Nuechterlein, Jonathan E.

Current Employment Position(s)

Chair, Communications, Privacy and Internet Law Practice Group

Lawyer Overview

Jonathan E. Nuechterlein is the chair of WilmerHale’s Communications, Privacy and Internet Law Practice Group.  

Practice

Mr. Nuechterlein's practice focuses on appellate litigation and competition issues, particularly those arising under federal telecommunications law. He represents clients in the US Supreme Court and the federal courts of appeals on a broad range of issues. He also represents major telecommunications clients before the FCC in connection with net neutrality, broadband classification and deployment, intercarrier compensation and many other topics.

From January 2000 until his arrival at the firm in early 2001, Mr. Nuechterlein served as Deputy General Counsel of the FCC, where he oversaw litigation arising from the Telecommunications Act of 1996. From 1996 to 2000, he served as Assistant to the Solicitor General in the US Department of Justice. In that capacity, he argued seven cases in the US Supreme Court, drafted the federal government's briefs in many additional cases and helped formulate the government's litigation strategy on a wide range of issues.

He is the author (with Phil Weiser) of Digital Crossroads: American Telecommunications Policy in the Internet Age (MIT Press 2005), which comprehensively analyzes the law and economics of competition in the US telecommunications industry. Digital Crossroads has been described as "a magnificent achievement" (Cornell economist Alfred Kahn) and as "invaluable to anyone trying to navigate the tumultuous changes of the digital age" (former FCC Chairman Michael Powell). For a copy of the preface to the 2007 paperback edition, click here. The authors are preparing an updated and revised second edition of Digital Crossroads, due for publication by MIT Press in 2013.

Recent Highlights

• Presented argument for AT&T in Cablevision Sys. Corp. v. FCC, 649 F. 3d 695 (DC Cir. 2011), and successfully defended the FCC's decision to protect competitive access to terrestrially delivered video programming
• Representing major cable operators in the DC Circuit in defense of the FCC’s new rules governing access to electric power company infrastructure (American Elec. Power Serv. Corp. v. FCC, No. 11-1146 (DC Cir.))
• Representing AT&T in pending 10th Circuit appeals from the FCC’s November 2011 order comprehensively revising the nation’s universal service and intercarrier compensation rules
• Presented argument on behalf of the wireless industry in Council Tree v. FCC, 619 F.3d 235 (3d Cir. 2010), and successfully defended the results of the FCC’s $33 billion 3G spectrum auctions
• Argued and won Ad Hoc Telecomm. Users Comm. v. FCC, 572 F.3d 903 (DC Cir. 2009), on behalf of AT&T in support of the FCC's decision to forbear from dominant-carrier regulation of enterprise broadband services
• Argued and won BellSouth v. FCC, 469 F.3d 1052 (DC Cir. 2006) (vacating an FCC order that had deemed a Bell company liable for the terms of its volume discount plan for special access services)
• Argued and won AT&T Inc. v. FCC, 452 F.3d 830 (DC Cir. 2006) (invalidating the FCC’s basis for denying a petition to forbear from regulation of IP platform services)
• Argued and won Verizon Tel. Cos. v. FCC, 374 F.3d 1229 (DC Cir. 2004) (invalidating the FCC's basis for denying a petition to forbear from broadband regulation)
• Representing AT&T in connection with the the FCC's net neutrality, broadband classification, wireless competition, intercarrier compensation and universal service proceedings  

Honors and Awards

• Recognized for his exceptional standing in the telecommunications bar by Chambers USA: America's Leading Lawyers for Business in every edition since 2005
• Selected by his peers for inclusion in every edition of The Best Lawyers in America since 2007 in the area of communications law  
• Listed in every edition of The Legal 500 United States since 2007
• Named a 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010 and 2011 Washington DC Super Lawyer in the area of appellate litigation
• 1999 Attorney General's Distinguished Service Award for preparing the FCC's briefs in AT&T Corp. v. Iowa Utils. Bd. (525 US 366)

Publications

• Antitrust Oversight of an Antitrust Dispute: An Institutional Perspective on the Net Neutrality Debate, 7 J. Telecomm. & High Tech. L. 19  (2009). For a copy of this article, click here.
• Video Games: The Oddly Familiar Terms of Debate about Telco Entry into the Video Services Market, 5 J. Telecomm. & High Tech. L. 1 (2006).
• Digital Crossroads: American Telecommunications Policy in the Internet Age (MIT Press 2005) (with Phil Weiser).
• First Principles for an Effective Rewrite of the Telecommunications Act of 1996 (AEI-Brookings Joint Center 2005) (with Phil Weiser).
• Incentives to Speak Honestly About Incentives: The Need for Structural Reform of the Local Competition Debate, 2 J. Telecomm. & High Tech. L. 399 (2003).
• The Free Exercise Boundaries of Permissible Accommodation Under the Establishment Clause, 99 Yale L.J. 1127 (1990).

Areas of Practice

• Antitrust and Competition
• Communications, Privacy and Internet Law
• Telecommunications
• Regulatory and Government Affairs
• Litigation/Controversy
• Appellate and Supreme Court Litigation

Representative Cases

• AT&T
• Bell South
• MetroNet v. Qwest , (2004)
• The Hartford
• WilmerHale Obtains Favorable Ruling for Air Transport Association , (US Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit)

West Practice Categories

Antitrust & Trade Regulation, Bankruptcy Litigation, Cable (Broadband), Cellular Communications, Class Actions, Communications & Media Law, Complex Litigation, Digital Communications, Electronic Commerce, FCC, Federal Appellate Practice, Federal Claims Court, Federal Trial Practice, International Telecommunications, International Trade Litigation, Internet, Internet, Litigation & Appeals, Multidistrict Litigation, Patent Litigation, State Appellate Practice, State Trial Practice, Tax Litigation, Telecommunications, US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, US Supreme Court, Wireless Communications

Bar Admissions

• District of Columbia

Education

• Yale Law School, 1990
  JD
• Yale University, 1986
  BA
  Honors: summa cum laude

Published Works

• National Broadband Plan Calls for Enhanced Privacy and Data Security Protections, 2010
• Antitrust Oversight of an Antitrust Dispute: An Institutional Perspective on the Net Neutrality Debate, 2009
• FCC Issues Long Awaited Comcast Order on Net Neutrality Violation, 2008
• Eighth Circuit Upholds FCC Order Preempting State Regulation of VoIP, 2007
• Digital Crossroads, 2005

Address

1875 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW
Washington, DC 20006

Phones

+1 202 663 6850 (Business Phone)

Faxes

+1 202 663 6363 (Business Fax)

Emails

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Websites

http://www.wilmerhale.com