THE TEAM
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Kevin K. Russell specializes in appellate practice in the federal courts, particularly the U.S. Supreme Court. He has argued thirteen merits cases in the Supreme Court and served as counsel or co-counsel in nearly fifty others. He is currently an instructor in the Harvard Supreme Court Litigation Clinic, and previously was an instructor in the Stanford Supreme Court Litigation Clinic for eight years. Early in his career, Kevin clerked for Justice Stephen G. Breyer.
Today, Kevin regularly represents businesses, individuals, trade associations, and public interest groups before the Court on a wide range of issues, including questions of securities law, copyright, class actions, constitutional law, antitrust, civil rights, criminal law, consumer protection, international human rights, election law, and other matters. For example, he recently represented securities plaintiffs in a case before the Court addressing the scope of Sections 11 and 12 of the Securities Act. He was part of the team that successfully defended Google against Oracle’s claim that Android violated its copyright in the Java programming language. In his first argument at the Court, Kevin represented Lilly Ledbetter in a wage discrimination case that resulted in a 5-4 loss for his client. He then assisted Ms. Ledbetter in testifying before Congress in hearings that led to the bipartisan enactment of the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act, which overturned the Supreme Court’s decision.
Kevin has also enjoyed significant success in petitioning for, and opposing, certiorari in the Supreme Court. A Reuters study identified Kevin as having been counsel on more successful petitions for certiorari in the past decade than any other lawyer in private practice except his former partner, Tom Goldstein. He has also successfully opposed certiorari in important cases, including fending off Supreme Court review of a $2 billion punitive damages award and favorable decisions for class action plaintiffs.
Kevin has served as a consultant to NBC News, assisting in its coverage of the Court’s major decisions. In the past he has also provided analysis for various news outlets and contributed to SCOTUSblog.
In the courts of appeals, Kevin has represented clients in significant cases involving securities law, intellectual property, telecommunications, class actions, mass torts, constitutional rights, punitive damages, and other issues. He regularly represents securities fraud plaintiffs. For example, for several years Kevin has represented plaintiffs in multiple appeals (including to the Supreme Court) from class certification decisions in a multi-billion-dollar suit against Goldman Sachs arising from its role in the 2008 financial crisis. He presently represents securities fraud plaintiffs in a suit against Facebook related to the Cambridge Analytica scandal. As in the Facebook case, many of Kevin’s appeals involve the intersection of high tech and the law. Recently, Kevin successfully argued a case in the Eleventh Circuit on behalf of a tech startup sued by Apple for alleged copyright infringement. And he has twice argued before the D.C. Circuit on behalf of public interest groups and internet companies in support of net neutrality. Kevin also represents plaintiffs in mass tort cases as well. Among other cases, he represented thousands of police officers, firefighters, and construction workers injured during the cleanup of the World Trade Center disaster site in a case that ultimately resulted in more than $800 million in relief for the plaintiffs.
Kevin is an elected Fellow of the Academy of Appellate Lawyers.
Prior to joining the firm, Kevin worked in the Appellate Section of the Civil Rights Division at the U.S. Department of Justice. In that capacity, he represented the United States in more than thirty-five civil and criminal cases in eleven federal courts of appeals, presenting oral argument in more than two dozen of those cases.
Today, Kevin regularly represents businesses, individuals, trade associations, and public interest groups before the Court on a wide range of issues, including questions of securities law, copyright, class actions, constitutional law, antitrust, civil rights, criminal law, consumer protection, international human rights, election law, and other matters. For example, he recently represented securities plaintiffs in a case before the Court addressing the scope of Sections 11 and 12 of the Securities Act. He was part of the team that successfully defended Google against Oracle’s claim that Android violated its copyright in the Java programming language. In his first argument at the Court, Kevin represented Lilly Ledbetter in a wage discrimination case that resulted in a 5-4 loss for his client. He then assisted Ms. Ledbetter in testifying before Congress in hearings that led to the bipartisan enactment of the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act, which overturned the Supreme Court’s decision.
Kevin has also enjoyed significant success in petitioning for, and opposing, certiorari in the Supreme Court. A Reuters study identified Kevin as having been counsel on more successful petitions for certiorari in the past decade than any other lawyer in private practice except his former partner, Tom Goldstein. He has also successfully opposed certiorari in important cases, including fending off Supreme Court review of a $2 billion punitive damages award and favorable decisions for class action plaintiffs.
Kevin has served as a consultant to NBC News, assisting in its coverage of the Court’s major decisions. In the past he has also provided analysis for various news outlets and contributed to SCOTUSblog.
In the courts of appeals, Kevin has represented clients in significant cases involving securities law, intellectual property, telecommunications, class actions, mass torts, constitutional rights, punitive damages, and other issues. He regularly represents securities fraud plaintiffs. For example, for several years Kevin has represented plaintiffs in multiple appeals (including to the Supreme Court) from class certification decisions in a multi-billion-dollar suit against Goldman Sachs arising from its role in the 2008 financial crisis. He presently represents securities fraud plaintiffs in a suit against Facebook related to the Cambridge Analytica scandal. As in the Facebook case, many of Kevin’s appeals involve the intersection of high tech and the law. Recently, Kevin successfully argued a case in the Eleventh Circuit on behalf of a tech startup sued by Apple for alleged copyright infringement. And he has twice argued before the D.C. Circuit on behalf of public interest groups and internet companies in support of net neutrality. Kevin also represents plaintiffs in mass tort cases as well. Among other cases, he represented thousands of police officers, firefighters, and construction workers injured during the cleanup of the World Trade Center disaster site in a case that ultimately resulted in more than $800 million in relief for the plaintiffs.
Kevin is an elected Fellow of the Academy of Appellate Lawyers.
Prior to joining the firm, Kevin worked in the Appellate Section of the Civil Rights Division at the U.S. Department of Justice. In that capacity, he represented the United States in more than thirty-five civil and criminal cases in eleven federal courts of appeals, presenting oral argument in more than two dozen of those cases.
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J.D., Yale Law School, 1994
A.B., University of Michigan, 1991
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Justice Stephen Breyer, U.S. Supreme Court
Judge William A. Norris, 9th Circuit
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State Bars
District of Columbia
Maryland
Courts
United States Supreme Court
U.S.C.A., 1st Circuit
U.S.C.A., 2nd Circuit
U.S.C.A., 3rd Circuit
U.S.C.A., 4th Circuit
U.S.C.A., 5th Circuit
U.S.C.A., 6th Circuit
U.S.C.A., 9th Circuit
U.S.C.A., 10th Circuit
U.S.C.A., 11th Circuit
U.S.C.A., D.C. Circuit
U.S.C.A., Federal Circuit
U.S. Court of International Trade
U.S. District Court, Northern District of New York
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Daniel Woofter helps his clients solve their problems through litigation and negotiation, devising out-of-the-box solutions tailored to their needs. His accomplishments have earned him recognition as one of the nation’s Top 40 Young Lawyers by the American Bar Association (2023) and 40 Best LGBTQ+ Lawyers Under 40 by the National LGBTQ+ Bar Association (2022). Daniel has served as lead counsel at every federal and state court level—helping clients ranging from the world’s largest corporations like Google and Qualcomm to pro bono capital defendants—and presented oral arguments before several federal courts of appeals, as well as the Michigan Supreme Court and numerous state and federal trial courts.
Last year, the U.S. Supreme Court granted his petition for a writ of certiorari on behalf of a Texas death row inmate. He also argued before the Ninth Circuit on behalf of Atif Rafay in his habeas case, which was the subject of the inaugural episodes of Netflix’s documentary series “The Confession Tapes,” as well as an episode of Dr. Phil. And Daniel was part of the core team that achieved a historic consent decree to reform the Minneapolis Police Department in the aftermath of George Floyd’s murder.
Aside from practicing law, Daniel is an instructor in the Harvard Supreme Court Litigation Clinic. He also chairs the American Bar Association’s Death Penalty Due Process Review Committee. Daniel previously taught at Georgetown University Law Center, instructing J.D. students in connection with the school’s Supreme Court Institute, which moots at least one of the advocates in every case the Court hears each Term.
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J.D., Georgetown University Law Center, 2014
B.M., The Boston Conservatory, 2009
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Judge Pamela A. Harris, 4th Circuit
Judge Judith E. Levy, E.D. Mich.
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State Bars
District of Columbia
Maryland
Massachusetts
New York
Courts
United States Supreme Court
U.S.C.A., 2nd Circuit
U.S.C.A., 3rd Circuit
U.S.C.A., 4th Circuit
U.S.C.A., 5th Circuit
U.S.C.A., 7th Circuit
U.S.C.A., 9th Circuit
U.S.C.A., 11th Circuit
U.S.C.A., D.C. Circuit
U.S.C.A., Federal Circuit
U.S. District Court, District of Columbia
U.S. District Court, District of Maryland
We represent clients at every stage of the Supreme Court process as well as in important cases before the federal courts of appeals.
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Goldstein, Russell & Woofter LLC was formed to continue the legacy of Goldstein & Russell, P.C., after founder Tom Goldstein announced his retirement in 2023.
In 2005, Kevin Russell left his job as an appellate lawyer in the U.S. Department of Justice to join Tom and his wife, Amy Howe, in a Supreme Court boutique operating from Tom and Amy’s attic. In addition to running the then-nascent SCOTUSblog, the firm also founded and ran the nation’s first Supreme Court Litigation clinics at Stanford and Harvard law schools.
Over the years, the firm became a home for a number of other esteemed Supreme Court practitioners, including Amy, now the Supreme Court reporter for SCOTUSblog; Tejinder Singh, now a partner of Sparacino PLLC; Eric Citron, now a Managing Director of TRGP Capital; and Sarah Harrington, now the Deputy Assistant Attorney General for Civil Appellate in the U.S. Department of Justice.
In 2018, Daniel Woofter joined the firm as an associate after clerking on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit. He was later made a partner and, with Kevin, will continue the specialty appellate practice that Tom and Kevin grew for the better part of two decades.
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In 2004, Tom Goldstein co-founded the Stanford Supreme Court Litigation Clinic with Stanford Professor Pam Karlan. Amy Howe and Kevin Russell subsequently became clinic instructors as well, along with Jeffrey Fisher on the Stanford faculty. The firm continued its partnership with Stanford through 2013, during which time the clinic represented clients in over 50 merits cases at the Supreme Court.
In 2005, the firm also began running a Supreme Court litigation clinic at Harvard during that school’s January winter term. The firm continues to run the clinic each January, now in partnership with Gupta Wessler PLLC, working with students to provide pro bono representation to individuals and organizations at the Court.