Lucas Walker is an experienced appellate litigator who has argued—and won—cases at every level of the federal judiciary, from district court to the Supreme Court of the United States. He is known for his crisp writing style and creative approach to difficult problems. Clients and other law firms regularly turn to him when confronting novel and challenging legal issues.
Walker’s practice focuses on Supreme Court and appellate litigation. He recently argued Abitron Austria GmbH v. Hetronic International, Inc. before the U.S. Supreme Court. In a decisive victory for his clients, the Court held that U.S. trademark law does not apply extraterritorially, rejecting a $90 million damages award that rested almost entirely on his clients’ sales in foreign countries. Abitron has been recognized as a landmark extraterritoriality decision with broad implications for transnational litigation.
Walker has also briefed numerous other cases in the Supreme Court, at both the certiorari and merits stages, and for both parties and amici. He has argued before six U.S. Courts of Appeals and briefed cases in four others. He has also litigated and argued critical motions in district courts.
He has particular experience before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit. There he has litigated such diverse issues as standing to sue for patent infringement, the Biologic Price Competition and Innovation Act, preclusion, personal jurisdiction, and federal civil-service law, as well as traditional patent-law issues like infringement, validity, and damages. In that court, he has defended nine-figure infringement judgments, defeated efforts to take life-saving cancer drugs off the market, and even won a pay raise for every federal judge in America.
Lawdragon Honors
| Honor | Year | Practice |
|---|---|---|
| The 2027 Lawdragon 500 Leading Litigators in America | 2027 | Appellate, inc. Supreme Court |
| The 2024 Lawdragon 500 X – The Next Generation | 2024 | Appellate |
| Lawdragon 500 X – The Next Generation | 2023 | Appellate |
| Lawdragon 500 Leading Litigators in America | 2022 | Appellate |
Representative Matters
Argued Matters
- Briefed and argued merits case before the U.S. Supreme Court in suit involving whether the Lanham Act applies to foreign companies’ use of trademarks outside the United States. Abitron Austria GmbH v. Hetronic International, Inc., 600 U.S. 412 (2023).
- Briefed and argued senior civil servant’s appeals before the D.C. Circuit and Federal Circuit in cases involving due process protections for federal employees
- Briefed and argued on behalf of regional transmission organization in Fourth Circuit case involving removal and preemption of claims challenging rates for wholesale electricity services under RTO’s federal tariff
- Briefed and argued habeas petitioner’s appeal before the Seventh Circuit in case involving the admissibility of statements under the Confrontation and Due Process Clauses
- Briefed and argued individual defendant’s motion to dismiss False Claims Act and Anti‐Kickback Act claims before the Eastern District of Washington
Other Representative Matters
- Represented consumer class action representative before the U.S. Supreme Court in case involving constitutional standing to sue for conflicted real‐estate settlement services
- Represented technology company before the Federal Circuit in case involving $500 million patent infringement verdict
- Represented technology company before the Federal Circuit in case challenging the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office’s interpretation of the reissue patent statute
- Represented foreign bank before the Ninth Circuit in case involving attachment of assets under the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act and Terrorism Risk Insurance Act
- Represented criminal defendant before the Eleventh Circuit in case involving federal healthcare fraud statute; prepared critical motions and jury instructions for district court proceedings
- Represented criminal defendant before the Fourth Circuit in case involving the constitutionality of the federal ban on corporate campaign contributions
- Represented Speaker of New York State Assembly before the Southern District of New York in case involving federal corruption charges
Select Amicus Representations
- Represented Federal Judges Association as amicus curiae in challenge to denial of judicial salary adjustments; our brief advanced a statutory basis for relief that was adopted by the en banc Federal Circuit and resulted in a pay increase for all federal judges
- Represented patent owner as amicus before the en banc Federal Circuit in case involving reviewability of Patent and Trademark Office’s compliance with statutory limits on inter partes review of patents
- Represented criminal defense attorneys association as amicus before the Eleventh Circuit in case involving joint trials of attorneys and clients