Erik S. Jaffe

ERIK S. JAFFE is an appellate  litigator with a practice covering a wide variety of legal issues in both state and federal courts of appeals.  A substantial  portion of Mr. Jaffe's practice focuses on constitutional issues and litigation in the United States Supreme Court.  He represents individuals, business corporations, and non-profit organizations who are parties in litigation or who seek to participate as amici curiae in cases presenting significant economic, political, or social issues.  Mr. Jaffe also collaborates with other law firms and lawyers seeking to supplement their litigation resources. At the trial level, he is available to consult with and assist primary counsel on significant issues and motions, providing an appellate perspective and helping to frame the legal issues for any potential appeal.

A 1990 graduate of the Columbia University School of Law, Mr. Jaffe was a law clerk to Judge Douglas H. Ginsburg of the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit from 1990 to 1991. Following that clerkship he spent five years in litigation practice with the Washington, D.C. law firm of Williams & Connolly. In the summer of 1996 he left Williams & Connolly to clerk for Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas. At the end of that clerkship he started his own practice, and has been a sole practitioner since 1997.

Since starting his own practice, Mr. Jaffe has been involved in appeals on a broad range of legal issues, including First Amendment challenges to campaign finance reform, Commerce Clause challenges to Health Care Reform and other federal legislation, Equal Protection Clause challenges to affirmative action in education, First Amendment challenges to school vouchers, Fifth Amendment challenges to takings of property, Second Amendment challenges to restrictions on gun ownership, and a wide variety of cases involving patents, copyrights, ERISA, securities fraud, federal preemption, environmental regulation, and other state and federal constitutional and statutory matters.  He has represented  businesses and non-profit groups, Judges, former government officials, Nobel Prize winners, and a broad cross-section of private individuals.   Mr. Jaffe has been involved in over 80 Supreme Court matters, including filing over 25 cert. petitions, representing half-a-dozen parties on the merits, and filing over 40 amicus briefs at both the cert. and merits stages.

• Columbia Law School, J.D. - 1990
• Dartmouth College, B.A. (Cum Laude) - 1986