Associate, Wiley Rein LLP
Joel S. Nolette is an associate at Wiley Rein LLP, where he advocates on behalf of corporate and individual clients in a broad spectrum of complex litigation matters. In 2017, Joel graduated cum laude from the Georgetown University Law Center, where he served as the Editor in Chief of Volume 15 of the Georgetown Journal of Law and Public Policy. From 2019 to 2021, Joel clerked for the Honorable Raymond W. Gruender of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit; and from 2021 to 2022, he clerked for the Honorable Timothy J. Kelly of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia. Before attending law school, Joel graduated summa cum laude from Gordon College in Wenham, MA, with his Bachelor of Arts in Biblical Studies and worked as a letter carrier with the U.S. Postal Service.
Associate, Wiley Rein LLP
Joel S. Nolette is an associate at Wiley Rein LLP, where he advocates on behalf of corporate and individual clients in a broad spectrum of complex litigation matters. In 2017, Joel graduated cum laude from the Georgetown University Law Center, where he served as the Editor in Chief of Volume 15 of the Georgetown Journal of Law and Public Policy. From 2019 to 2021, Joel clerked for the Honorable Raymond W. Gruender of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit; and from 2021 to 2022, he clerked for the Honorable Timothy J. Kelly of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia. Before attending law school, Joel graduated summa cum laude from Gordon College in Wenham, MA, with his Bachelor of Arts in Biblical Studies and worked as a letter carrier with the U.S. Postal Service.
Assistant Solicitor General, Kansas Attorney General
Adam Steinhilber is an assistant solicitor general for the State of Kansas. He was previously a litigation associate in the Kansas City office of Bryan Cave Leighton Paisner LLP. Before entering private practice, Adam clerked for Chief Judge Timothy M. Tymkovich of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit and Justice Mark S. Massa of the Indiana Supreme Court.
Adam earned his J.D., magna cum laude, from the University of Michigan Law School, where he was elected to the Order of the Coif. He earned his B.A. in Political Science from the University of Kansas, where he was elected to Phi Beta Kappa.
Adam has held several leadership positions within the Federalist Society, and he currently serves on the Board of the Kansas City Lawyers Chapter.
Partner, Cooper & Kirk PLLC
BRIAN W. BARNES has litigated high-stakes cases at all levels of the federal court system and has also argued numerous cases in state trial and appellate courts. He was the principal author of the briefs for the petitioners in Collins v Mnuchin, a multi-billion-dollar administrative law case challenging the nationalization of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, which is currently pending in the United States Supreme Court. In related litigation, Mr. Barnes deposed several of the current and former senior executives for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, including both companies’ former CEOs. Mr. Barnes also played a central role representing shareholders in disputes over the scope of the government’s discovery obligations in the Fannie Mae/Freddie Mac litigation, successfully persuading the Court of Federal Claims to order the government to show plaintiffs’ counsel most of the documents the government attempted to withhold under the deliberative process and bank examination privileges.
Mr. Barnes also has extensive experience representing plaintiffs in suits filed under the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (“RICO”). He briefed and argued St. Luke’s Health Network v. Lancaster General Hospital, 967 F.3d 295 (3d Cir. 2020), in which the Third Circuit reversed dismissal of RICO claims filed as part of a putative class action against a hospital that allegedly defrauded a Pennsylvania program that subsidizes care for indigent patients. Mr. Barnes also helped pioneer the use of RICO to sue state-legalized marijuana businesses: he filed the first such case, successfully argued the case on appeal after it was dismissed, and later helped try the case to a jury on remand. See Safe Streets Alliance v. Hickenlooper, 859 F.3d 865 (10th Cir. 2017).
Mr. Barnes has also worked on a wide range of other matters. He has briefed and argued cases concerning state preemption of local gun regulations in the trial and intermediate appellate courts of Illinois and Pennsylvania. In litigation over the Department of Education’s Title IX regulations, Mr. Barnes represents intervenors who are defending the regulations. And he has an active practice advising institutional investors on the probable outcomes of market-moving litigation in both state and federal courts.
Mr. Barnes clerked for Justice Samuel Alito during the Supreme Court’s 2012 Term and was previously a law clerk to Judge Thomas Griffith of the D.C. Circuit. He is a graduate of Yale Law School, where he was an Articles Editor for the Yale Law Journal and a member of the Yale Supreme Court Clinic. Mr. Barnes received his B.A. from Yale College and is a member of the Colorado and District of Columbia bars.
Partner, Cooper & Kirk PLLC
BRIAN W. BARNES has litigated high-stakes cases at all levels of the federal court system and has also argued numerous cases in state trial and appellate courts. He was the principal author of the briefs for the petitioners in Collins v Mnuchin, a multi-billion-dollar administrative law case challenging the nationalization of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, which is currently pending in the United States Supreme Court. In related litigation, Mr. Barnes deposed several of the current and former senior executives for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, including both companies’ former CEOs. Mr. Barnes also played a central role representing shareholders in disputes over the scope of the government’s discovery obligations in the Fannie Mae/Freddie Mac litigation, successfully persuading the Court of Federal Claims to order the government to show plaintiffs’ counsel most of the documents the government attempted to withhold under the deliberative process and bank examination privileges.
Mr. Barnes also has extensive experience representing plaintiffs in suits filed under the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (“RICO”). He briefed and argued St. Luke’s Health Network v. Lancaster General Hospital, 967 F.3d 295 (3d Cir. 2020), in which the Third Circuit reversed dismissal of RICO claims filed as part of a putative class action against a hospital that allegedly defrauded a Pennsylvania program that subsidizes care for indigent patients. Mr. Barnes also helped pioneer the use of RICO to sue state-legalized marijuana businesses: he filed the first such case, successfully argued the case on appeal after it was dismissed, and later helped try the case to a jury on remand. See Safe Streets Alliance v. Hickenlooper, 859 F.3d 865 (10th Cir. 2017).
Mr. Barnes has also worked on a wide range of other matters. He has briefed and argued cases concerning state preemption of local gun regulations in the trial and intermediate appellate courts of Illinois and Pennsylvania. In litigation over the Department of Education’s Title IX regulations, Mr. Barnes represents intervenors who are defending the regulations. And he has an active practice advising institutional investors on the probable outcomes of market-moving litigation in both state and federal courts.
Mr. Barnes clerked for Justice Samuel Alito during the Supreme Court’s 2012 Term and was previously a law clerk to Judge Thomas Griffith of the D.C. Circuit. He is a graduate of Yale Law School, where he was an Articles Editor for the Yale Law Journal and a member of the Yale Supreme Court Clinic. Mr. Barnes received his B.A. from Yale College and is a member of the Colorado and District of Columbia bars.
Associate, Wiley Rein LLP
Joel S. Nolette is an associate at Wiley Rein LLP, where he advocates on behalf of corporate and individual clients in a broad spectrum of complex litigation matters. In 2017, Joel graduated cum laude from the Georgetown University Law Center, where he served as the Editor in Chief of Volume 15 of the Georgetown Journal of Law and Public Policy. From 2019 to 2021, Joel clerked for the Honorable Raymond W. Gruender of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit; and from 2021 to 2022, he clerked for the Honorable Timothy J. Kelly of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia. Before attending law school, Joel graduated summa cum laude from Gordon College in Wenham, MA, with his Bachelor of Arts in Biblical Studies and worked as a letter carrier with the U.S. Postal Service.
Partner, Cooper & Kirk PLLC
BRIAN W. BARNES has litigated high-stakes cases at all levels of the federal court system and has also argued numerous cases in state trial and appellate courts. He was the principal author of the briefs for the petitioners in Collins v Mnuchin, a multi-billion-dollar administrative law case challenging the nationalization of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, which is currently pending in the United States Supreme Court. In related litigation, Mr. Barnes deposed several of the current and former senior executives for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, including both companies’ former CEOs. Mr. Barnes also played a central role representing shareholders in disputes over the scope of the government’s discovery obligations in the Fannie Mae/Freddie Mac litigation, successfully persuading the Court of Federal Claims to order the government to show plaintiffs’ counsel most of the documents the government attempted to withhold under the deliberative process and bank examination privileges.
Mr. Barnes also has extensive experience representing plaintiffs in suits filed under the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (“RICO”). He briefed and argued St. Luke’s Health Network v. Lancaster General Hospital, 967 F.3d 295 (3d Cir. 2020), in which the Third Circuit reversed dismissal of RICO claims filed as part of a putative class action against a hospital that allegedly defrauded a Pennsylvania program that subsidizes care for indigent patients. Mr. Barnes also helped pioneer the use of RICO to sue state-legalized marijuana businesses: he filed the first such case, successfully argued the case on appeal after it was dismissed, and later helped try the case to a jury on remand. See Safe Streets Alliance v. Hickenlooper, 859 F.3d 865 (10th Cir. 2017).
Mr. Barnes has also worked on a wide range of other matters. He has briefed and argued cases concerning state preemption of local gun regulations in the trial and intermediate appellate courts of Illinois and Pennsylvania. In litigation over the Department of Education’s Title IX regulations, Mr. Barnes represents intervenors who are defending the regulations. And he has an active practice advising institutional investors on the probable outcomes of market-moving litigation in both state and federal courts.
Mr. Barnes clerked for Justice Samuel Alito during the Supreme Court’s 2012 Term and was previously a law clerk to Judge Thomas Griffith of the D.C. Circuit. He is a graduate of Yale Law School, where he was an Articles Editor for the Yale Law Journal and a member of the Yale Supreme Court Clinic. Mr. Barnes received his B.A. from Yale College and is a member of the Colorado and District of Columbia bars.
2025 Delaware Firearms Law Seminar
Delaware Lawyers Chapter and Delaware Association of Second Amendment Lawyers (DASAL)
Wilmington, DETopics
Smith & Wesson v. Estados Unidos Mexicanos: Supreme Court Vindicates PLCAA’s Protections, But Leaves Many Doors Open
Earlier this month, in Smith & Wesson v. Estados Unidos Mexicanos, a unanimous Supreme Court...
Courthouse Steps Decision: Smith & Wesson Brands, Inc. v. Estados Unidos Mexicanos
Joel S. Nolette
In Smith & Wesson Brands, Inc. v. Estados Unidos Mexicanos, Mexico brought suit against several...
Courthouse Steps Decision: Smith & Wesson Brands, Inc. v. Estados Unidos Mexicanos
Joel S. Nolette
In Smith & Wesson Brands, Inc. v. Estados Unidos Mexicanos, Mexico brought suit against several...
Courthouse Steps Decision: Smith & Wesson Brands, Inc. v. Estados Unidos Mexicanos
Kansas Supreme Court Clarifies Statutory Immunity for Firearm Sellers
Adam Steinhilber
The Kansas Supreme Court recently considered the scope of immunity for firearm sellers under...
Courthouse Steps Oral Argument: Smith & Wesson Brands, Inc. v. Estados Unidos Mexicanos
Brian W. Barnes
In Smith & Wesson Brands, Inc. v. Estados Unidos Mexicanos Mexico brought suit against several U.S....
Courthouse Steps Oral Argument: Smith & Wesson Brands, Inc. v. Estados Unidos Mexicanos
Brian W. Barnes
In Smith & Wesson Brands, Inc. v. Estados Unidos Mexicanos Mexico brought suit against several U.S....
Courthouse Steps Oral Argument: Smith & Wesson Brands, Inc. v. Estados Unidos Mexicanos
State Court Docket Watch: Parsons v. Colt’s Manufacturing Company
In December 2021, a unanimous Nevada Supreme Court determined in Parsons v. Colt’s Manufacturing Company[1]...