Former DOJ Office of Legal Counsel Leader Jonathan Cedarbaum Rejoins WilmerHale
“Jonathan is an outstanding lawyer who is tremendously well-respected by his partners and colleagues,” said Howard M. Shapiro, chair of WilmerHale’s Litigation/Controversy Department. “We look forward to offering our clients the benefits of Jonathan’s recent government experience, and we are very glad to have him back at WilmerHale.”
Mr. Cedarbaum left WilmerHale in 2009 to serve as a Deputy Assistant Attorney General at OLC and ultimately served as the Acting Assistant Attorney General heading OLC, an office of 23 attorneys that provides authoritative legal advice to the White House, the Attorney General, and all Executive Branch departments and agencies. Among many other assignments at 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 senior leadership of the Justice Department 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 cyber-security and data privacy, economic sanctions, patent reform, procurement reform, and energy development.
“I am very happy that Jonathan is returning to the firm,” said WilmerHale Partner David Ogden, who served as Deputy Attorney General of the United States during Mr. Cedarbaum's tenure at OLC. “At OLC, he provided critical guidance on many of the most challenging and important legal issues facing the government, and will bring new dimensions to the services the firm can provide its clients.”
Mr. Cedarbaum has a successful track record litigating IP, antitrust, False Claims Act (FCA), Federal Arbitration Act and international cases. He has represented numerous clients on IP matters—with a particular emphasis on IP antitrust—at the US Patent and Trademark Office, in US district courts, and in the Federal Circuit. His work in this space concentrated on the consumer electronics and medical device industries.
Mr. Cedarbaum will also work within WilmerHale’s Appellate & Supreme Court Litigation and Defense, National Security & Government Contracts Practices. His defense and national security practice is bolstered by his time in the government, where he worked on a wide array of sensitive national security matters. He also has particular experience representing clients before the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS).
“I am thrilled to be returning home to work with colleagues I greatly respect,” said Mr. Cedarbaum. “I particularly look forward to taking part in the extraordinary array of litigation matters at which WilmerHale excels.”
Mr. Cedarbaum graduated magna cum laude from Harvard University, studied history and economics at Oxford University, and received a master’s degree in history from Yale University. He received his JD from Yale Law School, where he was editor-in-chief of The Yale Law Journal and a Mary McCarthy Public Interest Law Fellow. Mr. Cedarbaum clerked for US Supreme Court Associate Justice David H. Souter and US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit Judge David S. Tatel. Mr. Cedarbaum was also a Bristow Fellow in the US Department of Justice Office of the Solicitor General. In addition, he spent a year in The Hague as an associate legal officer for the President of the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia. Earlier in his career, he served as a legislative assistant to a member of Congress.
Mr. Cedarbaum currently serves as co-chair of the DC Bar’s Administrative Law Section and as chair of the regulatory policy committee of the American Bar Association’s Section on Administrative Law and Regulatory Practice. He is admitted to the bar in Maryland and the District of Columbia.