Amy M. Spicer

Senior Attorney

Amy M. Spicer is a senior attorney in Morgan Lewis’s Litigation Practice, focusing on complex commercial litigation and appeals. Ms. Spicer has represented clients in a broad range of matters, including breach of contract, fraud, patent infringement, trade secret misappropriation, unfair competition, ERISA, environmental litigation, and Congressional investigations.

Ms. Spicer has a litigation background in both state and federal courts, where she has handled all aspects of civil litigation from inception through trial and appeal. Her experience includes examining and preparing witnesses in trial, depositions, managing discovery, presenting oral argument, and successfully prosecuting and opposing numerous dispositive motions. Ms. Spicer recently served as trial counsel in a four-month jury trial.

Ms. Spicer has also briefed and argued cases before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit.

Recent cases include:

• Obtained dismissal at the federal district court level and affirmance at the U.S. Court of Appeals level (572 F.3d 677 (9th Cir. 2009)) of a worldwide class action alleging violation of the Alien Tort Claims Act, unfair competition, breach of contract, and unjust enrichment against a prominent retailer.
• Authored successful U.S. Supreme Court opposition to petition for a writ of certiorari.
• Obtained mid-trial defense verdict for a client in a case involving $450 million claim for misappropriation of corporate opportunity, among others.
• Obtained dismissal of suit against a leading pharmaceutical benefits provider alleging violations of the Oklahoma Third Party Prescription Act. Additionally achieved dismissal of separate suit alleging breach of contract and ERISA violations.

Ms. Spicer’s pro bono work includes representation of individuals on death row and capital habeas briefing. She is part of a team that successfully won a stay of execution and further evidentiary hearings in the trial court as a result of an application for a writ of habeas corpus before the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals. Prior to the grant of the new trial court proceedings, Ms. Spicer also authored a Clemency Petition and coordinated a letter-writing campaign to the Board of Pardons and Paroles and the Governor of Texas in support of the clemency petition, which resulted in thousands of letters in support of clemency.

Among her other responsibilities, Ms. Spicer serves on the Recruiting Committee for the San Francisco Office and as a legal writing coach and mentor to junior associates.

Prior to joining Morgan Lewis, Ms. Spicer served as a law clerk to Judge Barry G. Silverman of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit and to Judge Jeffrey S. White of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California. She was previously associated with a leading national law firm, where she focused on complex commercial and intellectual property litigation and appeals. Ms. Spicer also served for two years as a staff attorney in the criminal division of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, where she regularly presented cases on appeal before the judges of the Ninth Circuit. During her tenure at the Ninth Circuit, Ms. Spicer received an award of Recognition for High Achievement and Contribution to the Court.

Ms. Spicer earned her J.D. from Vermont Law School, where she was a member of the Moot Court Board and the National Criminal Trial Advocacy Team. She competed in and was the first place winner of the Vermont Law School Criminal Trial Advocacy Competition. She earned her B.A. in history from the College of Wooster.

Ms. Spicer is admitted to practice in California and the District of Columbia and before the Supreme Court of the United States and all federal and state California courts.