Moore_Pat

M. Patrick Moore, Jr.

Moore_Pat

M. Patrick Moore, Jr.

Senior Counsel

Boston + 1 617 526 6175

A member of WilmerHale’s Commercial Litigation Group, Pat Moore focuses his practice on commercial and government-facing litigation, crisis management, appellate advocacy, civil enforcement by state attorneys general, and Congressional oversight matters, with a particular emphasis on higher education, healthcare, life sciences, financial services, and technology. As the former First Assistant Attorney General of Massachusetts and former Associate Counsel at the White House, he offers clients a combination of public-sector leadership, litigation skill and deep knowledge of federal and state government.

Mr. Moore joins WilmerHale from the Massachusetts Attorney General’s Office, where he was the senior-most advisor to Attorney General Andrea Campbell. In that role, he helped oversee the legal and policy work of a 700-employee public law office, managed sensitive investigations and litigation, coordinated with other state attorneys general, and handled an active federal and state caseload at the trial and appellate levels. He played central role in the ballot initiative certification process, which has become a key avenue for lawmaking in the Commonwealth.

While at the Massachusetts Attorney General’s Office, Mr. Moore oversaw or handled directly major litigation for the state, including the affirmative enforcement of the state’s consumer protection, charities, and gaming laws and defense against challenges to state action, including the Commonwealth’s effort to facilitate housing development, regulate firearms, and require transparency in consumer pricing.

Mr. Moore also has extensive experience advising public officials and national campaigns and political organizations, having served as Senior Advisor and Legal Counsel to Harris for President, Deputy General Counsel to Biden for President, General Counsel to the Presidential Inaugural Committee, Associate Counsel in the White House Counsel’s Office, and Deputy Counsel to Massachusetts Governors Deval Patrick and Charlie Baker.

Before joining the Attorney General’s Office, Mr. Moore was a partner in the litigation department of a Boston-based law firm, where he chaired the firm’s government law group and built a litigation, counseling, and public law practice representing clients ranging from Fortune 50 companies to major universities, museums, and nonprofits. He successfully argued numerous appeals before the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court and navigated parallel federal and state cases on preemption and other issues.

Experience

  • Represented senior public officials and government agencies in all levels of federal and Massachusetts state court, on issues ranging from constitutional authority to state contracting policies to initiatives to spur housing development.
  • Represented McLean Hospital in The McLean Hospital Corporation v. Town of Lincoln in Land Court through the Supreme Judicial Court, in a seminal case concerning the siting of residential mental health centers.
  • Argued numerous appeals before the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court and the Massachusetts Appeals Court in matters involving the calculation of contract damages, land use, ballot initiatives, and federal and state constitutional guarantees of free speech and freedom of religion.
  • Represented the University of Massachusetts in various successful challenges to government action that would have placed federal funding at risk.
  • Conceived a state constitutional challenge to state and local taxation of professional athletes and represented all major professional sports players’ associations in litigation that struck down those taxes.
  • Represented multinational technology and financial-software companies in state corporate tax appeals.
  • Advised the leadership of a presidential campaign on election and campaign finance law and led litigation and election law matters in multiple battleground states.
  • Served as Deputy General Counsel to a presidential campaign, advising on campaign finance, election law, litigation and ballot access from the campaign’s launch through inauguration.
  • Served as General Counsel to a Presidential Inaugural Committee, advising on challenges including the COVID-19 pandemic and the permissible use of inaugural resources.
  • Served as Personal Counsel to the President and Vice President of the United States, advising on campaign finance law and the distinction between official and personal or political conduct.
  • Co-lead a bipartisan coalition of dozens of states in litigation against certain prediction market platforms over claimed exemption from state gambling law.
  • Teaches State Constitutional Law at Boston College Law School.

Recognition

  • Named “Lawyer of the Year” in the 2019 edition of Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly. 

Insights & News

View all of M. Patrick's insights & news

Credentials

  • Education

    • JD, Boston College Law School, 2007

      summa cum laude

      Order of the Coif 

      Articles Editor, Boston College Law Review 

    • BA, Political Science, Boston College, 2004

      magna cum laude

  • Admissions

    • Massachusetts

  • Clerkships

    • The Hon. Maryanne Trump Barry, US Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit, 2008 - 2009

    • The Hon. Robert J. Cordy, Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court, 2007 - 2008

Credentials

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