Daryl Joseffer
is the head of King & Spalding’s national appellate practice. Chambers (2012 and 2013) reported that Mr. Joseffer “impresses with his ‘great instincts’ and his ‘strong ability in oral arguments.’” According to Chambers, “[s]ources appreciate that his advice is ‘insightful, powerful and pragmatic,’ and highlight his understanding of ‘practical effects of broad appellate rules, and how they affect the business.’” “‘When he is ‘on stage’ in court he is simply amazing, he is very persuasive, smooth and comfortable,’ clients enthuse.”
Mr. Joseffer has argued 12 cases and handled well over 100 matters in the Supreme Court. The “‘cream of the crop’ of a younger generation of Supreme Court practitioners,” according to Legal 500 (2013), Mr. Joseffer’s successful Supreme Court litigation record includes major patent, pharmaceutical, employment discrimination, and environmental cases. Most recently, he successfully argued an important employment discrimination case, University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center v. Nassar, concerning the treatment of mixed-motive claims under the federal anti-discrimination laws.
Mr. Joseffer has also handled a wide variety of appeals in every United States Court of Appeals. He devotes a significant amount of his time to patent appeals in the Federal Circuit and the Supreme Court, prompting Legal 500 (2013) to call him a “patents guru.” The 14 patent appeals he has argued in the Federal Circuit include McKesson v. Epic, in which the Federal Circuit granted rehearing en banc and overruled its recent precedents concerning liability for multiple entities’ combined actions.
Mr. Joseffer joined King & Spalding in 2009 after serving as the Principal Deputy Solicitor General and, previously, an Assistant to the Solicitor General. Before joining the Office of the Solicitor General, Mr. Joseffer was Deputy General Counsel of the White House Office of Management and Budget, a partner at Kirkland & Ellis, and a law clerk to Judge Jerry E. Smith of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit. He graduated from Harvard Law School (magna cum laude) and Stanford University.
