Washington, D.C.
He is a skilled brief writer who focuses on simplifying complex concepts and crafting a compelling story that frames factual and legal issues in a way that is more likely to produce favorable results for clients. Cesar routinely drafts briefs in federal and state courts of appeals and in the U.S. Supreme Court, presents oral argument in federal and state appellate courts, and is often embedded at the trial level to brief dispositive motions and to make sure that issues are preserved with an eye towards appeal.
Cesar also advises clients on how to analyze executive actions and handles government-facing litigation, including challenges to the legality of federal and state laws and regulations. Cesar's versatility allows him to tackle the most sophisticated and complex legal issues across a wide range of substantive areas, including constitutional and administrative law, statutory interpretation, complex commercial litigation, trade secrets, and federal preemption. And although Cesar handles high-stakes cases across an array of subjects, his work tends to focus on the firm’s technology and life sciences sectors.
Before joining Orrick, Cesar was an attorney at the U.S. Department of Justice's Civil Division, Federal Programs Branch, where he represented the United States and its agencies in dozens of cases involving challenges to the legality of federal laws, actions, and programs. He argued and won dispositive motions in federal district courts nationwide. His experience included litigating cutting-edge matters involving the Appointments Clause; the Spending Clause; the Territory Clause; the First, Fifth, and Fourteenth Amendments; the separation of powers; the Administrative Procedure Act; the Federal Vacancies Reform Act; the Freedom of Information Act; and the Puerto Rico Oversight, Management, and Economic Stability Act.
He also maintains an active pro bono practice, representing immigrants and veterans in their appeals to the federal courts of appeals and filing amicus briefs in precedent-setting cases of public interest. He is especially passionate about advancing the rights of the residents in the U.S. territories.
Cesar served as a law clerk to Justice Sonia Sotomayor in the October 2023 Term. Before that, he clerked for Judge José A. Cabranes of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit and then-Presiding Judge of the U.S. Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court of Review, Judge Rosemary M. Collyer of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, and Judge Jay A. Garcia-Gregory of the U.S. District Court for the District of Puerto Rico.
