practice areas
bar admissions
- New York
- Pennsylvania
- District of Columbia
Court Admissions
- U.S. Supreme Court
- U.S. Courts of Appeals for the Second, Third, and District of Columbia Circuits
- U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia
- U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania
- New York
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101 Park Avenue
New York, NY 10178-0060
Phone: 212.309.6864
Fax: 212.309.6001
Rahul Rao is an associate in Morgan Lewis’s Litigation Practice. Mr. Rao concentrates his practice on the representation of companies and individuals in all aspects of complex civil and criminal litigation, with a focus on securities and white-collar defense.
Mr. Rao has represented clients in all levels of state and federal courts, before the Securities and Exchange Commission, and before arbitration bodies. He has argued dispositive motions in court, drafted trial motions and appellate briefs, prepared and defended depositions, participated in mediations and arbitrations, managed discovery, prepared trial witness testimony, and participated in settlement negotiations.
Mr. Rao has also engaged in pro bono work. Specifically, he has counseled amici curiae in two capital cases before U.S. Supreme Court; was lead counsel in matters before the D.C. Court of Appeals and U.S. Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims, and first chair for two trials before the D.C. Superior Court. Most recently, Mr. Rao obtained a trial victory on behalf of 11 U.S. veterans who were the target of a landlord’s improper attempts at eviction.
Prior to joining Morgan Lewis, Mr. Rao was a senior litigation associate in the Washington, D.C. office of a major international law firm. Prior to that, Mr. Rao served as a judicial clerk to Chief Judge Eric T. Washington of the District of Columbia Court of Appeals.
Mr. Rao received his J.D., with honors, from George Washington University Law School in 2005, where he was a Thurgood Marshall Scholar. While in law school, Mr. Rao participated in the D.C. Law Students in Court Clinic, where he represented indigent individuals accused of misdemeanors in the D.C. Superior Court. He also participated in the Public Justice Advocacy Clinic, and taught civics and government to grade school students through the Street Law program. Mr. Rao received his B.A. in economics from Villanova University in 2001, where he was the recipient of the university’s Adam Smith Award in economics.
Mr. Rao is currently admitted to practice in New York, Pennsylvania, and the District of Columbia and before the U.S. Supreme Court, the U.S. Courts of Appeals for the Second, Third, and District of Columbia Circuits, and the U.S. District Courts for the District of Columbia and the Eastern District of Pennsylvania.
Selected Representations
Note: This list includes matters that were completed prior to joining Morgan Lewis.
Securities and White Collar Defense
- Served as lead associate in the defense of a number of federal investigations, including matters involving financial and accounting fraud, self-dealing, hedge fund asset valuation, and the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act.
- Provided legal crisis management regarding violations of the Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control sanctions programs.
- Managed and conducted internal investigations, including witness interviews and records collection, for clients facing or under threat of government inquiry.
Complex Commercial Litigation
- Served as lead associate in the successful resolution of one of the largest putative class actions against the automobile insurance industry involving civil conspiracy and common law fraud claims
- Drafted successful motions to dismiss a multiyear, multibillion-dollar class action alleging violations of federal antitrust and administrative laws regarding online tax filing services
- Served as the lead associate in the successful resolution of commercial foreclosure action involving counterclaims alleging fraud and violations of unfair trade practices.
- Drafted series of motions achieving removal of 15 simultaneous and separately filed state court actions to federal district courts, subsequent transfers to a single federal bankruptcy court, and eventual dismissal with prejudice of matters concerning commodities at issue in federal bankruptcy action.
Appellate Litigation
- Argued an appeal before the D.C. Court of Appeals regarding the complex issue of Court's subject matter jurisdiction.
- Drafted an amici curiae brief supporting petitioners seeking U.S. Supreme Court review of circuit court decision implicating the intersection of two federal environmental laws.
- Co-drafted a petition for writ of certiorari to the U.S. Supreme Court on a First Amendment issue involving the confluence of religion and public school athletics programs.
education
- George Washington University Law School, 2005, J.D., With Honors
- Villanova University, 2001, B.A.