Martin V. Totaro

Martin Totaro focuses his practice on all aspects of appellate litigation in the federal courts of appeals and the U.S. Supreme Court. He also assists clients with motions practice and issue analysis at the trial level.  He has represented corporations in various industries, business associations, individual criminal defendants, and veterans.

• Major energy corporation in merits-stage briefing in the U.S. Supreme Court in a case involving the requirements for class certification in a securities fraud suit
• Group of leading corporations in amicus briefs in the U.S. Supreme Court at the certiorari- and merits-stage in a case involving the standard for class certification pursuant to Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 23(a)
• Group of 14 public pension funds and an association of over 120 pension funds in an amicus brief in the D.C. Circuit in a case involving SEC proxy access rules
• Instrumentality of a foreign government in certiorari-stage briefing in the U.S. Supreme Court in a case involving the scope of the Terrorism Risk Insurance Act of 2002
• Individual criminal defendant in district court litigation involving alleged violations of the Federal Election Campaigns Act
• Professional association of federal judges in an amicus brief in the U.S. Supreme Court in a case involving the U.S. Constitution’s Compensation Clause
• Major energy corporation in certiorari-stage briefing in the U.S. Supreme Court in a case involving the due-process limits to punitive damages
• Major competitive local exchange carrier in a certiorari-stage briefing in the U.S. Supreme Court in a case involving reciprocal compensation requirements of the 1996 Telecommunications Act
• Criminal defendant at certiorari stage in the U.S. Supreme Court in a case involving a pharmaceutical distribution and money laundering conviction
• Civic, community, and civil-rights groups and victims of gun violence as well as their families in an amicus brief in the U.S. Supreme Court in a case involving the proper interpretation of the Second Amendment
• National bar association in an amicus brief in the U.S. Supreme Court in a case involving the Fourth Amendment’s privacy protections
• A group of U.S. business organizations in an amicus brief in the U.S. Supreme Court in a case involving the scope of corporate liability under the Alien Tort Statute
• Fortune 500 food service management corporation in qui tam litigation in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit and federal district court
• Major beverage corporation in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit in a case involving federal preemption of plaintiff's state-tort suit
• Fortune 500 media corporation in federal securities fraud and breach of contract litigation in federal district court
• Foreign telecommunications corporation seeking to confirm an arbitration award in federal district court
• Vietnam veteran in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit in a case involving denial of veteran’s benefits; in the Federal Circuit as amicus in a case raising the same legal issue (briefed and argued); and in the U.S. Supreme Court as counsel of record, filing an amicus brief on his behalf