Bob Loeb is a partner in Orrick's Supreme Court and Appellate Litigation practice, specializing in high stakes and complex cases. He has briefed hundreds of cases and has personally argued more than 200 appeals, including cases in the U.S. Supreme Court, every federal circuit and numerous state courts.
The breadth and depth of Bob's appellate experience, and his consistent track record of success in high-stakes matters, are why clients, including top tech and energy companies, trust him with their most important cases.
The National Law Journal’s Litigator of the Week column recently recognized Bob’s appellate major wins in energy and product liability cases for Next Decade, Broadreach Power and Johnson & Johnson. Bob’s recent victories include an amazing win for Next Decade. Bob was bought in after the D.C. Circuit, mid-construction, vacated the authorization for NextDecade’s $18.4B LNG facility. On rehearing, he persuaded the same three-judge panel to reverse course and allow construction to continue—saving the project from likely financial peril. He also filed an amicus brief for NextDecade in the Supreme Court Seven Counties case that caused the Court to reform the standard for vacatur of a permit or authorization in a NEPA review case. His amazing victory for Next Decade have been recognized by the Fincial Times, which has announced that the handling of the case on rehearing is a finalist for the FT 2025 Innovation Award.
Other recent matters include Fifth Circuit and D.C. Circuit wins for energy clients Freeport, Woodside, Tellurian, Cheniere, Eni and Quantica. Bod also has obtained major appellate wins for financial institutions (including Am Ex and Credit Suisse), life science companies (including J&J), and high tech companies (including Microsoft and Medidata), and local governments (including Pennsylvania, and the Cites of St. Louis and Stockton).
These types of big wins in the most challenging cases show why both Chambers and Legal 500 rank Bob among the Country’s top appellate advocates.
Bob has argued before the Supreme Court multiple times (including a 9-0 victory regarding application of the Fourth Amendment to rental cars), and has filed hundreds of briefs in the Supreme Court. He has also handled cases in highest state courts in California, New York, Maine, Kentucky, New Jersey and Pennsylvania.
Before joining Orrick, Bob served as one of the leaders of an elite appellate group at the Department of Justice. There, in addition to major national security, commercial, and administrative law, Bob supervised bankruptcy appeals. At Orrick, Bob has continued to handle big ticket bankruptcy matters, such as a billion-dollar dispute over whether DHL’s claim was discharged by United’s bankruptcy, appeals from the City of Stockton bankruptcy confirmation, and a Ninth Circuit matter involving the interplay of the Takings Clause and bankruptcy law.
Bob’s recent work includes matters for Johnson & Johnson, Avon, Natura, Microsoft, NextDecade, AmEx, Woodside, Eni, Cheniere Energy, Freeport LNG, Broadreach Power, LS Power, Exxon, the People's Energy Cooperative, AstraZeneca, Medidata, Renco, MSC Cruise Line, TravelCenters of America, and the City of Stockton.
On May 26, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit held that a wage-and-hour class arbitration clause violated the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA), setting up a circuit split with the Fifth Circuit, and opening the door for the U.S. Supreme Court to weigh in on arbitration clauses in employment agreements containing class action waivers.
On July 31, the Solicitor General filed a petition for a writ of certiorari in United States v. Newman, 773 F.3d 438 (2d Cir. 2014), asking the United States Supreme Court to address the standard for insider trading in a tipper-tippee scenario. Specifically, the Solicitor General argues that the Second Circuit’s Newman decision is in conflict with the Supreme Court’s 1983 decision in Dirks v. SEC, 463 U.S. 646 (1983), and the Ninth Circuit’s recent decision in United States v. Salman, No. 14-10204 (9th Cir. July 6, 2015). Because the Supreme Court grants certiorari in nearly three out of four cases filed by the Solicitor General, the likelihood of a cert grant in Newman is particularly high.
