Biography
Professional experience
Education
Cases
Biography
Andrew Nichols focuses on appellate proceedings and critical, high-stakes motions at the trial level. As a partner at an Am Law 100 firm, Andrew handled commercial and constitutional litigation, helping to build an appellate-and-critical-motions practice that Legal 500 called “outstanding in all respects.” He’s been named a “top legal lion” by Law360 for his work in the U.S. Supreme Court. A skilled oral and written advocate, Andrew has extensive experience in mass torts, intellectual-property litigation, and business disputes of all kinds.
Andrew has recently appeared in three U.S. Supreme Court cases involving internet regulation, along with numerous other cases involving constitutional and statutory construction. In 2019, he was counsel to the world’s largest generic drug maker in the Supreme Court’s first case interpreting the “on-sale” bar of the America Invents Act, which resulted in a 9-0 victory for the client. In 2012, he represented a leading drug maker in the Supreme Court’s first case involving the competition provisions of the Hatch-Waxman Act—which also resulted in a 9-0 win. He’s also been called on to argue cases for leading national corporations and a sovereign state—involving issues from preemption to contract interpretation—from the Ninth Circuit to the D.C. Circuit.
Andrew has long experience handling critical motions in the trial courts. For example, he won reconsideration in a $1 billion trade-secrets case involving one of the world’s largest car manufacturers. He also won dismissal of nearly all claims in a nationally publicized class action against a Fortune 50 manufacturer. And he served as lead motions counsel in a $600 million securities-fraud case, which settled favorably. In 2020, Andrew served as appellate-and-motions counsel in a ten-day bench trial for a Fortune 500 company in a $225 million breach-of-contract case. The client prevailed across the board.
Sharing his expertise, Andrew recently appeared on C-SPAN to preview U.S. Supreme Court arguments in cases against Google and X (formerly Twitter). He also regularly publishes on appellate-and-critical-motions practice. His most recent pieces appeared in Law360 and Bloomberg Law.
Andrew served as a law clerk on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit for the Hon. D. Brooks Smith. He also worked for seven years on Capitol Hill, serving as legislative director for a member of Congress and as a legislative aide for a U.S. senator.
Andrew received a B.A. in International Politics, with honors, from Pennsylvania State University in 1995, where he was a member of Phi Beta Kappa. He received a J.D. in 2004 from Georgetown University Law Center. He’s been married for twenty-five years and has four children.
Professional experience
- Partner, Winston & Strawn LLP
- Associate, Winston & Strawn LLP
- Law Clerk, U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit, Hon. D. Brooks Smith
Education
- Georgetown University Law Center, J.D.
- The Pennsylvania State University, B.A.
Cases
U.S. Supreme Court
- Murthy v. Missouri (2024): Lead counsel for International Center for Law & Economics in First Amendment case involving federal coercion of social-media companies to display and remove content.
- Gonzalez v. Google LLC (2023): Lead counsel for twelve think tanks in Supreme Court’s first case interpreting “the Magna Carta of the Internet”: Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act.
- Americans for Prosperity Foundation v. Bonta (2021): Lead counsel for human-rights organization supporting First Amendment challenge to California law requiring nonprofits to disclose the identity of top donors. Client’s position prevailed, 6-3.
- Baker v. Edwards (2020): Lead counsel for 137 members of Congress in support of petition for certiorari in case involving the right of private parties to sue state officials.
- Helsinn Healthcare S.A. v. Teva Pharms. USA Inc. (2019): Counsel for the world’s largest generic pharmaceutical company in the first Supreme Court case interpreting the America Invents Act’s “on sale” bar. Client prevailed, 9-0.
- Kokocinski v. Collins (2018): Counsel for directors and officers of Medtronic in shareholders’ derivative action. Successfully opposed petition for certiorari.
- Sandoz, Inc. v. Amgen Inc. (2017): Counsel for Hospira supporting petition for certiorari in case involving the Biologics Price Competition and Innovation Act. Petition granted.
- Kingdomware Techs. v. United States (2016): Lead counsel for the American Legion as amicus in case involving statutory preferences for veteran-owned firms. Client’s position was adopted, 8-0.
- Omnicare, Inc. v. Laborers’ Dist. Counsel (2015): Counsel for Omnicare, the Nation’s largest provider of pharmacy services for nursing-home residents, in Securities Act case. Client prevailed.
Federal appellate courts
- John Doe 1 v. Apple Inc. (D.C. Cir. 2024): Lead counsel for Tesla, Inc. in Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act action against leading global technology companies. Client prevailed, 3-0.
- Melinta Therapeutics, LLC v. FDA (D.C. Cir. 2022): Lead counsel for pharmaceutical company challenging district court’s vacatur of FDA approval of generic drug.
- Quidel Corp. v. Siemens Med. Solutions USA (9th Cir. 2021): Lead counsel for leading medical-testing company in Lanham Act action challenging competitor’s false advertising.
- No. 1, Pacific Coast Dist., Marine Eng’rs Beneficial Assoc., AFL-CIO v. Liberty Maritime Corp. (D.C. Cir. 2021): Lead counsel for global shipping company in labor-arbitration case.
- McGee v. S-L Snacks Nat’l, LLC (9th Cir. 2020): Lead counsel for manufacturer in products-liability case presenting questions of standing and federal preemption. Client prevailed, 3-0.
- Med Vets, Inc. v. VIP Petcare Holdings, Inc. (9th Cir. 2020): Counsel for veterinary clinics and pet-medicine manufacturer in case alleging Clayton and Sherman Act violations. Client prevailed, 3-0.
- Hughes v. Priderock Capital Partners, LLC (11th Cir. 2020): Lead counsel for Priderock Capital Partners in case alleging unjust enrichment in profits from sale of securitized mortgages.
- GlaxoSmithKline LLC v. Teva Pharms. USA (Fed. Cir. 2020): Lead counsel for the leading generic pharmaceutical trade association as amicus supporting affirmance in Hatch-Waxman Act case. Appeal is pending rehearing en banc.
- ChargePoint, Inc. v. SemaConnect, Inc. (Fed. Cir. 2019): Counsel for leading manufacturer of electric-car charging stations in case considering patent-eligibility under Alice Corp.
- Kerns v. Caterpillar Inc. (6th Cir. 2019): Counsel for Caterpillar in appeal by beneficiaries under collective-bargaining agreement asserting that certain benefits vested. Caterpillar prevailed, 3-0.
- Acorda v. Roxane (Fed. Cir. 2018): Counsel for Roxane and co-defendant Teva Pharmaceuticals in the Federal Circuit’s leading case on the effect of blocking patents. Roxane and Teva prevailed.
- FTC v. Advocate Health Care Network (7th Cir. 2016): Counsel for hospitals in Federal Trade Commission Clayton Act challenge to hospital mergers.
- Maher Terminals, LLC v. The Port Authority of New York & New Jersey (3d Cir. 2015): Counsel for Maher Terminals in case brought under U.S. Constitution’s Tonnage Clause. Case settled favorably.
Virginia appellate courts
- Rolofson v. Fraser (Va. Ct. App. 2024): Lead counsel for Army officer bringing action against another officer for defamation; appeal involved construction of Virginia’s anti-SLAPP statute. Client prevailed on anti-SLAPP issues, 3-0.
Critical motions
- Shenkman v. Tesla, Inc. (Cal. Super. 2023): Counsel to Tesla, Inc. in breach-of-contract case at class-certification stage.
- People v. JLI (Cal. Super. 2022): Co-counsel supporting board member sued by State of California for various business torts. Court dismissed particular claim for pleading deficiencies.
- Food Delivery Holdings 12, S.A.R.L. v. DeWitty & Associates (D.D.C. 2021): Counsel to international food-services company in case involving theft of trade secrets. Client received precedent-setting opinion awarding discovery under 28 U.S.C. § 1782 to support an international arbitration.
- Hess Corp. v. Schlumberger Tech. Corp. (S.D. Tex. 2020): Issue-preservation and motions counsel in ten-day bench trial for oil-services firm in $225-million breach-of-contract action. Client prevailed.
- Scherzer v. Bank of Am., N.A. (S.D. Ca. 2020): Counsel for bank alleged to have engaged in deceptive practices. Court rejected all claims of putative nationwide class for lack of Article III standing and dismissed in-state plaintiffs’ claims for pleading deficiencies.
- Berarov v. Archer-Daniels-Midland Co. (N.D. Ill. 2019): Counsel for feed manufacturer in putative class action involving horse deaths. Court dismissed most claims for pleading deficiencies.
- Ciuffitelli v. Deloitte & Touche LLP (D. Or. 2019): Counsel for valuation firm in multi-defendant putative $600 million class action alleging federal securities fraud. Case settled favorably.
- Dettling v. Medtech College, LLC (E.D. Va. 2017): Lead counsel for firm alleged to have breached statutory obligation to warn employees before layoffs. Court dismissed all claims.
