Appellate + Supreme Court

Morrison Foerster’s Appellate and Supreme Court group is a market-leading practice that wins critical appeals. The practice is recognized for its strategic thinking, clear writing, and forceful oral advocacy. Our work spans the Supreme Court of the United States, every federal court of appeals, including the Federal Circuit, and state appellate courts in California, New York, and elsewhere. And we handle appeals in every area of law—from intellectual property to class actions, arbitration to antitrust, environmental law to ERISA.

We are consistently ranked as one of the top appellate and Supreme Court practices in the country by Chambers USA and Legal 500 US. Co-chairs Deanne Maynard, Joseph Palmore, and Brian Matsui are all recognized by leading rankings organizations such as Chambers USA and Legal 500 US, and our practice has been named to the National Law Journal’s Appellate Hot List multiple times.

U.S. Supreme Court

Deanne and Joe have collectively argued more than 25 cases before the Supreme Court and have filed more than 250 briefs there. Both are veterans of the Solicitor General’s Office at the U.S. Department of Justice, where they represented the United States before the Supreme Court. Deanne, Joe, Brian, and others in our appellate group clerked on the Supreme Court for multiple different Justices. We tap our deep knowledge when navigating every stage of Supreme Court litigation, including seeking and opposing certiorari, advocating before the Office of the Solicitor General, building amicus coalitions, and handling cases on the merits.

Deanne argued Sandoz v. Amgen, in which the Supreme Court ruled unanimously for her client Sandoz. That closely watched case involved the Biologics Price Competition and Innovation Act, which provides a streamlined approval path for biosimilars. Law360 named Deanne to its exclusive list of Appellate MVPs for this “big victory.” Law360 also dubbed her a “Legal Lion” three separate times for her work on appeals in this case.

Joe successfully argued two merits cases during a single Supreme Court term: Law360 called one of them (Thole v. U.S. Bank) a “landmark ruling” that “made huge waves in the ERISA litigation arena” and the other (Atlantic Richfield Co. v. Christian) as one of the “biggest environmental law decisions” of the year. The National Law Journal described Joe’s argument before the Supreme Court in CTS Corp. v. Waldburger as “brilliant” and a “template for anyone arguing a statutory case before these nine justices in the future.”