Former Corporation Counsel of the District of Columbia and DC Bar President John Payton has been recognized as one of the premier litigators in the country and has handled complex civil matters from the trial court to the United States Supreme Court.   

Practice

Mr. Payton's practice ranges from complex commercial matters to the most challenging of civil rights matters. He was the lead counsel for the University of Michigan in successfully defending the use of race in the admissions process at its undergraduate college and at its law school. His civil practice has ranged from libel, to representing the American Legacy Foundation in its efforts to see that youth do not become smokers, to partnership matters, to employment matters. In addition to the University of Michigan cases, he has extensive civil rights experience including defending the use of race-based measures to address continuing problems in our society. He represented Richmond in the Supreme Court in Richmond v. Croson and has filed numerous amicus briefs in the Supreme Court in other civil rights cases.

From 1991 to 1994, Mr. Payton served as the Corporation Counsel of the District of Columbia. He headed the firm's Litigation Department from 1998 to 2000.

Recent Highlights

• As lead counsel for the University of Michigan, Mr. Payton handled the two high-profile cases in the trial court, in the court of appeals and argued Gratz v. Bollinger in the Supreme Court. The Supreme Court's decision represented the vindication of a strategy, devised and implemented over more than six years, to build a case to support the educational benefits of diversity.
• Mr. Payton leads the team that has been representing the American Legacy Foundation—the organization created as a result of the Master Settlement Agreement between the tobacco industry and most of the states, and charged with, among other things, attempting to keep youth from becoming smokers. The Foundation has a complex and often adversarial relationship with the tobacco industry and recently prevailed  in litigation with a major tobacco company concerning advertisements the Foundation has sponsored as part of its Truth campaign (American Legacy Foundation v. Lorillard Tobacco Co.).
• Mr. Payton has handled some of Fannie Mae’s most challenging litigation over the years and was the lead counsel in a major class action challenge to the core of Fannie Mae's business (Rahmann v. Federal National Mortgage Association), which was dismissed by the plaintiff after Fannie Mae moved for summary judgment.
• When the partners of a prominent Washington, DC law firm had irreconcilable differences with one of their original founders, Mr. Payton initiated litigation to resolve the matter and ultimately tried the case to a successful conclusion (Robinson v. Nussbaum).

Professional Activities

Mr. Payton served as president of the District of Columbia Bar from June 2001 to June 2002. In 2007, he was reappointed as a member of American Bar Association's House of Delegates, having originally served as a House member from June 2000 to June 2002. He is also currently a member of the Council of the ABA's Section on Individual Rights and Responsibilities and the ABA's Commission on Immigration Policy. Mr. Payton is on the Board of the Washington Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights and Urban Affairs and on the Board of the National Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Under Law. He has served as co-chair of each organization. He also serves on the Board of Global Rights. He is a past Vice Chair of the District of Columbia Public Defender Service. 

Mr. Payton has taught as a visiting professor at Harvard Law School and at the Georgetown Law Center. In Spring 2007, he taught a course on "The Constitution and Democracy" at Howard University Law School, and was named the James Nabrit, Jr. Visiting Professor of Constitutional Law. He is a member of the American Law Institute and a Fellow of the American Bar Foundation. In addition, he is a Master in the Edward Coke Appellate Inn of Court.

Honors and Awards

• Selected by peers for inclusion in 2006 and 2005-2006 editions of The Best Lawyers in America, in the areas of commercial (2006) and business litigation (2005-2006)
• Named as one of the "Lawdragon 500 Leading Lawyers in America" in 2005. Specifically noted, "Affirmative action got a big boost from his Supreme Court arguments last year."
• Selected by Washingtonian magazine as one of the "Top Lawyers" in Washington, DC,  2004

Community Involvement

Mr. Payton serves on the Board of Trustees of Pomona College.