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Jason A. Levine is a partner in the law firm of McDermott Will & Emery LLP based in the firm's Washington, D.C. office. As a partner in the Trial Department with more than a decade of experience representing high-profile clients in their most important cases, Mr. Levine specializes in complex business litigation and in matters involving the First Amendment. His experience runs the gamut from first-chairing trials, to briefing and arguing federal appeals, to managing the defense of bet-the-company class actions in a wide variety of substantive areas.
Mr. Levine recently was named by Lawdragon magazine as one of the top 500 lawyers in the United States who are "carrying the legal profession to new frontiers" (July 2006 ed.). Mr. Levine also is listed in the selective global directories United Who's Who and Who's Who in Executives & Professionals (2006-07 eds.).
Representative Recent Experience:
On the business litigation side of his practice, Mr. Levine represents clients in a wide range of cutting-edge lawsuits. For example:
Mr. Levine was first-chair for significant portions of a landmark, multi-billion dollar "natural resource damages" case tried by the U.S. Department of Justice against his client, ASARCO.
At the intersection of securities and "food and drug" law, Mr. Levine recently represented the former CEO of Biopure Corporation in an SEC enforcement lawsuit and parallel class actions involving public disclosure of FDA drug review activities.
In cases mirroring the headlines, Mr. Levine is defending CNH America LLC and CNH Global N.V. in two major class action lawsuits filed by UAW retirees demanding free healthcare for life.
Reflecting his versatility, Mr. Levine is lead trial and appellate counsel to a Panamanian real estate holding company in two parallel cases against the U.S. State Department that involve the U.S. Embassy in Panama.
Demonstrating his expertise in resolving lawsuits through motions practice, Mr. Levine won the dismissal of an ERISA fiduciary duty class action against Schering-Plough Corporation, and also won dismissal of a billion-dollar antitrust class action against Potomac Electric Power Company.
On the First Amendment side of his practice, Mr. Levine focuses on political law, defamation, and "spam" matters. For example:
Mr. Levine represented the Republican National Committee and four state party committees in their constitutional challenge to the McCain-Feingold law, McConnell v. FEC, 540 U.S. 93 (2003), and he has advised U.S. Senators, Representatives, and political party committees in election contests, ballot access disputes, and campaign finance inquiries.
In 2006, Mr. Levine won a jury trial in West Virginia in a defamation lawsuit filed by a former Democratic gubernatorial candidate against his clients, two Republican party committees. Mr. Levine has defended political committees against numerous defamation lawsuits filed by candidates for office over "negative" advertisements. None of Mr. Levine's defamation clients has ever been required to pay a damage award to a plaintiff.
Representing the law firm Covington & Burling as the plaintiff in a spam case, Mr. Levine defeated a First Amendment challenge to a federal spam statute and won a $2.3 million damage award via summary judgment. On the defense side, Mr. Levine won the dismissal of spam claims against New Century Financial Corporation.
Mr. Levine has also led significant pro bono efforts. He briefed and argued a D.C. Circuit appeal on behalf of a class of Black farmers in the landmark Pigford litigation, persuading the court to permit modification of a Consent Decree and thus permit class members to assert claims for discriminatory lending practices against the U.S. Government. In another high-profile matter, after being specially appointed to represent the District of Columbia as appellant, Mr. Levine successfully defended the constitutionality of its juvenile curfew ordinance before the D.C. Circuit sitting en banc.
Additional Information:
Mr. Levine received his B.A., summa cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa, from Brandeis University in 1991. He received his J.D., cum laude, from Harvard Law School in 1994. During law school, he was Editor-in-Chief of the Harvard Journal of Law & Public Policy. Mr. Levine served as a judicial clerk to Judge Randall R. Rader on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit from 1994-95. Mr. Levine has also served as an Adjunct Professor at Georgetown University Law Center, teaching a course on constitutional law. He is a member of the Bars of New York and Washington, D.C., and he is admitted to practice before the U.S. Supreme Court, all courts in Washington, D.C., and many other federal appellate and district courts nationwide.
Education:
Harvard Law School, J.D. (cum laude), 1994
Brandeis University, B.A. (summa cum laude, Phi Beta Kappa), 1991 | 