McDermott Will & Schulte, a global law firm

An experienced appellate advocate, Paul has argued 10 times before the US Supreme Court and has presented more than 100 arguments across federal and state appellate and trial courts nationwide, including multiple en banc circuit sittings. In 2024, Law360 named Paul as one of a select group of lawyers who is the “future of the Supreme Court bar.”

Paul works across substantive areas of law. He has secured major victories across sectors, including arbitration, employment, energy, immigration, intellectual property, life sciences, and transportation.

Recent successes at the Supreme Court include Kisor v. Wilkie, a landmark administrative law case decided in June 2019 that imposes significant limitations on the scope of agency deference. Paul won a trio of cases expanding the scope of judicial review of agency actions in the context of immigration: In 2023, he unanimously prevailed in Santos-Zacaria v. Garland, and in 2020 he won both Nasrallah v. Barr and Guerrero-Lasprilla v. Barr. In Nasrallah, Paul successfully advanced a statutory construction that had been overlooked by all 10 courts of appeals to have previously addressed the issue. In 2018, Paul secured a 9-0 win in the bankruptcy case Lamar, Archer & Cofrin, LLP v. Appling, which presented a technical question of statutory interpretation.

Paul regularly designs and leads challenges to agency actions. He invalidated a Federal Maritime Commission regulation in 2025 in the D.C. Circuit (World Shipping Council v. FMC). In 2024, he secured victory in the Fifth Circuit, setting aside the SEC’s attempted rescission of a key regulation imposing restrictions on proxy voting advice businesses (National Association of Manufacturers v. SEC, 5th Cir. 2024). Paul invalidated four separate regulations designed to disrupt the high-skilled immigration ecosystem (US Chamber of Commerce v. DHS, N.D. Cal. 2020 & 2021).

In listing Paul in its nationwide rating of appellate lawyers, Chambers USA (2020-2025) notes that he “play[s] 3D chess in litigation strategy” and “will learn your business better than you know it.” In ranking Paul as a “Leading Lawyer” in appellate practice, The Legal 500 (2021-2025) describes Paul as “exceptionally professional, effective, and easy to work with,” an “intellectually impressive and skilled advocate,” and it explains that he “demonstrates a surprisingly high policy awareness that sets him apart in Washington.”

He is a visiting clinical lecturer in law at Yale Law School, where he co-directs Yale’s Supreme Court Advocacy Clinic. Paul served as a law clerk to the Honorable Diana Gribbon Motz of the US Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit.

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• In the Supreme Court, secured a unanimous victory, with divided reasoning, confirming sharp limitations on the scope of agency authority (Kisor v. Wilkie, 2019)
• In the D.C. Circuit, invalidated regulation addressing demurrage and detention charges promulgated by the Federal Maritime Commission (World Shipping Council v. FMC, 2025)
• In the Federal Circuit, achieved affirmance of a summary judgment win for Coca-Cola in a long-running patent case (Rothschild Interconnected Devices v. Coca-Cola Co., 2025)
• In the D.C. Circuit, reversed decision from the FDA denying a supplemental New Drug Application (Vanda Pharmaceuticals v. FDA, 2025)
• In the Federal Circuit, obtained reversal of an adverse judgment following a patent infringement jury trial, prevailing on divided infringement issues relating to system claims (CloudOfChange LLC v. NCR Corp., 2024)
• In the Federal Circuit, secured reversal of adverse judgment in major ANDA matter, where district court had sua sponte invalidated certain patent claims on the basis of Section 101 (Astellas Pharm, Inc. v. Sandoz, 2024)
• In the Fifth Circuit, won sweeping victory invalidating SEC’s rescission of the 2020 Proxy Voting Advisory Business Rule (Nat’l Assoc. of Manufacturers v. SEC, 2024)
• In the DC Circuit, secured an additional victory for the Independent Power Producers of New York, relating to the design of the New York capacity market (New York State Public Service Commission v. FERC, 2024). This follows-up from an earlier win in the DC Circuit, which vacated and remanded FERC’s rejection of the New York Independent System Operator’s proposed amortization period for use in capacity auctions (Independent Power Producers of New York v. FERC, 2022)
• In the Sixth Circuit, won vacatur of FERC order on grounds that FERC Chairman exceeded his statutory authority (Electric Power Supply Assoc. v. FERC, 2023)
• In the Seventh Circuit, won reversal of a trial verdict in an employment case (Meadows v. NCR, 2023)
• In the DC Circuit, confirmed the legality of Optional Practical Training, a program that provides immigration status to hundreds of thousands of individuals (Washington Alliance of Technology Workers v. DHS, 2022)
• In the Federal Circuit, won affirmance through successful assertion on appeal of a res judicata defense (Uniloc 2017 LLC v. Blackboard, 2022)
• In the Ninth Circuit, secured affirmance of summary judgment for reinsurer in complex insurance dispute (American Claims Management v. Allied World Surplus Lines Insurance Co., 2022)
• In the en banc Fourth Circuit, overturned panel decision and prevailed for immigrant seeking withholding of removal (Portillo-Flores v. Garland, 2021)
• In the US District Court for the District of Columbia, won order compelling FDA to timely adjudicate a Section 355 request for an order regarding a supplemental New Drug Application (Vanda Pharmaceuticals v. FDA, 2024)
• In the US District Court for the District of Columbia, successfully vacated HHS Rule that authorized insurers to adopt copay accumulators (HIV & Hepatitis Policy Institute v. HHS, 2023)
• In the US District Court for the Western District of Texas, invalidated SEC’s order suspending implementation of its 2020 rule governing proxy voting advice businesses (National Association of Manufacturers v. SEC, 2022)
• In the US District Court for the Northern District of California, secured a preliminary injunction that enabled the EB-5 program to resume and subsequently achieved a settlement governing implementation of the EB-5 Reform and Integrity Act (EB5 Capital v. DHS, 2022)
• In the US District Court for the Northern District of California, won summary judgment to hold invalid four regulations—two each by the Department of Labor and the Department of Homeland Security— designed to foreclose the H-1B program (Chamber of Commerce of the United States v. DHS, 2021)
• In the US District Court for the Northern District of California, obtained a preliminary injunction on that barred enforcement of Presidential Proclamation 10,052, which sought to ban entry of high-skilled workers entering the United States on H, J, and L visas (National Association of Manufacturers v. DHS, 2020)
• In the US District Court for the Middle District of North Carolina, obtained a nationwide permanent injunction on behalf of a consortium of leading colleges and universities, blocking an immigration policy detrimental to the interests of international students (Guilford College v. McAleenan, 2020)

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