Practice Focus

Justin Antonipillai is a partner in the firm's litigation practice group and Co-Chair of Arnold & Porter's Hiring Committee. 

Mr. Antonipillai's practice focuses on commercial and appellate matters, criminal defense, securities litigation, accountant liability cases, director and officer liability matters, white-collar criminal defense, and bankruptcy matters. He has represented clients at the trial and appellate levels of both state and federal courts, before congressional committees, the US Department of Justice (DOJ), the US Securities and Exchange Commission, and state public accounting bodies. Mr. Antonipillai also has experience handling matters governed by the Classified Information Procedures Act (CIPA), and he holds a top-secret national security clearance through the DOJ.

Mr. Antonipillai was recently selected as one of the "Top 40 Lawyers Under 40" by Washingtonian Magazine and named to the Lawdragon 500 "New Stars, New Worlds."

Representative Matters

Mr. Antonipillai has recently served as a lead counsel in a number of commercial, securities, and employment matters, including:

• Representing an investment fund in securities disputes relating to the valuation of investments.
• Representing an investment fund in a commercial dispute arising from the sale of a property and a related lease.
• Representing a pharmaceutical company in multidistrict litigation arising out of Medicaid reimbursement to pharmacies and related rebates.
• Representing an investment fund in cases alleging liability under the Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act (WARN Act).
• Representing a broker-dealer in connection with regulatory matters.
• Representing an investment fund in employment disputes arising out of employment agreements.
• Representing an auditor in connection with the Enron matter before state and local courts, regulatory bodies, and congressional committees.
• Representing "big four" accounting firms in regulatory matters and state and federal litigation.

In the last several years, Mr. Antonipillai has appeared as counsel in a number of reported decisions, including:

• In re Charter Communications, Inc., Securities Litigation, 443 F.3d 987 (8th Cir. 2006)
• Law v. American Capital Strategies, Ltd., 2006 WL 1639092 (M.D. Tenn. 2006)
• In re Pharmaceutical Industry Average Wholesale Price Litigation, --- F. Supp. 2d --- , 2006 WL 704473 (D. Mass. 2006)
• In re CNL Hotels & Resorts, Inc., 2005 WL 2291729 (M.D. Fla. 2005)
• In re Pharmaceutical Industry Average Wholesale Price Litigation, 230 F.R.D. 61 (D. Mass. 2005)
• Massachusetts v. Mylan Laboratories, 357 F. Supp. 2d 314 (D. Mass. 2005)
• In re Enron Corp. Securities, Derivative & "ERISA" Litigation, 310 F. Supp. 2d 819 (S.D. Tex. 2004)
• In re Mobile Tool Intern., Inc., 306 B.R. 778 (Bankr. D. Del. 2004)
• In re Sunterra Corp. Securities Litigation, 199 F. Supp. 2d 1308 (M.D. Fla. 2002)

In addition, Mr. Antonipillai has practiced extensively as lead counsel in matters before the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit. Mr. Antonipillai currently serves as lead appellate (appointed) counsel in United States v. Moussaoui, No 06-4494, the appeal that arises out of the conviction and sentence of Zacarias Moussaoui in the Eastern District of Virginia.

Since 2001, Mr. Antonipillai has appeared on brief in myriad cases and has argued 10 appeals to that Court, including:

• United States v. Moussaoui, No. 06-4494 (4th. Cir.)
• Townes v. Jarvis, No. 05-7382 (4th Cir.)
• United States v. Linder, 552 F.3d 391 (4th Cir. 2009)
• Eriline Co. S.A. v. Johnson, 440 F.3d 648 (4th Cir. 2006) (amicus to the Court)
• Washington v. Jarvis, 137 Fed. Appx. 543, 2005 WL 1287031 (4th Cir. 2004)
• Jones v. Braxton, 392 F.3d 683 (4th Cir. 2004)
• Manokey v. Waters, 390 F.3d 767 (4th Cir. 2004)
• In re Williams, 364 F.3d 235 (4th Cir. 2004)
• United States v. Goines, 357 F.3d 469 (4th Cir. 2004)
• Hill v. Braxton, 277 F.3d 701 (4th Cir. 2002)
• Taylor v. Huffman, 120 F.3d 262, 1997 WL 407801 (4th Cir. 1997)