People

Jonathan G. Cedarbaum

Partner

Cedarbaum, Jonathan G.

Jonathan Cedarbaum is a partner in the firm's Litigation/Controversy Department, where he is a member of the Government and Regulatory, Appellate and Supreme Court, and Intellectual Property Litigation Practice Groups. He is also a member of the Defense, National Security and Government Contracts Practice Group, the Strategic Response and Counseling Group, and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau Working Group. He rejoined the firm in 2011 after two years in the leadership of the Justice Department's Office of Legal Counsel, where he ultimately served as Acting Assistant Attorney General in charge of the Office, which provides authoritative legal advice to the White House, the Attorney General, and all executive branch departments and agencies.

Practice

During his time at the OLC, Mr. Cedarbaum was deeply involved in the development and early implementation of the Dodd-Frank and Affordable Care Acts. As a member of the Justice Department’s senior leadership and as a legal counselor to senior officials across the government, he was also involved in numerous other statutory and regulatory initiatives, including in the areas of cybersecurity and data privacy, economic sanctions, patent reform, procurement reform and energy development.

Mr. Cedarbaum has a diverse litigation practice, focusing especially on False Claims Act, Administrative Procedure Act, IP/antitrust and international cases. He also counsels clients on regulatory matters and represents them before administrative agencies and congressional committees—particularly in the areas of data security and privacy, health care and financial services.

Before re-joining WilmerHale in 2009, Mr. Cedarbaum had done two additional stints at the Justice Department: two-and-a-half years as an Attorney-Advisor in the Office of Legal Counsel and a year as a Bristow Fellow in the Office of the Solicitor General. Mr. Cedarbaum has also served as Deputy Chief of Staff to the President of the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia. Earlier in his career, he worked as a legislative assistant for a Member of Congress.

Publications & News

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May 13, 2013

GSA-Joint Cybersecurity Working Group Issues Request for Information on Cybersecurity Standards in Government Contracts

Today, in response to a directive in President Obama’s February Executive Order on Critical Infrastructure Cybersecurity, the Joint Working Group on Improving Cybersecurity and Resilience through Acquisition (“Joint Working Group”), headed by the General Services Administration, published a Request for Information (“RFI”) to be used in its report to the President making recommendations on the possibility of incorporating cybersecurity standards into federal acquisition planning and contract administration, and, to the extent applicable, the foundation for establishing or identifying government-wide cybersecurity contracts.

May 6, 2013

WilmerHale FCA Members Publish Two-Part Article Series in Financial Fraud Law Report

April 22, 2013

Bloomberg BNA's Privacy and Security Law Report Publishes Article by WilmerHale Attorneys

"Implementation of the Cybersecurity Executive Order and Presidential Policy Directive: Timetable and Processes," an article by Partner Jonathan Cedarbaum and Associate Leah Schloss, was published in the April 22, 2013 edition of Bloomberg BNA's Privacy and Security Law Report.

April 1, 2013

False Claims Act: 2012 Year-in-Review – Part II

An article by Jennifer M. O’Connor, Christopher E. Babbitt, David W. Ogden and Jonathan G. Cedarbaum, published in the April 2013 edition of Financial Fraud Law Report.

March 22, 2013

Georgetown University Law Center and WilmerHale Co-Host Intellectual Property Conference

Georgetown University Law Center and WilmerHale came together for the third time to host a conference focused on current intellectual property issues and trends.

March 22, 2013

Fourth Circuit Expands FCA Limitations Period

In United States ex rel. Carter v. Halliburton, a divided panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit expanded the scope of potential False Claims Act (FCA) liability for government contractors by holding that the Wartime Suspension of Limitations Act (WSLA) suspends the six-year statute of limitations in qui tam FCA cases even when the government has not intervened.

March 1, 2013

False Claims Act: 2012 Year-in-Review – Part 1

An article by Jennifer M. O’Connor, Robin L. Baker, Christopher E. Babbitt, David W. Ogden, and Jonathan G. Cedarbaum, published in the March 2013 edition of Financial Fraud Law Report.

February 13, 2013

President Obama Issues Cybersecurity Executive Order

February 4, 2013

FTC Issues Mobile Privacy Disclosures Report

January 30, 2013

Senator Rockefeller Touts Fortune 500 Support for Federal Cybersecurity Efforts

Recent Highlights

Litigation

  • Representing a major financial institution in a series of False Claims Act cases in federal and state courts
  • Filing two amicus briefs in Kiobel v. Royal Dutch Petroleum et al., the Supreme Court case concerning applicability of the Alien Tort Statute to corporations and to conduct outside the United States, on behalf of the National Foreign Trade Council, the National Association of Manufacturers, the American Petroleum Institute, and a dozen other major US and European business associations
  • Playing a leading role in a False Claims Act case concerning bid-rigging on USAID construction contracts, which involved a seven-week jury trial that resulted in a complete victory for the firm’s client
  • Briefing and arguing an appeal in the Federal Circuit raising the question whether Congress can constitutionally strip the federal courts of jurisdiction over pending takings claims
  • Defending Philips Electronics, the Dutch technology company, in a series of patent and antitrust challenges to the pool licensing of patents for basic CD, DVD and MP3 technologies in the International Trade Commission, the District Courts, and the Courts of Appeals
  • Filing an amicus brief for the International Franchise Association in FTC v. Wyndham Worldwide Corp. et al. (D. Ariz.), the leading case testing the FTC’s authority under Section 5 of the FTC Act to regulate data-security practices

Regulatory Counseling, Investigations and Administrative Proceedings
 
Data Security/Privacy

  • Counseling a major financial institution on legal issues raised by monitoring network traffic and taking countermeasures to cyber attacks
  • Advising a major high-tech company on application of Section 215 of the USA PATRIOT Act to data centers abroad
  • Counseling a major cloud computing company on government contracting issues, including FedRAMP and FISMA
  • Assisting financial, industrial, and high-tech companies in responding to congressional inquiries about data security practices
  • Advising major high-tech companies on the development of federal cybersecurity legislation and the recent critical infrastructure cybersecurity executive order
  • Assisting a university-business consortium in identifying and applying for federal funding for cybersecurity R&D

Health Care

  • Advising a university medical center about its EMTALA obligations
  • Analyzing for a major pharmaceutical company the likely effect of federal budget sequestration on Medicare reimbursement policies
  • Filing a comment with CMS on behalf of a major medical center opposing an application for a waiver from the rules governing allocation of organs for transplants
  • Advising a major pharmaceutical company about a possible constitutional challenge to retrospective application of the Biologics Price Competition and Innovation Act
  • Counseling a hospital system on the prospects for and likely effects of Medicaid expansion in its state

Financial Services

  • Advising a financial trade association about a possible legal challenge to a Dodd-Frank rulemaking
  • Assessing a possible preemption challenge to a state law regulating mortgage servicing for a major national bank
  • Advising a variety of financial clients on the limits of the CFPB’s authorities and the constitutional challenges to the CFPB Director’s appointment
  • Advising a group of hedge funds concerning the restructuring of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac

Professional Activities

District of Columbia Bar Association

  • Administrative Law Section: Co-Chair, 2011-2012; Steering Committee Member, 2007-present.
  • Litigation Section: Steering Committee Member, 2010-present.
  • International Law Section: Chair, 2007-2008; Steering Committee Member, 2005-2011; Vice Chair, Intellectual Property Committee, 2011-present.
  • Board on Professional Responsibility: Alternate Hearing Committee Member, 2007-present.

American Bar Association

  • Administrative Law Section: Chair, Committee on Regulatory Policy
  • International Law Section

Practices

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Education

JD, Yale Law School, 1996, Editor in Chief, Yale Law Journal

MPhil, Yale University, 1990

AB, magna cum laude, Harvard University, 1983, Phi Beta Kappa

Bar Admissions

District of Columbia

Maryland

Languages

French

Clerkships

The Hon. David S. Tatel, US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, 1996 - 1997

The Hon. David H. Souter, US Supreme Court, 1998 - 1999