Lucas M. Walker

Lucas Walker is an experienced appellate litigator who has argued—and won—cases at every level of the federal judiciary, from district court to the Supreme Court of the United States. He is known for his crisp writing style and creative approach to difficult problems. Clients and other law firms regularly turn to him when confronting novel and challenging legal issues.

Mr. Walker’s practice focuses on Supreme Court and appellate litigation. He recently argued Abitron Austria GmbH v. Hetronic International, Inc. before the U.S. Supreme Court. In a decisive victory for his clients, the Court held that U.S. trademark law does not apply extraterritorially, rejecting a $90 million damages award that rested almost entirely on his clients’ sales in foreign countries. Abitron has been recognized as a landmark extraterritoriality decision with broad implications for transnational litigation. 

Mr. Walker has also briefed numerous other cases in the Supreme Court, at both the certiorari and merits stages, and for both parties and amici. He has argued before six U.S. Courts of Appeals and briefed cases in four others.  He has also litigated and argued critical motions in district courts.

Mr. Walker’s experience spans a broad range of subject matter, including intellectual property, administrative and constitutional law, energy, bankruptcy, foreign sovereign immunity, telecommunications, and white collar defense. Whatever the subject matter, Mr. Walker brings his characteristic deep thinking, clear writing, and passion for appellate advocacy.

He has particular experience before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit. There he has litigated such diverse issues as standing to sue for patent infringement, the Biologic Price Competition and Innovation Act, preclusion, personal jurisdiction, and federal civil-service law, as well as traditional patent-law issues like infringement, validity, and damages. In that court, he has defended nine-figure infringement judgments, defeated efforts to take life-saving cancer drugs off the market, and even won a pay raise for every federal judge in America. 

Mr. Walker served two clerkships at the U.S. Supreme Court, first with Justice Samuel A. Alito, Jr. and later with Justice Neil M. Gorsuch. He also served as a law clerk to then-Judge Gorsuch prior to joining MoloLamken in 2010.

Mr. Walker teaches Advanced Appellate Advocacy at the George Washington University Law School. He is also co-editor of MoloLamken’s annual Supreme Court Business Briefing.

Mr. Walker has been recognized as a Rising Star by Law360 and National Law Journal, and as a Leading Litigator and Next Generation leader by Lawdragon. The Legal 500 has named him a Next Generation Partner, highlighting his “great writing style.”

Representative Matters

Argued Matters

• Briefed and argued merits case before the U.S. Supreme Court in suit involving whether the Lanham Act applies to foreign companies’ use of trademarks outside the United States. Abitron Austria GmbH v. Hetronic International, Inc., 600 U.S. 412 (2023).
• Briefed and argued patent owner’s appeal before the Federal Circuit in case involving requirements for Article III standing in patent infringement cases
• Briefed and argued senior civil servant’s appeals before the D.C. Circuit and Federal Circuit in cases involving due process protections for federal employees
• Briefed and argued on behalf of regional transmission organization in Third Circuit case involving FERC approval of tariff amendments governing RTO’s capacity auctions
• Briefed and argued on behalf of regional transmission organization in Fourth Circuit case involving removal and preemption of claims challenging rates for wholesale electricity services under RTO’s federal tariff
• Briefed and argued telephone carrier’s petition for review before the Tenth Circuit challenging the Federal Communications Commission’s reduction of intercarrier compensation rates
• Briefed and argued habeas petitioner’s appeal before the Seventh Circuit in case involving the admissibility of statements under the Confrontation and Due Process Clauses
• Briefed and argued patent owner and exclusive licensee’s opposition to motion to dismiss for lack of standing before the Northern District of New York
• Briefed and argued individual defendant’s motion to dismiss False Claims Act and Anti‐Kickback Act claims before the Eastern District of Washington

Other Representative Matters

• Represented consumer class action representative before the U.S. Supreme Court in case involving constitutional standing to sue for conflicted real‐estate settlement services
• Represent online directory before the Ninth Circuit in case involving First Amendment and California anti-SLAPP protections for directories of professional and business information
• Represented biopharmaceutical company before the Federal Circuit in case involving requirements for notice of commercial marketing of biosimilar drugs under the Biologics Price Competition and Innovation Act
• Represented biopharmaceutical company before the Federal Circuit in case involving standards for injunctive relief in action under Biologics Price Competition and Innovation Act
• Represented technology company before the Federal Circuit in case involving $500 million patent infringement verdict
• Represented technology company before the Federal Circuit in case involving rules for establishing personal jurisdiction over foreign defendants
• Represented technology company before the Federal Circuit in case challenging the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office’s interpretation of the reissue patent statute
• Represented technology company before the Federal Circuit in case involving scope of “covered business method” patent review and patent eligibility of computerized pricing engine
• Represented foreign bank before the Ninth Circuit in case involving attachment of assets under the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act and Terrorism Risk Insurance Act
• Represented foreign bankruptcy representative before the Second Circuit in case upholding the foreign representative’s retention of a $133 million asset in a Chapter 15 bankruptcy proceeding
• Represented criminal defendant before the Eleventh Circuit in case involving federal healthcare fraud statute; prepared critical motions and jury instructions for district court proceedings
• Represented civil defendant before the D.C. Circuit in case involving application of Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organization Act to alleged conspiracy to commit extortion abroad
• Represented criminal defendant before the Fourth Circuit in case involving the constitutionality of the federal ban on corporate campaign contributions
• Represented national shipping company before the D.C. Circuit in case involving U.S. Postal Service’s allocation of costs caused by competitive products like parcel delivery
• Represented Speaker of New York State Assembly before the Southern District of New York in case involving federal corruption charges

Select Amicus Representations

• Represented Federal Judges Association as amicus curiae in challenge to denial of judicial salary adjustments; our brief advanced a statutory basis for relief that was adopted by the en banc Federal Circuit and resulted in a pay increase for all federal judges
• Represented defense attorneys association as merits‐stage amicus before the U.S. Supreme Court in case involving mootness of collective‐action lawsuits under the Fair Labor Standards Act
• Represented bankruptcy attorneys association as merits‐stage amicus before the U.S. Supreme Court in case involving debtor’s entitlement to return of undistributed funds following conversion from Chapter 13 to Chapter 7 bankruptcy proceeding
• Represented U.S. Chamber of Commerce as merits‐stage amicus before the U.S. Supreme Court in case involving state taxation of residents’ out‐of‐state income
• Represented biopharmaceutical company as merits‐stage amicus before the U.S. Supreme Court in case involving patent eligibility of diagnostic tests
• Represented criminal defense attorneys association as merits-stage amicus before the U.S. Supreme Court in case involving refusal to consent to search
• Represented patent owner as amicus before the en banc Federal Circuit in case involving reviewability of Patent and Trademark Office’s compliance with statutory limits on inter partes review of patents
• Represent patent owner as amicus before the Federal Circuit in case involving requirement for prior art printed publications that may be asserted in inter partes review
• Represented criminal defense attorneys association as amicus before the Eleventh Circuit in case involving joint trials of attorneys and clients

Publications

• Chevron Still Has Power (For Now): The DC Circuit Defers to FERC in Recent Ruling, National Law Journal (Feb. 21, 2023) (with Jennifer Fischell)

• A Closer Look at Federal Circuit Ruling on PTAB Joinder, Law360 (Apr. 30, 2020) (with Benjamin T. Sirolly)

• Brady Summaries and the Obligation To Disclose Favorable Evidence, 13 ABA Section of Litigation, Criminal Litigation Newsletter 10 (Fall 2012) (with Steven F. Molo)
• Opting Out of a Class Action, Today's General Counsel 62 (Aug. - Sept. 2013) (with Thomas J. Wiegand)