Biography:
Greg Castanias is a Partner in the Firm's Issues and Appeals and intellectual property practices. He is an experienced advocate in courts at all levels of the federal judiciary, including the U.S. Supreme Court, where he has represented numerous clients and argued three cases over the last four years. His practice has a particular focus on appeals and technology cases, and Greg is a nationally recognized authority in these areas. Greg is the lead author of Federal Appellate Practice and Procedure in a Nutshell (with Dean Robert Klonoff of the Lewis & Clark Law School), published by Thomson West in March 2008, and he has authored or coauthored several other books and articles on appellate practice, intellectual property law, and constitutional limitations on state taxing authority.
In addition to his focus in these areas, Greg has considerable experience in issues of constitutional law, class actions, international law, and international arbitration, including significant and leading roles in two of the first NAFTA investor-state arbitrations (The Loewen Group v. U.S.A. and Methanex Corporation v. U.S.A.) brought against the United States government. Representative clients in other recent matters have included Chevron, Dell, IBM, ICANN, the National Foreign Trade Council (NFTC), R.J. Reynolds Tobacco, Saudi Basic Industries Corporation (SABIC), Simon Properties Group, Sinochem, the state of Georgia, the state of Indiana, TAP Pharmaceuticals, and Williams Advanced Materials.
He also has devoted considerable amounts of his practice to pro bono representations. Recently, he filed amicus curiae briefs in the U.S. Supreme Court as counsel for a consortium of autism organizations in Schaffer v. Weast; for a group of 52 religious and religious freedom groups, organizations, and scholars in Gonzales v. Oregon; and for the American Heart Association in a case involving the patentability of natural phenomena.
Greg is a member of the American Bar Association, the Federal Circuit Bar Association, and the International Trade Commission Trial Lawyers Association (the last of which he served as an Executive Committee member and as membership director from 1997 to 2003). He was also selected as a barrister of the Edward Coke Appellate Inn of Court, the first American Inn of Court dedicated exclusively to appellate practice. In 2004, Greg joined the board of the Council for Court Excellence in Washington, D.C. He also serves in leadership positions in the national alumni associations of Wabash College and the Indiana University-Bloomington School of Law, and he holds the rank of adjunct professor of law at the latter.
Greg regularly writes and speaks on legal subjects, including intellectual property, constitutional law, and appellate practice. He has appeared on national radio and television broadcasts and has been quoted by leading national and international publications on these and other subjects. He is admitted to practice before the United States Supreme Court, the United States Courts of Appeals for each of the 13 circuits, and eight United States District Courts. He was first admitted to practice law in 1990 in Indiana but is now inactive in that state.
