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Michael W. McConnell
Senior Of Counsel
Litigation
Palo Alto

D650-849-3135

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Michael W. McConnell is Senior Of Counsel in the Palo Alto office of Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati, where he specializes in federal appellate litigation. From 2002 to 2009, he served as Circuit Judge on the United States Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit, with chambers in Salt Lake City and Denver, where he wrote majority opinions in cases involving securities, antitrust, administrative law, federal lands, First Amendment, criminal law and procedure, and other topics. Since leaving the bench in 2009, Judge McConnell has taught constitutional law at Stanford Law School and practiced law on a part-term basis as "of counsel" to the D.C. office of Kirkland & Ellis.

Highlights of Judge McConnell's recent litigation experience include briefing and four oral arguments in the U.S. Supreme Court:

  • Horne v. Dep't of Agriculture, 135 S. Ct. 1039 (2015). In an 8-1 opinion by Chief Justice Roberts, the Court held that a program that compelled raisin producers to turn over a portion of their crop to a government agency without payment violates the Fifth Amendment.
  • Horne v. Dep't of Agriculture, 569 U.S. 513 (2013). In an opinion by Justice Thomas, the Court unanimously reversed a Ninth Circuit decision holding that a Fifth Amendment Takings Clause claim cannot be raised as a defense in an administrative proceeding.
  • CompuCredit Corp. v. Greenwood, 565 U.S. 95 (2012). In an 8-1 opinion by Justice Scalia, the Court held that claims against a credit repair organization for alleged misrepresentations are subject to arbitration.
  • Christian Legal Soc'y Chapter of the Univ. of Cal. v. Martinez, 561 U.S. 661 (2010). In a 5-4 opinion by Justice Ginsburg, the Court rejected the argument that the First Amendment protects the right of a religious student group at a public law school to reserve leadership positions for adherents of its religion.

McConnell argued eleven previous cases in the Supreme Court before going on the bench. Other highlights since 2010 include briefing and argument in:

  • S.E.C v. Securities Investor Protective Corp., 758 F.3d 357 (D.C. Cir. 2014). Court held that client SIPC was not required to cover losses from a $7 billion fraud committed by a non-member.
  • Gerawan Farming, Inc. v. Agricultural Labor Relations Bd., 23 Cal. App. 3d 1129 (2018). Court held that state Labor Board was required to tally workers' ballots in a five-year-old union decertification election.
  • Delano Farms Co. v. California Table Grape Comm'n, 4 Cal. 5th 1204 (Cal. Sup. Ct. 2018). California Supreme Court unanimously rejected challenge under state free speech clause to a mandatory joint advertising and promotion program.

As an appellate generalist, Judge McConnell has participated in cases involving antitrust law, copyright, Commerce Clause extraterritoriality doctrine, securities law, First Amendment, Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act, administrative law, environmental law, federal preemption, and criminal law.

Since 2009, McConnell has taught at Stanford Law School as the Richard and Frances Mallery Professor and as Director of the Constitutional Law Center at Stanford Law School. He is a Senior Fellow at Stanford University's Hoover Institution. His courses include Constitutional Law, First Amendment, Creation of the Constitution, and numerous advanced courses in constitutional areas. He previously held chaired professorships at University of Chicago and University of Utah, and Visiting Professorships at NYU School of Law and Harvard Law School. He is a member of American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and recently delivered the Tanner Lectures in Human Values at Princeton University.

In addition to numerous law review publications, McConnell is co-editor of two popular casebooks, in Constitutional Law and Religion & the First Amendment. He is nearing completion of a book on presidential power entitled The President Who Would Not Be King, under contract to Princeton University Press. According to a recent study, he is the second-most cited scholar in U.S. Supreme Court opinions in the past decade.

McConnell is a graduate of University of Chicago Law School and the James Madison College of Michigan State University. After graduation from Chicago, he was law clerk to Supreme Court Justice William J. Brennan, Jr., and to Chief Judge J. Skelly Wright of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit. He was awarded honorary doctorates from University of Notre Dame and Michigan State Law School. He has been Assistant General Counsel to the Office of Management & Budget, specializing in regulatory reform, Assistant to the Solicitor General, and Member of the President's Intelligence Oversight Board.

Experience

Michael W. McConnell is Senior Of Counsel in the Palo Alto office of Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati, where he specializes in federal appellate litigation. From 2002 to 2009, he served as Circuit Judge on the United States Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit, with chambers in Salt Lake City and Denver, where he wrote majority opinions in cases involving securities, antitrust, administrative law, federal lands, First Amendment, criminal law and procedure, and other topics. Since leaving the bench in 2009, Judge McConnell has taught constitutional law at Stanford Law School and practiced law on a part-term basis as "of counsel" to the D.C. office of Kirkland & Ellis.

Highlights of Judge McConnell's recent litigation experience include briefing and four oral arguments in the U.S. Supreme Court:

  • Horne v. Dep't of Agriculture, 135 S. Ct. 1039 (2015). In an 8-1 opinion by Chief Justice Roberts, the Court held that a program that compelled raisin producers to turn over a portion of their crop to a government agency without payment violates the Fifth Amendment.
  • Horne v. Dep't of Agriculture, 569 U.S. 513 (2013). In an opinion by Justice Thomas, the Court unanimously reversed a Ninth Circuit decision holding that a Fifth Amendment Takings Clause claim cannot be raised as a defense in an administrative proceeding.
  • CompuCredit Corp. v. Greenwood, 565 U.S. 95 (2012). In an 8-1 opinion by Justice Scalia, the Court held that claims against a credit repair organization for alleged misrepresentations are subject to arbitration.
  • Christian Legal Soc'y Chapter of the Univ. of Cal. v. Martinez, 561 U.S. 661 (2010). In a 5-4 opinion by Justice Ginsburg, the Court rejected the argument that the First Amendment protects the right of a religious student group at a public law school to reserve leadership positions for adherents of its religion.

McConnell argued eleven previous cases in the Supreme Court before going on the bench. Other highlights since 2010 include briefing and argument in:

  • S.E.C v. Securities Investor Protective Corp., 758 F.3d 357 (D.C. Cir. 2014). Court held that client SIPC was not required to cover losses from a $7 billion fraud committed by a non-member.
  • Gerawan Farming, Inc. v. Agricultural Labor Relations Bd., 23 Cal. App. 3d 1129 (2018). Court held that state Labor Board was required to tally workers' ballots in a five-year-old union decertification election.
  • Delano Farms Co. v. California Table Grape Comm'n, 4 Cal. 5th 1204 (Cal. Sup. Ct. 2018). California Supreme Court unanimously rejected challenge under state free speech clause to a mandatory joint advertising and promotion program.

As an appellate generalist, Judge McConnell has participated in cases involving antitrust law, copyright, Commerce Clause extraterritoriality doctrine, securities law, First Amendment, Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act, administrative law, environmental law, federal preemption, and criminal law.

Since 2009, McConnell has taught at Stanford Law School as the Richard and Frances Mallery Professor and as Director of the Constitutional Law Center at Stanford Law School. He is a Senior Fellow at Stanford University's Hoover Institution. His courses include Constitutional Law, First Amendment, Creation of the Constitution, and numerous advanced courses in constitutional areas. He previously held chaired professorships at University of Chicago and University of Utah, and Visiting Professorships at NYU School of Law and Harvard Law School. He is a member of American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and recently delivered the Tanner Lectures in Human Values at Princeton University.

In addition to numerous law review publications, McConnell is co-editor of two popular casebooks, in Constitutional Law and Religion & the First Amendment. He is nearing completion of a book on presidential power entitled The President Who Would Not Be King, under contract to Princeton University Press. According to a recent study, he is the second-most cited scholar in U.S. Supreme Court opinions in the past decade.

McConnell is a graduate of University of Chicago Law School and the James Madison College of Michigan State University. After graduation from Chicago, he was law clerk to Supreme Court Justice William J. Brennan, Jr., and to Chief Judge J. Skelly Wright of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit. He was awarded honorary doctorates from University of Notre Dame and Michigan State Law School. He has been Assistant General Counsel to the Office of Management & Budget, specializing in regulatory reform, Assistant to the Solicitor General, and Member of the President's Intelligence Oversight Board.

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