Jaime Santos > Goodwin > Washington DC, United States > Lawyer Profile

Goodwin
901 NEW YORK AVENUE, NW
WASHINGTON DC 20001
DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA
United States
Jaime Santos photo

Position

Partner

Career

Jaime A. Santos is a partner in Goodwin’s Appellate and Supreme Court Litigation practice and is a member of the firm’s ERISA Litigation and Life Sciences Disputes groups. Her work in appellate litigation, ERISA litigation, and DEI issues have led to her being recognized as a D.C. Rising Star by the National Law Journal, a Rising Star by Law360, and a Top 250 Women in Litigation by Benchmark Litigation. She has also received Corporate Counsel’s Women, Influence & Power in Law Award and DCA Live’s Emerging Women Leader Award. Jaime’s work focuses on appellate matters and complex civil litigation in federal courts, including ERISA litigation, patent litigation, constitutional law, and product litigation. She has argued before six of the thirteen federal appellate courts, as well as in state and federal trial courts, and she has authored or co-authored dozens of briefs filed in the Supreme Court at the cert or merits stages. Jaime also regularly speaks publicly about matters affecting the Supreme Court, as well as diversity and bias within the legal profession; she previously co-hosted the Supreme Court podcast Strict Scrutiny and has been a guest on numerous podcasts and programs, including NPR’s All Things Considered, the National Constitution Center’s podcast We the People, and Bloomberg’s podcast Cases and Controversies. Jaime has served on the Executive Committee of the Edward Coke Appellate Inn of Court (the first American Inn of Court dedicated to appellate practice), on the MacArthur Justice Center Supreme Court & Appellate Advisory Board, on the National Women’s Law Center’s Leadership Advisory Council, and as an appellate mentor for The Appellate Project—an organization committed to empowering law students of color to thrive in the appellate field. She is also a member of Law360’s Appellate Editorial Advisory Board.

Jaime maintains an active pro bono practice and was the 2023 winner of Robert B. Fraser Award, which Goodwin presents annually to one partner who has provided significant service to pro bono clients. She has been counsel of record in numerous criminal, immigration, and civil rights appeals in the Supreme Court and federal appellate courts. Jaime has received awards for her commitment to pro bono civil rights work from the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights and from Goodwin.

In addition to her pro bono practice, Jaime has been a thought leader in preventing and addressing bias and harassment in the legal profession. She speaks at conferences across the country, has testified before the Senate Judiciary Committee and Judicial Conference of the United States, and has published several articles on the topic. Since January 2018, she has advised numerous state and federal courts on improving the policies and processes governing inappropriate conduct in the workplace.

Before joining Goodwin in 2013, Jaime served as a law clerk to the Honorable George H. King of the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California, and to the Honorable Raymond C. Fisher of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. In law school, she was a supervising editor for the Harvard Law Review.

Education

JD, Harvard Law School (magna cum laude) 2011 / BA, University of San Diego 2005 (summa cum laude)

Lawyer Rankings

United States > Labor and employment > ERISA litigation

As ‘one of the premier law firms in the retirement plan litigation space’, Goodwin frequently defends financial services companies facing class actions and allegations of plan investments fiduciary breaches, leveraging its sector expertise in financial services and its geographic diversity across Boston, Washington DC, and New York. The practice has had notable victories including for John Hancock Life Insurance in a putative class action relating to tax treatment and breaches of fiduciary duties. Leading this case was James Fleckner who co-heads the practice along with Alison Douglass in Boston. Douglass focuses her practice on ERISA class actions, derivative actions and has successfully defended several significant plan sponsors, asset managers and other financial services providers in litigation, particularly claims involving 401(k) plan recordkeeping. Fleckner also concentrates on financial service providers and plan sponsors in class actions focusing on fiduciary breaches and the discharge of obligations, as well as regulatory investigations before the DOL, SEC, DOJ and PBGC. Jaime Santos, based in DC, is another key name to note for her ERISA appellate work.

United States > Dispute resolution > Appellate: courts of appeals / Appellate: supreme courts (states and federal)

Lawyers in Goodwin’s practice demonstrate ‘deep and insightful strategic thinking‘, according to clients. A popular choice to represent life sciences and technology clients in appellate work, in line with the wider firm’s signature strengths, the group also had strong recent showings in financial services, class actions and social justice-related appeals. In Washington DC, seasoned group co-chair William Jay is widely lauded for his top-level experience, which includes arguing 17 cases before SCOTUS. Jay is currently representing Novartis in appellate matters related to ongoing European patent litigation between it and Eli Lilly. Also in Washington DC, next-generation partner Brian Burgess is singled out as an ‘outstanding writer and oral advocate‘, while Jaime Santos is noted for her record in ERISA, patent, and constitutional law-related litigation. In Boston, key contacts include department co-chair Kevin Martin, highly active associate Gerard Cedrone, and David Zimmer, who has a focus on IP, administrative law, and consumer finance-related matters.