Brian Boynton is an experienced civil litigator in the firm’s Government and Regulatory Litigation Group. His practice focuses on complex government, regulatory and commercial litigation, including challenges to federal agency action under the Administrative Procedure Act (APA), litigation under a range of federal regulatory regimes, and constitutional and preemption challenges.
Mr. Boynton rejoined the firm in 2017 following his service at the US Department of Justice. From 2014 to 2016, Mr. Boynton was a Deputy Assistant Attorney General in the Office of Legal Counsel—the office charged with providing authoritative legal advice to the President and Executive Branch. From 2016 to early 2017, he served as a counselor to Attorney General Loretta Lynch, helping to coordinate significant civil litigation involving the department.
Prior to joining the Department of Justice, Mr. Boynton practiced at the firm for 12 years. He has substantial experience at all stages of litigation and has handled a wide range of complex government, regulatory and commercial litigation.
Mr. Boynton has extensive experience with respect to challenges under the APA. He has litigated APA challenges to regulations and administrative decisions by numerous federal agencies and represents parties challenging agency actions as well as parties intervening to help defend favorable agency actions.
Mr. Boynton also represents clients in complex regulatory litigation and commercial disputes. He has handled False Claims Act litigation and investigations in a range of industries, including health care, telecommunications and construction.
He has also litigated high-profile matters under the antitrust laws, the Fair Housing Act, the Lanham Act, the Electronic Communications Privacy Act, the Wiretap Act, and the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act. He also has litigated patent, fraud and breach of contract cases.
In addition, Mr. Boynton has significant experience litigating constitutional and preemption challenges. He represents public universities in First Amendment matters, and he has defended free speech challenges to federal and state laws establishing commodity promotion programs. He also has experience bringing and defending against dormant commerce clause, separation of powers and preemption challenges.
Experience :
- Successfully litigated multiple APA challenges to decisions by the Patent and Trademark Office (PTO) improperly calculating the length of patent term adjustments.
- Successfully represented an association of property and casualty insurers in an APA challenge to a rulemaking by the Department of Housing and Urban Development that applied disparate impact analysis under the Fair Housing Act to homeowners insurers.
- Successfully represented an association of ethanol producers in litigation brought by other industries challenging the Environmental Protection Agency’s decision to permit the sale of gasoline with 15% ethanol.
- Represented a patent holder in a successful APA challenge to a PTO decision relating to payments of patent maintenance fees.
- Represented an investment bank in a putative class action under the Fair Housing Act challenging the bank’s purchases of residential mortgages in the secondary market.
- Successfully appealed judgment in a Lanham Act challenge to a competitor’s product label subject to regulation by the Food and Drug Administration.
- Represented a patent licensee in the successful defense of a challenge to the validity of the patent based on the “public use” bar.
- Represented a California government entity in the successful defense of a First Amendment challenge to a state law requiring producers of California table grapes to pay assessments that fund promotion of California table grapes.
- Successfully represented the cotton industry in First Amendment challenges to the Cotton Research and Promotion Act.
EDUCATION :
- JD, Stanford University Law School, 2000
- BA, Dartmouth College, 1997
ADMISSIONS : District of Columbia, California
CLERKSHIPS :
- The Hon. Vaughn R. Walker, US District Court for the Northern District of California, 2000 – 2001
- The Hon. Douglas H. Ginsburg, US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, 2001 – 2002.
Cost
Rate : $$$
