Mr Alan Schoenfeld > WilmerHale > New York, United States > Lawyer Profile
WilmerHale Offices
7 WORLD TRADE CENTER
250 GREENWICH STREET
NEW YORK, NY 10007
NEW YORK
United States
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Mr Alan Schoenfeld
Position
Partner
Career
Alan Schoenfeld has experience representing clients in a wide variety of civil matters before state and federal courts, at both the trial and appellate levels. His practice has focused on commercial disputes and defense of complex class actions, with a particular focus on financial institutions. He has represented a diverse group of clients in cases involving securities, antitrust, bankruptcy, RICO, FCRA, EFTA, FDCPA, UDAP, contract and tort claims, among others.
Mr. Schoenfeld also has extensive experience with appellate litigation in United States Courts of Appeals and the Supreme Court of the United States. He has been involved in briefing and oral argument for matters involving a wide range of issues of both federal and state law, including federal Indian law, intellectual property, antitrust, banking law, contract law, and criminal law and procedure. Mr. Schoenfeld has represented clients before the United States Courts of Appeals for the First, Second, Sixth, Ninth, Eleventh and Federal Circuits, and has presented oral arguments in the Second and Ninth Circuits.
Prior to joining the firm, Mr. Schoenfeld completed clerkships with the Honorable Sonia Sotomayor of the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, and the Honorable Denise Cote of the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York. He was a summer associate at WilmerHale in 2005 and 2006.
Community Involvement
Mr. Schoenfeld is vice chairman of the board of directors of Let’s Get Ready.
Pro Bono
Mr. Schoenfeld has an extensive pro bono practice, with a particular focus on LGBT, immigration, special education and federal Indian law matters. He has acted as counsel or co-counsel to the ACLU LGBT & HIV Project, Immigration Equality, Planned Parenthood, Advocates for Children of New York, and the National Congress of American Indians in numerous matters.
Mr. Schoenfeld was a member of the WilmerHale team acting as co-counsel to the Commonwealth of Massachusetts in its challenge to the constitutionality of the federal Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA). He is currently representing a transgender inmate incarcerated in Virginia, in her Eighth Amendment challenge to the State’s refusal to provide medically necessary treatment for her gender dysphoria.
Professional Activities
Mr. Schoenfeld is a member of the firm’s Hiring Committee in New York.
Education
- JD, Yale Law School, 2006
- MPhil, University of Cambridge, 2003
- BA, Yale College, 2002
Lawyer Rankings
United States > Dispute resolution > Appellate: courts of appeals / Appellate: supreme courts (states and federal)
(Next Generation Partners)Ranking among the market leaders for high-stakes appellate work, WilmerHale is widely hailed for the depth of its bench and the reputation of its senior partners. Indeed, for some, the ‘experience and expertise of the appellate team at WilmerHale is unmatched’. The national group routinely appears before state and federal courts across the US, right up to Supreme Court level, and is a particularly dominant performer in the Federal Circuit. High-profile department head Seth Waxman is a former US Solicitor General, who has delivered over 80 oral arguments in the US Supreme Court alone. Waxman recently paired up with Daniel Volchok to successfully represent the justices of the Oklahoma Supreme Court, and the members and executive director of the Oklahoma Bar Association Board of Governors, before the Tenth Circuit in a case concerning the association’s mandatory-dues requirement. The team also leans on experienced practice vice chairs Catherine Carroll, who has argued four cases before SCOTUS, and Boston-based Mark Fleming, who has argued before SCOTUS seven times. Other key contacts include IP specialist Thomas Saunders and New York-based Alan Schoenfeld. Named attorneys are based in Washington DC unless stated otherwise. Danielle Spinelli recently retired.
United States > Industry focus > Education
WilmerHale’s higher education-focused team has garnered a solid market reputation as the go-to firm for sensitive high-stakes litigation guiding colleges and universities through governmental investigations, congressional inquiries, and confronting contentious policy issues. The group frequently defends their clients’ intellectual property, handles major transactions and assists in handling accreditation, antitrust, art and antiquities, cybersecurity, free speech, and employee misconduct matters. Based in Washington DC, the group, jointly headed by educational law expert Bruce Berman, who is one of the most experienced attorneys in standardized educational testing, and esteemed litigator Jamie Gorelick, has expertise handling Title IX, Title VI, and other federal anti-discrimination statues for educational institutions. Alan Schoenfeld has extensive appellate litigation expertise and handles complex class actions out of the New York office. Other members of the team, including Seth Waxman and New York-based Debo Adegbile who leads the firm’s anti-discrimination practice alongside Brenda Lee, are acting for Harvard University in a Supreme Court affirmative action case concerning their admissions program. The group also counts advising on financial aid, federal grants, and on issues related to the misuse of research funds among its specialisms. Preet Bharara joined from the US Attorney for the Southern District of New York in June and in September 2022, Lauren Moore joined the group prior to being Associate Counsel for The White House.
Lawyer Rankings
- Education United States > Industry focus
- Next Generation Partners United States > Dispute resolution > Appellate: courts of appeals / Appellate: supreme courts (states and federal)
- Appellate: courts of appeals / Appellate: supreme courts (states and federal) United States > Dispute resolution
Top Tier Firm Rankings
- Finance > Financial services regulation
- Antitrust > Cartel
- International Trade > CFIUS
- Antitrust > Civil litigation/class actions: defense
- Industry focus > Education
- Industry focus > Native American law
- Intellectual property > Patents: litigation (full coverage)
Firm Rankings
- Media, technology and telecoms > Cyber law (including data privacy and data protection)
- Dispute resolution > General commercial disputes
- M&A/corporate and commercial > M&A: middle-market ($500m-999m)
- Media, technology and telecoms > Outsourcing
- Dispute resolution > Securities litigation: defense
- Government > State attorneys general
- Media, technology and telecoms > Technology transactions
- M&A/corporate and commercial > Venture capital and emerging companies
- Finance > Capital markets: equity offerings
- M&A/corporate and commercial > Corporate governance
- Government > Government contracts
- Dispute resolution > International arbitration
- Healthcare > Life sciences
- International Trade > Trade remedies and trade policy
- Finance > Capital markets: debt offerings
- International Trade > Customs, export controls and economic sanctions
- Labor and employment > Employee benefits, executive compensation and retirement plans: transactional
- Environment > Environment: regulatory
- Dispute resolution > Financial services litigation
- Finance > Fintech
- Government > Government relations
- Antitrust > Merger control
- Tax > US taxes: non-contentious
- Finance > Commercial lending
- Dispute resolution > Leading trial lawyers
- Real estate > Real estate
- Finance > Restructuring (including bankruptcy): corporate
- Dispute resolution > Appellate: courts of appeals / Appellate: supreme courts (states and federal)
- Dispute resolution > Corporate investigations and white-collar criminal defense
- Environment > Environment: litigation