CONSTITUTIONAL LAW

Massey & Gail has a wide range of experience in constitutional litigation. Our team includes attorneys who served for decades in federal and state government, with a ride range of expertise in nearly every conceivable constitutional issue. For example, we represented Vice President Al Gore in the 2000 Presidential election recount litigation, homeless vets claiming violations of their rights to government benefits, school children asserting rights to educational equality, and prison inmates asserting Free Exercise claims against grooming restrictions.

Our constitutional advocacy also extends beyond conventional civil rights claims. Our firm’s attorneys have litigated the Supreme Court’s constitutional punitive damages jurisprudence for over 30 years, including both trial-court and appellate review of awards. We also have successfully developed sophisticated constitutional arguments for our commercial clients, allowing them to vindicate their fundamental rights to free speech, due process, and property rights. For example, we have advocated for:

commercial clients facing administrative schemes that deny due process by depriving targets of agency adjudications prior notice and a meaningful opportunity to be heard;
real estate developers facing confiscatory zoning rules and constitutionally inadequate compensation under inverse condemnation procedures;
investment funds, regulated public utilities, and telecommunications companies facing unconstitutional limits on their speech and marketing activities;
commercial clients facing excessive statutory damages in copyright and similar contexts, where the aggregation of penalties can potentially reach draconian amounts; and
websites facing assertions of personal jurisdiction by state courts solely on the basis that they are accessible from the forum state via the Internet.

REPRESENTATIVE MATTERS

Representing an insurer and state receiver in an 8-1 Supreme Court victory, securing $12 billion owed under the Affordable Care Act on both statutory and constitutional grounds.
Successfully briefing the first-ever Supreme Court emergency stay of an agency regulation prior to judicial review in the lower courts.
Briefing and arguing a Federal Circuit constitutional challenge to the First-Inventor-To-File provisions of the America Invents Act of 2011.
Briefing and arguing a Second Circuit constitutional challenge to provisions of Bankruptcy Reform Act of 2005 restricting attorney speech.
Briefing and arguing Appointments Clause and Due Process challenges to the appointment of members of the Federal Service Impasses Panel.

PRACTICE AREAS

Antitrust & Competition

Consumer & False Claims Act

Freedom of Information Act

Privacy

Bankruptcy & Creditors’ Rights

Constitutional Law

Healthcare

Regulated Industries

Complex Commercial

Financial Services

Intellectual Property

Tax

Trials & Arbitrations

We regularly try high-stakes, complex cases across the country in every type of forum—state and federal courts, administrative tribunals, arbitrations, and other dispute resolution proceedings—with great success. Our decades of experience in the courtroom, plus our deep bench of seasoned attorneys, give us uncommon litigation firepower. We are often asked to step in to try an already pending case after a client reexamines its trial team.

Appeals

We have briefed and argued appeals in the U.S. Supreme Court, every federal circuit, and innumerable state courts. We handle appeals in every conceivable scenario—where our firm conducted the trial below and where we didn’t; where we are hired to replace existing counsel and where we are asked to work cooperatively alongside them. Whatever the circumstances, we provide a valuable, fresh appellate perspective and deliver excellent results for our clients.

Policy & Regulatory Work

We regularly represent clients before federal agencies and in state administrative and regulatory proceedings. We often use those proceedings as tools to resolve our clients’ business issues as an expeditious and cost-effective alternative to litigation. We also assist clients in submitting comments to proposed rules, meeting with government officials, and challenging agency rules after adoption. In addition, we have prepared court of appeals and U.S. Supreme Court briefs on important questions of administrative law.

Strategic Counseling

We help clients understand and evaluate the costs and benefits of different options for resolving the issues they face. We understand that litigation is often the last resort rather than the first choice, and we strive to formulate out-of-the-box strategies for meeting client needs in a cost-effective and timely way. Our nimble teams of experienced attorneys identify innovative solutions where other firms cannot. We also help our in-house clients manage outside counsel in particularly large or fast-paced matters.