• Daniel N. Lerman represents companies, organizations and individuals in complex civil and commercial litigation from the trial stage through appeals, including before the U.S. Supreme Court. Dan litigates matters involving a host of issues and disputes, including questions of constitutional law; claims in corporate bankruptcy and reorganization; patent disputes, in particular in the pharmaceutical industry; copyright infringement and other intellectual property claims; False Claims Act allegations in the health care industry; consumer protection litigation including Fair Debt Collection Practices Act, commercial speech, and false statements claims; securities fraud, class actions and derivative suits; and litigation involving administrative and criminal law. Dan also defends companies and individuals in government investigations and enforcement actions, including before the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) and the Health and Human Services (HHS) Office of the Inspector General (OIG).

    Dan’s Supreme Court advocacy includes representing parties in petitions for certiorari, at the merits stage and in amicus briefs. Among his most notable work, Dan briefed and argued a federal preemption case in which the Court unanimously held that requirements imposed by the Port of Los Angeles on drayage trucks were preempted by the Federal Aviation Administration Authorization Act. He has also briefed a wide range of issues in amicus briefs, including unconditional guilty pleas, patent exhaustion and invalidity, the tax provisions of the Affordable Care Act, the scope of fee recovery under the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act, and the extent of personal jurisdiction over foreign corporate defendants. 

    Dan returns to private practice after serving nearly six years with the appellate section of the Criminal Division of the U.S. DOJ, where he briefed and argued criminal appeals in federal courts of appeals across the country and drafted briefs for the Solicitor General’s Office in Supreme Court cases. His appeals involved a variety of alleged offenses, including wire fraud, commodities fraud, health care fraud, price manipulation, conspiracy, extortion and murder. Dan also advised on complex appellate issues related to the prosecutions of participants in the January 6 attack at the U.S. Capitol, among other matters. He previously practiced with a leading Washington, D.C.-based boutique litigation firm.

    Experience

    • Briefed and presented oral argument to the U.S. Supreme Court in American Trucking Associations, Inc. v. City of Los Angeles, 133 S. Ct. 2096 (2013), in which the Court unanimously held that requirements imposed by the Port of Los Angeles on drayage trucks were preempted by the Federal Aviation Administration Authorization Act.

    • Represented Aurelius Capital in a complex bondholder dispute arising from exchange offers and consent solicitations launched by telecommunications carrier Windstream Services, in which Aurelius alleged that Windstream had defaulted under its bond indenture, securing a victory on every issue and an award of more than $300 million in damages after a bench trial.

    • Defended a Fortune 500 hospital company against a $900 million securities class action and derivative shareholder action premised on alleged violations of the False Claims Act, securing dismissal on a motion to dismiss.

    • Represented a health care executive in sentencing proceedings after his conviction and on appeal.

    • Drafted the petition for certiorari and merits briefs in Armour v. City of Indianapolis, Ind., 556 U.S. 673 (2012), an equal-protection challenge to a municipal taxation scheme.

    • Represented a trade association of advanced energy companies in litigation over the Clean Power Plan, an Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) rulemaking regulating carbon emissions.

    • Defended the state of Vermont's Act 120, which required the labeling of food made with genetic engineering, including drafting a motion to dismiss that resulted in dismissal of several claims and a successful opposition to a motion for a preliminary injunction.

    • Represented creditors asserting fraudulent conveyance claims arising out of the $8 billion leveraged buyout of Tribune Co. in an appeal of a district court decision dismissing their claims before the Second Circuit and U.S. Supreme Court.

    • Represented the estate of a Holocaust survivor seeking compensation for artwork and securities stolen from his family by the Nazis in World War II.

    Credentials

    Education

    • J.D., magna cum laude, Georgetown University Law Center, 2008
      • Dean’s Scholarship
      • Symposium & Development Editor, Georgetown Law Journal
      • Domestic Violence Clinic
    • Ph.D., Genetics and Molecular Biology, Biological Sciences Division, Committee on Evolutionary Biology, The University of Chicago, 2003
      • Howard Hughes Medical Institute Predoctoral Fellowship
    • B.A., magna cum laude, Religious Studies and Biology (with Honors), Brown University, 1996
      • Phi Beta Kappa

    Bar Admissions

    • District of Columbia, 2011
    • Maryland, 2008

    Clerkships

    • Honorable David S. Tatel, U.S.C.A., District of Columbia Circuit, 2009 - 2010
    • Honorable William C. Bryson, U.S.C.A., Federal Circuit, 2008 - 2009

    Court Admissions

    • U.S. Supreme Court
    • U.S.C.A., 1st Circuit
    • U.S.C.A., 2nd Circuit
    • U.S.C.A., 4th Circuit
    • U.S.C.A., 5th Circuit
    • U.S.C.A., 6th Circuit
    • U.S.C.A., 9th Circuit
    • U.S.C.A., 10th Circuit
    • U.S.C.A., 11th Circuit
    • U.S.C.A., District of Columbia Circuit
    • U.S.C.A., Federal Circuit
    • U.S.D.C., District of Columbia

    Professional Affiliations

    • Member, Edward Coke Appellate Inn of Court
    • Moot Court Panelist, Georgetown Supreme Court Institute

    Focus Areas

  • Perspectives

    • Announcements
      May 01, 2024
      Former DOJ Appellate Attorney Daniel Lerman Joins Kramer Levin as Deputy Chair of Supreme Court and Appellate Litigation Practice
      Read More