Samir Deger-Sen, an experienced appellate lawyer, represents clients in their most complex litigation matters.

Samir focuses his practice on Supreme Court and appellate litigation and is widely recognized as one of the leading appellate lawyers of his generation. He has argued over 25 times in appellate courts across the US, including multiple arguments in the Supreme Court, and successfully represented clients in the technology, media, and financial sectors in their highest-stakes appeals.

Samir has argued six times in the US Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, where he has never lost a case, and led over a dozen appeals in the New York state courts. He is one of a handful of attorneys who has argued multiple times in both the US Supreme Court and the New York Court of Appeals, the state’s highest court.

His track record of success includes winning precedent-setting cases in virtually every federal court of appeals. In the past three years, he has been named an American Lawyer Litigator of the Week four times, including for successful arguments on behalf of Meta Platforms, the Hollywood Foreign Press Association, and Brigade Capital Management.

Samir has extensive experience in class actions and is proficient in substantive Rule 23 law. He has been the primary author of briefs involving some of the largest putative classes in the country, including defending clients against multi-billion dollar class actions in the Second and Ninth Circuits. Samir has, on multiple occasions, successfully secured interlocutory appellate review of class certification decisions, which is granted in only a small fraction of cases. He also regularly advises on complex class action issues in district court litigation.

In addition, Samir has successfully obtained complete dismissal of claims in over a dozen securities class actions on appeal, including multiple times in the Second and Ninth Circuits.

Resident in the firm’s New York and London offices, Samir frequently helps UK-based clients navigate novel, complex, and challenging questions of US law.

Before entering private practice, he clerked for Justice Anthony Kennedy of the US Supreme Court, on the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, and on the District Court for the District of Hawaii. Before law school, Samir was a lecturer in International Politics at Oxford University, where he taught several undergraduate level courses. At Oxford, he won the World University Debating Championship, along with numerous national competitions.

Samir’s representative experience includes:

  • Successfully persuading the Supreme Court to grant certiorari and arguing a case to decide the appropriate remedy for violations of the constitutional venue right
  • Successfully persuading the Supreme Court to grant certiorari and arguing the case-deciding availability of judicial review for revocation of an approved visa petition
  • Successfully arguing a Second Circuit appeal for Brigade Capital Management, obtaining full dismissal, in a case establishing the limit of the private right of action under the Investment Advisors Act
  • Successfully arguing a Ninth Circuit appeal for a major technology company, obtaining full dismissal, in a case substantially narrowing liability under the Telephone Consumer Protection Act
  • Successfully arguing a Ninth Circuit appeal for the Hollywood Foreign Press Association, obtaining full dismissal, in a case involving the scope of antitrust liability for membership organizations
  • Successfully arguing a Ninth Circuit appeal for Pharmaniaga Berhad, obtaining full dismissal on personal jurisdiction grounds
  • Successfully arguing a Second Circuit appeal for a software company, obtaining full dismissal of putative class action
  • Arguing or serving as lead counsel in over 10 appeals in the New York state appellate courts, including multiple cases in the New York Court of Appeals
  • Arguing or leading briefings in seven merits cases at the Supreme Court
  • Successfully leading the briefing in a Seventh Circuit appeal for a software company in a precedent-setting case involving applicability of an arbitration clause to purported pseudonyms
  • Leading the briefing in a Seventh Circuit appeal for a major technology company in a case involving the scope of an arbitration clause in a putative consumer class action
  • Arguing and leading the briefing on behalf of venture capital defendants in a Second Circuit appeal involving the scope of liability under the securities laws for cryptocurrency exchanges
  • Successfully obtaining Rule 23(f) interlocutory review on three separate occasions and leading briefings on major class action disputes for a major technology company and Starkist
  • Arguing a major constitutional challenge for a pharmaceutical company regarding a drug pricing provision in the Inflation Reduction Act
  • Leading briefings on over a dozen securities cases in the trial and appellate courts, including in the Second and Ninth Circuits
  • Successfully arguing multiple Ninth Circuit appeals representing a certified class of individuals in immigration detention during COVID-19

Bar Qualification

  • England and Wales (Registered Foreign Lawyer)
  • New York
  • District of Columbia

Education

  • JD, Yale Law School
  • MPhil in International Relations & Global Studies, The University of Oxford, Balliol College
    with distinction
  • BA (Hons) Philosophy, Politics and Economics, The University of Oxford, Balliol College
Blurry vision of the sun reflected in the glass skyscraper.
September 18, 2023 Recognition

Litigator of the Week Runners-Up and Shout Outs

Latham team recognized for its representation of client Brigade Capital Management LP in a Second Circuit win that has major implications for asset managers.