Paul M. Thompson

Paul also represents clients in antitrust investigations conducted by the Department of Justice (DOJ), and civil antitrust investigations conducted by State Attorneys General. Additionally, he regularly trains clients on antitrust compliance issues, assisting them in revising their antitrust compliance programs.

For over 15 years, Paul has represented Japanese clients in all manner of projects, including global investigations, the development and implementation of global compliance programs, and projects of strategic importance.

Paul also represents clients in high-profile congressional investigations, including before the Senate Judiciary Committee, the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, the House Energy and Commerce Committee, and the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform.

Paul has served as lead appellate counsel in more than 100 cases in nearly all of the US courts of appeals and before the US Supreme Court, including handling cases at the certiorari and merits stages. Among other significant matters, Paul represented Arthur Andersen before the US Supreme Court in a case involving the interpretation of the Federal Arbitration Act. And, he won Pellegrino v. United States Transportation Security Administration before the en banc Third Circuit, a leading case on when victims can sue the TSA under the Federal Tort Claims Act.

In his role as the firm’s pro bono litigation partner, Paul works with senior management, and other stakeholders to identify and develop pro bono litigation projects in a wide array of substantive areas that impact the communities in which we work and live. Paul has been repeatedly recognized for his pro bono work, and work that Paul has led has been profiled in an award-winning documentary and at a national press club seminar. Most recently, the DC Bar recognized the firm’s Washington, DC office as the 2025 Pro Bono Law Firm of the year.

From 2002 to 2005, Paul served as an Assistant United States Attorney in the Appellate Section of the United States Attorney’s Office in the Western District of Pennsylvania. From 2005 to 2007, he worked as counsel to the US Senate Judiciary Committee, where he worked on the Senate confirmation hearings for two current Supreme Court justices. Paul has also served as a law clerk to the Honorable D. Brooks Smith, former Chief Judge of the US District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania and former Chief Judge on the US Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit.

Paul has published articles in the National Law Journal, Roll Call, Executive Counsel, Corporate Counsel, the Yale Law Journal Pocket Part and the Vanderbilt Law Review. He has been quoted in top legal and business publications such as the Washington Business Journal, The Hill, Roll Call and Am Law Daily, and has served as a panelist at the National Press Club.

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• Represented a Fortune 500 healthcare company in an internal investigation tied to a Hepatitis C outbreak at a medical facility and coordinated the broader defense strategy
• Represented a Fortune 500 healthcare company in criminal and civil investigations arising from the murder of five patients by a rogue employee, resulting in no criminal or civil penalties against the company
• Represented a Fortune 500 healthcare company in a False Claims Act and Anti-Kickback Statute investigation that concluded with a successful settlement
• Successfully defended a former Majority Leader of the New York State Senate at trial and on appeal in United States v. Bruno
• Successfully represented Arthur Andersen before the US Supreme Court in Arthur Andersen v. Carlisle
• Successfully represented Nadine Pellegrino before the en banc Third Circuit in Pellegrino v. TSA
• Represented the Mattachine Society in Supreme Court amicus advocacy and subsequent FOIA litigation that led to release of FBI records concerning the firing of LGBT Americans under Executive Order 10450

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