Kevin K. Russell
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.
Education
J.D., Yale Law School, 1994
A.B., University of Michigan, 1991
Clerkships
Justice Stephen Breyer, U.S. Supreme Court
Judge William A. Norris, 9th Circuit
Admissions
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