Bookmark and Share
|
V-Card | Print | PDF | Email

Donald B. Ayer (Don)
Partner

Contact

Washington
(T) +1.202.879.4689
(F) +1.202.626.1700

Education

  • Harvard University (J.D. 1975; Articles Editor, Law Review; M.A. in American History 1973); Stanford University (B.A. in History with great distinction 1971; Phi Beta Kappa; Outstanding senior thesis in history)

Bar Admissions

  • District of Columbia

Clerkships

  • Justice William H. Rehnquist, U.S. Supreme Court (1976 Term); Judge Malcolm R. Wilkey, U.S. Court of Appeals, District of Columbia Circuit (1975 Term)

Government Service

  • Deputy Attorney General, U.S. Department of Justice (1989-1990); Principal Deputy Solicitor General, U.S. Department of Justice (1986-1988); U.S. Attorney, E.D. of California, Sacramento (1981-1986); Assistant U.S. Attorney, N.D. of California, San Francisco (1977-1979)

Don Ayer is the Firm's most experienced Supreme Court lawyer, with 19 arguments before the Court. He has argued more than 60 other appeals. His experience covers subject areas ranging from criminal appeals to business torts to a wide range of constitutional and technical statutory and regulatory issues. He also has been lead counsel in 20 federal court jury trials.

He is immediate past president of the American Academy of Appellate Lawyers and has served as president of the Edward Coke Appellate Inn of Court in Washington, D.C. Don currently teaches a course in Supreme Court Advocacy at Georgetown University Law Center and Duke University Law School. He is listed in Best Lawyers in America (appellate practice), Who's Who in America, Who's Who in the World, Chambers USA (national appellate), Washingtonian magazine's "Top Supreme Court Lawyers in Washington," and Super Lawyers "Top 100 Lawyers" in the D.C. area.

Don previously served as the Deputy Attorney General and Principal Deputy Solicitor General of the United States and as the United States Attorney for the Eastern District of California. He is a member of the ALI, a Fellow of the American Bar Foundation, and serves on the advisory boards of the NYU Institute of Judicial Administration, the Georgetown Law School Supreme Court Institute, the State and Local Legal Center, and the Publications Committee of the Supreme Court Historical Society.


Read More »

Areas of Focus

Honors & Distinctions

  • "Top 100 Washington, D.C. Super Lawyers" (2011, 2010, 2009)

    "Washington's Top Lawyers — Supreme Court," Washingtonian magazine (December 2011, 2010, 2009)

    "Top Lawyers," Corporate Counsel magazine (July 2009)
Donald Ayer Don