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Jonathan Y. Ellis Partner

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Raleigh T +1 919 755 6688 F fax +1 919 755 6588
Washington, D.C. T +1 202 828 2887 F fax +1 202 828 3317
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As co-leader of the Appeals and Issues Team, Jonathan helps clients design winning legal strategies in appeals and high-stakes litigation. Jonathan has argued nine cases before the U.S. Supreme Court and filed more than 150 briefs at the merits and certiorari stages before the Court. He has handled appeals and dispositive motions in other federal courts and state courts across the country. He has significant experience nationally in assisting clients in formulating appellate strategy, both in pending appeals and at the trial court level before judgment. And he has challenged and defended federal agency actions at every level of the federal judiciary.

Before joining McGuireWoods, Jonathan served in the Office of the Solicitor General in the U.S. Department of Justice. As an Assistant to the Solicitor General, Jonathan represented the federal government before the Supreme Court and helped oversee the government’s appellate litigation in lower courts throughout the country. He briefed and argued cases involving patent and copyright law, constitutional law, administrative law, ERISA, international arbitration, securities regulation, and other areas of federal law.

Jonathan graduated first in his class from the University of Pennsylvania Law School and has served as a lecturer at the school. After graduation, Jonathan served as a law clerk to John G. Roberts, Jr., Chief Justice of the United States, and to Judge A. Raymond Randolph of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit. He also previously served as a Bristow Fellow in the Office of the Solicitor General. He holds a bachelor’s degree in computer science from North Carolina State University.

Experience

U.S. Supreme Court

  • Facebook, Inc. v. Duguid, 141 S. Ct. 1163 (2021): Briefed and argued case for federal government addressing the scope of the TCPA’s restrictions on autodialers.
  • Thryv, Inc. v. Click-to-Call Technologies, LP, 140 S. Ct. 1367 (2020): Briefed and argued case for federal government concerning the scope of judicial review of inter partes review proceedings before the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.
  • GE Energy Power Conversion France SAS, Corp. v. Outokumpu Stainless USA, LLC, 140 S. Ct. 1637 (2020): Argued case for federal government concerning the enforceability of international arbitration agreements under the New York Convention.
  • United States v. Arthrex, Inc., 141 S. Ct. 1970 (2021): Represented federal government defending constitutionality of the appointment of administrative patent judges.
  • Seila Law LLC v. Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, 140 S. Ct. 2183 (2020): Represented federal government in case concerning the constitutionality of tenure protection for the CFPB Director.
  • Fourth Estate Public Benefit Corp. v. Wall-Street.com, LLC, 139 S. Ct. 881 (2019): Briefed and argued case for federal government concerning the Copyright Act’s registration requirement.
  • Jam v. International Finance Corp., 139 S. Ct. 759 (2019): Briefed and argued case for federal government defining scope of immunity from suit for public international organizations under the International Organizations Immunity Act.
  • Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, Inc. v. Goldsmith, No. 21-869 (2023): Represented amicus Dr. Richard Meyer in copyright fair use case concerning Andy Warhol’s art.
  • Gonzalez v. Google LLC, No. 21-1333 (2023): Represented the NYU Stern Center as amicus in case concerning Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act.

Other Federal and State Courts

  • Representation of a cloud computing and enterprise software company on appeal defending multibillion dollar jury verdict for trade secrets misappropriation.
  • Representation of a collection of securitization trusts in enforcement action by the CFPB concerning servicing and collection of private student loans.
  • Representation of a non-profit organization that owns and operates children’s hospitals and clinics in multimillion dollar breach of trust and breach of contract dispute with State of Delaware.
  • Representation of a national financial institution in class action concerning servicing of mortgage loans for its California customers.
  • Representation of a social media company in nationwide putative class action concerning content moderation policies.
  • Representation of a national wireless telecommunications company in multimillion dollar trademark infringement dispute.
  • Representation of a global pharmaceutical distributor in APA litigation against the Federal Communications Commission to invalidate regulation promulgated under the TCPA.*
  • Representation of a major online music platform in multimillion dollar putative class action asserting copyright claims.*
  • Representation of a leading Medicare Advantage provider in APA litigation against the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services challenging regulations governing the MA Program.*
  • Representation of a large for-profit post-secondary educational institution in enforcement action by the CFPB concerning private student loans.*

* Denotes work done prior to joining McGuireWoods.

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