Practice Focus

Appellate and Supreme Court

Lisa Blatt heads the firm's Appellate and Supreme Court practice which was cited by The National Law Journal’s 2010 “Appellate Hot List” as one of the firms that “represent the best in the practice of appellate law.”Chambers USA 2010 recognized Ms. Blatt as one of the “Leading Former Government Officials” in Appellate Law, praising her "meticulous oral argument preparation and ‘great presence before the court,’” and noting that “her skills at the podium shine."

Ms. Blatt has extensive appellate experience in a wide range of areas including administrative law, antitrust, bankruptcy, constitutional law, criminal law, Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA), employment, healthcare, national security, and preemption.  She has argued 28 cases before the Supreme Court of the United States, prevailing in 27. Her oral advocacy has been cited as exemplary in the Supreme Court Clerk's Guide for Counsel in Cases to be Argued Before the Supreme Court.

Since joining Arnold & Porter LLP in November 2009, Ms. Blatt has argued before the Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit in an Alien Tort Statute case involving corporations doing business in Apartheid and before the Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit involving a challenge to the US Environmental Protection Agency’s threatened action of misbranding against a rodenticide manufacturer. She has also filed numerous petitions and amicus briefs in the Supreme Court in the areas of patent law, healthcare, trade disputes, federal court jurisdiction, and the First Amendment.

Before joining Arnold & Porter, Ms. Blatt held a number of senior positions in the US government. Most recently, she spent 13 years with the US Department of Justice (DOJ) where she served as an Assistant to the Solicitor General.

After Ms. Blatt left the DOJ in May 2009, she served as a consultant to the Federal Trade Commission, where she advised the offices of the Chairman, the General Counsel, and the Bureau of Competition on antitrust matters before the Supreme Court, the US courts of appeals, and federal district courts.  She also argued on behalf of the Commission in an important case involving patent and antitrust law.

Ms. Blatt was an Assistant General Counsel and Special Assistant to the General Counsel at the US Department of Energy from 1993 to 1996.  Before working in the public sector, she spent several years working for a private law firm.  She also served as a law clerk to the Honorable Ruth Bader Ginsburg on the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit during the 1989-1990 term.

Ms. Blatt has lectured on the Supreme Court and is quoted regularly in the national press on the Supreme Court.

Ms. Blatt is a member of the US Chamber of Commerce National Chamber Litigation Center's Constitutional and Administrative Law Committee, a group that assists the Chamber in selecting appropriate cases for amicus participation in appellate courts throughout the country.

Representative Matters

Briefed or argued before the Supreme Court

Antitrust

• Leegin Creative Leather Products v. PSKS, Inc.
• Hoffmann-La Roche v. Empagran
• United States Postal Service v. Flamingo Industries

Bankruptcy

• Marrama v. Citizens Bank of Massachusetts
• Lamie v. United States
• Archer v. Warner

Criminal Law

• United States v. Dickerson
• United States v. Flores-Montano
• Texas v. Cobb
• Scheidler v. National Organization for Women, Inc. II and III
• Sell v. United States

Employment

• Hulteen v. AT&T Corp.
• Ricci v. DeStefano
• Gross v. FBL Financial Services
• Chevron U.S.A., Inc. v. Echazabal
• Breuer v. Jim's Concrete of Brevard, Inc.
• Crawford v. Nashville & Davidson County
• Edelman v. Lynchburg College

ERISA

• Hughes Aircraft Co. v. Jacobson
• Black & Decker Disability Plan v. Nord
• Bay Area Laundry Pension Fund v. Ferbar Corp.

Healthcare

• Fischer v. United States
• PhRMA v. Walsh
• Your Home Visiting Nurse Servs., Inc. v. Shalala
• Regions Hospital v. Shalala

National Security

• Tenet v. Doe
• Clinton v. Goldsmith

Preemption

• Bates v. Dow Agrosciences LLC
• United States v. Oakland Cannabis Buyers' Cooperative