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James Anglin Flynn

Special Counsel

Boston

James is special counsel in the Supreme Court & Appellate practice group.

James litigates issues and appeals at every level of the state and federal courts, advocating for his clients with an eye toward developing and preserving appellate issues. He has significant experience in intellectual property and administrative law for clients with technologically complex products and disputes. He has also represented criminal defendants during investigations, at trial, and on appeal. James is co-leader of the firm's First Generation Lawyers initiative.

James maintains an active pro bono practice focused on the rights of veterans and incarcerated individuals. He has advocated for servicemembers and veterans in Congress, the Department of Veterans Affairs, the Department of Defense, federal district court, and the Federal Circuit. And he has litigated ยง 1983 claims for excessive force against prison and jail officials at trial and on appeal.

Before joining Orrick, James served as a law clerk to the Honorable A. Raymond Randolph of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit, the Honorable Timothy B. Dyk of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, and the Honorable Analisa Torres of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York. He was previously a litigation associate at Covington & Burling LLP in Washington. There, he represented corporate officials in federal investigations, as well as municipal, nonprofit, and individual clients in civil-rights litigation at the trial and appellate stages.

James graduated from Yale Law School, where he served as an executive of the Yale Law Journal and as a member of the Veterans Legal Services Clinic. Before law school, James worked as a strategy and project management consultant for clients in the education and healthcare industries.

  • Global technology company. Orrick led the client to a major Federal Circuit victory, vacating an eight-figure jury verdict in long-running patent-infringement litigation concerning wireless communications. James drafted appellate briefing and served as second chair on this complex appeal that raised issues of claim construction, infringement, and damages.

    Moore v. LaSalle Management Company. James successfully briefed and argued a Fifth Circuit appeal on behalf of the family of a pretrial detainee killed by guards at a private, for-profit jail. In a precedential decision, the Fifth Circuit reversed summary judgment on causation, qualified immunity, and Monell liability, and it held for the first time that punitive damages are available against private correctional facilities.

    Military-Veterans Advocacy Inc. v. Secretary of Veterans Affairs. James briefed and argued a Federal Circuit petition for review of the VA Secretary's refusal to engage in rulemaking to apply the protections of the Agent Orange Act to Vietnam veterans who were exposed to toxic herbicides while serving on the islands of the South Pacific.

    Global technology company. James briefed and argued a Federal Circuit appeal from a Patent Trial and Appeal Board inter partes review concerning the obviousness of patent claims for digital-camera technology.

    Global energy company. James drafted appellate briefing in back-to-back successful Fifth Circuit appeals in maritime litigation, overturning the district court's repeated refusals to dismiss a garnishment action under the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act.