Brian C.Lea

Partner

Atlanta + 1.404.581.8528

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Brian Lea is an appellate lawyer with particular experience in high-stakes products liability cases, business disputes, and constitutional litigation. He has briefed and argued numerous appeals, including in cases involving claims for millions of dollars. Brian also regularly appears as trial counsel. In that capacity he drafts and argues motions dealing with key substantive and procedural issues.

Brian represents or has represented clients such as The DIRECTV Group, Georgia Power Company, Lowe's Home Centers, R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Company, and ORIX USA. He has extensive experience in a wide range of substantive areas and with widely applicable issues of procedure, including class certification, admission of expert testimony, removal, transfer, and post-trial relief.

Brian maintains an active pro bono practice that includes civil rights cases and criminal and post-conviction proceedings. In addition, he has presented on legal writing and developments in federal practice and Supreme Court jurisprudence. Brian also has published articles discussing the federal courts, which have appeared in the Alabama Law Review, the Virginia Law Review, and the William & Mary Bill of Rights Journal.

Experience

  • Lowe's obtains Washington Supreme Court judgment allowing refund of taxes paid on defaulted PLCC credit salesJones Day successfully represented Lowe's Home Centers, LLC in the Washington Supreme Court in obtaining refunds of state sales and business and occupation taxes paid on credit sales to customers who used private label credit cards ("PLCCs") and later defaulted.
  • R.J. Reynolds wins reversal of adverse punitive damages award in Engle progeny lawsuitJones Day represented R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Company in an Engle progeny wrongful death action brought by the estate of deceased smoker Valton Sheffield.
  • Professors seek to enjoin new Georgia law permitting students to carry guns on Georgia's public university campusesOn behalf of a half dozen professors from three Georgia universities, Jones Day filed suit against Georgia's governor and attorney general to enjoin a new Georgia law requiring the university system to permit students to carry guns on the state's public university campuses.
  • Metro Atlanta Chamber weighs in on Georgia gun carry lawJones Day argued on behalf of the Metro Atlanta Chamber that Georgia's 2014 'guns everywhere' law should not be interpreted to strip private businesses leasing public property of the right to exclude guns from their premises.
  • DIRECTV and component manufacturers prevail on summary judgment in patent infringement caseJones Day representing The DIRECTV Group, Inc., as well as numerous manufacturers of components used in DIRECTV's systems, prevailed by obtaining summary judgment rulings holding: (1) that a covenant not to sue between DIRECTV and Global was breached by Global's filing of this lawsuit; and (2) that the component manufacturers did not infringe Global's patents.
  • Georgia Power disputes construction claims related to design of two new nuclear units, Vogtle Units 3 & 4Jones Day represented Georgia Power Company and the other owners of the Vogtle Units 3 & 4 Project in Waynesboro, Georgia in a 3-year litigation concerning more than $1.5 billion in alleged cost overruns relating to the licensing, design and construction of the first new nuclear power projects licensed in the U.S. in over 30 years.
  • Former Atlanta School Superintendent Beverly Hall defends allegations of cheating on standardized testsJones Day represented former Atlanta School Superintendent Beverly Hall in connection with allegations of cheating on standardized tests by school system personnel.
  • Jones Day obtains reversal and remand for civil detainee in Fourth Amendment caseA team from Jones Day Atlanta including Rick Deane, Rob Schmoll, Garrett Bradford and Hillary Keith prevailed in the Eleventh Circuit on behalf of a civil detainee held by the State of Florida pursuant to that state's Jimmy Ryce Act.
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    Additional Publications

    • 2018
      On Judges: A Tribute to Chief Judge Carnes, 69 Ala. L. Rev. 688
    • 2017
      Situational Severability, 103 Va. L. Rev. 735 (cited in Murphy v. Nat'l Collegiate Athletic Ass'n, 138 S. Ct. 1461 (2018) (Thomas, J., concurring), and Texas v. United States, 945 F.3d 355 (5th Cir. 2020))

    Publications Prior to Jones Day

    2015
    The Merits of Third-Party Standing, 24 Wm. & Mary Bill Rts. J. 277

    Speaking Engagements

    • November 11, 2019
      Making Points to Score Points: Tips for Succeeding on Exams, Atlanta, Georgia
    • January 28, 2019
      Supreme Court Roundup, panelist, Jones Day Atlanta CLE Academy, Atlanta, Georgia
    • February 26, 2014
      Supreme Court Roundup, panelist, Jones Day Atlanta CLE Academy

    Speaking Engagements Prior to Jones Day

    March 2016
    2016 Supreme Court Review/Preview, panelist, University of Georgia School of Law Alumni Weekend Athens, Georgia

    January 2015
    The Proposed Revisions to the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, Joseph Henry Lumpkin American Inn of Court
    Atlanta, Georgia
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