Deanne Maynard

Deanne E. Maynard, chair of the Appellate and Supreme Court Practice Group, is a partner in the Washington, D.C. office, and a former Assistant to the Solicitor General at the United States Department of Justice.

Ms. Maynard has argued 12 cases before the Supreme Court of the United States, and she has filed over 100 briefs in that Court. Notably, she has worked on some of the most important business cases over the last several Terms. Just last Term, she argued and prevailed in Ransom v. FIA Card Services, a case involving the interpretation of the federal bankruptcy statute.  Ms. Maynard also has substantial knowledge and understanding of cutting-edge antitrust and intellectual property issues. Her arguments include the patent case MedImmune, Inc. v. Genentech, Inc. and the antitrust case Pacific Bell Telephone Company v. linkLine Communications, Inc. She was also a principal author of the briefs for the United States in Bell Atlantic Corp. v. Twombly and Quanta Computer, Inc. v. LG Electronics, Inc., and briefs at the certiorari stage in Bilski v. Doll and American Needle, Inc. v. National Football League.

In addition to her substantial Supreme Court experience, Ms. Maynard has argued and briefed significant cases in the federal courts of appeals. Her appellate experience mirrors the wide-ranging litigation breadth of the firm, running the gamut from patent appeals in the Federal Circuit to appeals in the other federal courts of appeals on antitrust, securities law, and other intellectual property issues.

Ms. Maynard served in the Solicitor General’s office from 2004-2009. Before joining the Solicitor General’s office, Ms. Maynard was a partner at Jenner & Block in Washington, D.C. Her practice at Jenner involved a wide variety of complex litigation matters at all levels of the federal judiciary, ranging from a multi-billion dollar government contracts case to media and First Amendment litigation.

After law school, Ms. Maynard clerked twice on the Supreme Court of the United States. During the October 1994 Term, she clerked for Justice Stephen Breyer in his first year on the Court. During the 1993 Term, she clerked for retired Supreme Court Justice Lewis Powell and affiliated with Justice John Paul Stevens. From 1991-1993, Ms. Maynard clerked for Judge Stanley Harris of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia.

Ms. Maynard graduated magna cum laude in 1991 from Harvard Law School, where she was an editor of the Harvard Law Review. She earned a B.A., with distinction, in English from the University of Virginia, where she was also Phi Beta Kappa and Omicron Delta Kappa.

Ms. Maynard is the President-elect of the Coke Appellate Inn of Court. She serves as Chair of the Jefferson Trust, an initiative of the University of Virginia Alumni Association.

Ms. Maynard is listed as a Leading Individual in Best Lawyers in America 2011 and 2012, Appellate Law in Chambers USA 2011, and Legal 500 US 2011.