DOJ Lawyer to Steer and Expand Paul Hastings’ Appellate Group

A lawyer who represented the US in Supreme Court cases over regulatory challenges and advertiser free speech will join Paul Hastings in Washington DC to co-lead the firm’s appellate practice.

Benjamin Snyder, who came off a five-year stint as assistant to the solicitor general in the Department of Justice last month, said he will expand the firm’s representation of private sector litigants in appellate and Supreme Court cases. He will start in December as co-chair of the firm’s appellate practice, with litigation partner Stephen Kinnaird.

“This is an exciting time to go into private practice and represent clients,” Snyder said in an interview. “There’s been so much change in the courts, and to help clients understand that and push positions that you might not have been able to push a few years ago, I think that’s really exciting.”

In the Solicitor General’s office, Snyder represented the US in nine cases before the US Supreme Court, including Corner Post v. Board of Governors.

That case resulted in a ruling that the six-year statute of limitations for bringing agency challenges begins when a plaintiff has been harmed by an agency rule rather than when the agency issues the rule.

One of the “exciting things” for his practice, Snyder said, is to see how broadly courts will apply the Corner Post ruling and other rulings from the last Supreme Court term that have received widespread attention for potentially making it easier to challenge agency authority, including Loper Bright v. Raimondo and SEC v. Jarkesy. Firms have taken varying approaches to representing clients in agency cases since the last Supreme Court term.

“It’s really an opportunity for appellate practices generally and my practice in particular,” Snyder said of the last Supreme Court term. “One of the really interesting things to watch over the next few years is how those decisions are applied. You can imagine them applied narrowly or broadly, but it’s not clear what the dominant trend will be. Helping clients understand that and shape that will be a substantial part of my practice .”

Firm leaders are counting on Snyder to expand the practice by recruiting new members and net new client engagements by bringing appeals in cases that were handled by other firms at the trial court phase, he said. In a statement, Paul Hastings chair Frank Lopez said Snyder will deepen the firm’s ability to represent clients at all levels of litigation.

Snyder will be the first partner to join the 25-lawyer appellate practice this year, according to the firm’s website.

“Our strategy is to serve clients at the top of the market with intellectual capital,” Lopez said. “We believe his arrival and our further focus on bringing in elite litigation talent is a competitive advantage in handling our clients’ most sensitive and important matters from the trial court through all phases of appellate review.”