William M.
Jay

A partner in the Litigation Department and head of the Supreme Court & Appellate Practice, William “Willy” Jay is one of the nation’s leading appellate advocates. A former Supreme Court clerk and Assistant to the Solicitor General, Willy has delivered more than 100 oral arguments before the U.S. Supreme Court and federal and state courts of appeals, and has authored over 400 briefs across federal and state appellate courts. Willy has handled cases in every federal court of appeals. In addition to his work in appellate courts, he is regularly retained before trial to handle critical motions and steer strategy for eventual appeal.

Willy has extensive Supreme Court credentials. He has argued 19 cases before the U.S. Supreme Court, briefed more than 65 Supreme Court cases on the merits and briefed more than 150 cases at the certiorari stage. Willy also regularly counsels clients on appellate strategy at the trial level, preparing and arguing key motions and handling post-trial briefing before district courts and federal and state administrative agencies.

Willy has extensive experience in appellate cases involving intellectual property, including patent, licensing, copyright and trademark law; financial services, class actions and mass torts, administrative law, antitrust, securities litigation, and constitutional challenges to state law. He is also a prominent advocate at the Federal Circuit.

Willy’s representations include:

Supreme Court

• Patent law: Representing Teva Pharmaceuticals, Willy persuaded the Supreme Court to grant certiorari and then to overturn decades of Federal Circuit precedent on patent claim construction. The Court vacated a decision that had invalidated patent protection for Teva’s blockbuster multiple sclerosis drug, Copaxone® 20mg. Teva Pharmaceuticals USA, Inc. Sandoz, Inc. (2015). Willy also won a 9-0 victory for a patent defendant in a case of first impression construing patent validity under the 2011 America Invents Act. The Court unanimously agreed with Willy’s argument that an invention is “on sale” if sold or offered for sale, regardless of whether the sale made the invention publicly available. Helsinn Healthcare S.A. v. Teva Pharmaceuticals USA, Inc. (2019).  More recently, on behalf of a patent owner in the medical device industry, Willy helped persuade the Supreme Court to retain the doctrine of “assignor estoppel,” which ruled out a challenge to the company’s patents by a person who had applied for and then sold the patents in the first place.  Minerva Surgical, Inc. v. Hologic, Inc. (2021).
• Copyright law: Willy won a 6-2 victory on behalf of a copyright owner, an athletic apparel company, in a Supreme Court case addressing when artistic design features qualify for copyright protection. Star Athletica, L.L.C. Varsity Brands, Inc. (2017).
• Trademark law: B&B Hardware, Inc. Willy persuaded the Supreme Court to grant review and hold, by a 7-2 vote, that a Trademark Trial and Appeal Board decision on likelihood of confusion can bind a federal district court. The decision overturned an adverse trial decision for Willy’s client, the trademark owner. B&B Hardware, Inc. Hargis Industries, Inc. (2015).
• Financial services: Willy represented major lending institutions on a successful petition persuading the Supreme Court to grant certiorari and resolve questions about the scope of the Fair Housing Act in a case seeking hundreds of millions of dollars in damages. The Court agreed with Willy’s argument on the merits and set aside an appellate decision applying a relaxed causation standard.
• Environmental law: In a decades-old conservation case involving interpretation of several 150-year-old treaties, Willy represented a group of Indian tribes and successfully persuaded the Supreme Court to affirm an injunction.
• Government employee liability: The Supreme Court unanimously reversed an appellate decision against Willy’s clients (federal corrections officials) and held that they could not be sued without statutory authorization for the cause of action.

Federal Courts of Appeals

• The Boeing Company and co-defendant Southwest Airlines in obtaining a complete victory in the Fifth Circuit. Willy argued the appeal for Boeing. The court reversed district court certification of four nationwide classes in a RICO class action and ordered dismissal of the case.
• A large defense contractor in a First Circuit victory sustaining federal jurisdiction over environmental tort claims that were related to the contractor’s government work. The appeals court reversed a decision that had sent the case back to state court.
• A major public company in an en banc Third Circuit victory in a shareholder derivative action. The court unanimously held that knowledge of deficiencies in a compliance system does not amount to knowledge of actual violations, rejecting claims of breach of fiduciary duty.
• National financial institutions in persuading the Seventh Circuit to affirm summary judgment in a major Fair Housing Act lawsuit brought by one of the country’s largest local governments. The court held that the plaintiff could not establish proximate cause.
• A Swiss pharmaceutical company in a precedent-setting Fourth Circuit decision concerning international discovery under 28 U.S.C. § 1782, in which the court adopted a new standard for when a foreign company can be “found in” the United States and subjected to discovery.
• Four nationwide mortgage lenders in persuading the Ninth Circuit to dismiss a False Claims Act lawsuit demanding a multibillion-dollar recovery.
• Gillette in a Third Circuit appeal defending its right to bring patent infringement claims in court rather than in arbitration.
• A financial services client in defeating, in the Eleventh Circuit, an attempt by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau to relitigate claims barred by a nationwide settlement.
• Life sciences companies in winning dismissal of securities class actions in both the Second and Eleventh circuits.
• Pharmaceutical companies in litigation challenging the FDA’s approval of new drug products, in both federal district courts and in the D.C. Circuit.
• A major financial institution in successfully defending a complete defense victory at trial in a certified class action under the Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act in the Fourth Circuit. Willy co-authored the successful briefs and argued the appeal.

Intellectual Property Appeals

• A biotech company and government contractor in challenging a district court decision about patent liability for products produced for the federal government.
• A medical-device company in persuading the Federal Circuit to reverse a district court decision invalidating as indefinite all 40 asserted patent claims.
• An agricultural biotech company in winning Federal Circuit reversal of a jury’s adverse verdict on patent ownership and obtaining a new remedy proceeding.
• A pharmaceutical company in winning reversal of a $40 million jury verdict of patent infringement.
• A petroleum industry client in winning Federal Circuit reversal of an adverse bench-trial decision regarding the on-sale bar and vacatur of an enhanced damages award.
• A pharmaceutical company in defeating an obviousness challenge to a patent that subsequently produced a major jury award against a competitor.
• A pharmaceutical company as lead appellate counsel challenging a nine-figure jury infringement award at the Federal Circuit.
• Multiple clients in obtaining precedent-setting decisions from the Federal Circuit on infringement, obviousness, written description, enablement, subject-matter eligibility, and venue, spanning industries including medical technology, medical devices and diagnostics, robotics, aerospace, consumer electronics, semiconductors, telecommunications, pharmaceuticals, biologics/biosimilars and software.

Awards & Recognitions

Named national “Appellate Litigator of the Year” by Benchmark Litigation in 2020, Willy has been widely recognized for his appellate advocacy over the years. He is listed in the “Hall of Fame” for The Legal 500’s Appellate category (2021-2026) and ranked by Chambers USA in Band 1 for Appellate Law (2015-2026) and Intellectual Property: Appellate (2023-2026), one of only four attorneys to receive a Band 1 recognition in both practices this year. Willy is frequently recognized for his work at the intersection of appellate and intellectual property law, appearing on Managing IP’s list of IP Stars and IAM Patent 1000’s list of top Federal Circuit appellate practitioners. Willy is also president-elect of the Edward Coke Appellate Inn of Court and a Fellow of the American Academy of Appellate Lawyers.

Willy is a frequent writer and speaker on the topic of appellate litigation, particularly where the practice touches on intellectual property and pharmaceuticals. From 2019 to 2024, Willy served as a co-author of Thomson Reuters’ Guide to Biosimilars Litigation and Regulation in the U.S. At law school, he served as executive editor of The Harvard Law Review.