washington, D.C. and subsequently obtained a preliminary injunction blocking the regulation nationwide (preventing massive restrictions on banks’ ability to impose fees for missed payments).
• Obtained a landmark victory for veterans after persuading the Federal Circuit to invalidate a Department of Veterans Affairs rule that would have precluded hundreds of thousands of veterans and their family caregivers from appealing adverse benefits decisions.
• Successfully represented General Electric (GE) in a major commercial dispute in the 11th Circuit, which held that parties asserting claims against GE arising out of the failure of a turbine at an Algerian power plant are required to submit those claims to arbitration.
• Obtained major appellate victories in the 2nd Circuit and the Court of Appeals of New York in litigation arising out of the issue of $2 billion in Venezuelan bonds.
• Prevailed on behalf of Samsung in a closely watched patent appeal, persuading the Federal Circuit that a patent application can be used as “printed publication” prior art in Patent Trial and Appeal Board proceedings as of its filing date, even though it was not publicly accessible until a later time.