B.S., Wharton School of Business, University of Pennsylvania; J.D., Georgetown
Professor Brightbill is a trial and appellate lawyer at Winston & Strawn LLP, and a partner in the firm’s Litigation and White Collar, Regulatory Defense, and Investigations Practices. He represents public and private companies, corporate officers, and other individuals across white collar, regulatory defense, and government and internal investigation matters and rulemaking challenges, as well as complex commercial disputes, citizen suits, and class actions. His commercial litigation experience encompasses business disputes, false advertising, consumer protection and fraud, FCA, and extensive class action defense work; antitrust and unfair competition matters; and intellectual property litigation, such as trademarks, patents, and trade secrets.
Professor Brightbill served as the nation’s lead environmental civil and criminal enforcement official and litigator, as Acting Assistant Attorney General for the Environment & Natural Resources Division (“ENRD”) of the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ). He led ENRD’s 425 lawyers, overseeing 6,500 active matters and managing an annual budget of more than $150 million. Professor Brightbill represented the United States in appellate and district courts, in both affirmative and defensive cases, arguing some of the government’s most significant cases during his time at DOJ.
Professor Brightbill served on the American Bar Association’s E-Discovery Working Group for Bankruptcy Practice and has been a frequent lecturer for District of Columbia Bar Association Continuing Legal Education Programs. Professor Brightbill was an appellate clerk for the Honorable D. Brooks Smith, United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit, after graduating magna cum laude from the Georgetown University Law Center. He served as an Executive Policy Specialist for air, waste, land remediation, and radiation matters at the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection.