Rachel Miller-Ziegler

Rachel Miller-Ziegler

Rachel Miller-Ziegler is a litigation partner in Washington, D.C., who focuses her practice on appeals and complex litigation.

Ms. Miller-Ziegler regularly works on matters before all levels of the federal judiciary and state appellate courts. Her experience in the U.S. Supreme Court includes drafting merits briefs, including as part of the teams that secured victories on behalf of the U.S. House of Representatives in a challenge to the constitutionality of the Affordable Care Act and the Financial Oversight and Management Board of Puerto Rico in a challenge to the selection of its members under the Constitution’s Appointments Clause. She also routinely works on certiorari-stage briefing, where she has successfully sought and opposed U.S. Supreme Court review on behalf of her clients. In federal and state appellate courts, she has briefed and argued cases and crafted appellate strategy on business-critical issues spanning multiple cases. Ms. Miller-Ziegler also routinely works on all stages of trial-level matters, from offering pre-suit strategy and counseling to drafting dispositive motions.

Prior to joining the firm, Ms. Miller-Ziegler clerked for Chief Justice John G. Roberts, Jr. of the U.S. Supreme Court and for Chief Judge Merrick B. Garland of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit.

Experience

Key Representations

  • The Financial Oversight and Management Board for Puerto Rico in litigation challenging the selection of its members under the Constitution’s Appointments Clause, ultimately obtaining a unanimous victory in the U.S. Supreme Court.
  • Wells Fargo Bank before the California Supreme Court in a case addressing whether a lender has a general duty of care to avoid causing economic loss in renegotiating a loan contract.
  • The National Fire Protection Association, a major standards-setting organization, in litigation challenging whether standards lose their copyright protection when government bodies incorporate them by reference.
  • Lyft, Inc., in two successful federal appeals on the scope of the transportation-worker exception to the Federal Arbitration Act.
     

Pro Bono

  • The United States House of Representatives in defending the constitutionality of the Affordable Care Act before the U.S. Supreme Court.
  • The estates of victims of the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting in opposing U.S. Supreme Court review of a decision allowing a suit against gun manufacturers and marketers to proceed.
  • Parents, children, and the League of Women Voters of Florida in a suit challenging a school district program authorizing elementary school employees to carry firearms on campus.
  • A mother and daughter seeking asylum on the basis of perceived sexual orientation and past domestic violence in a successful Fifth Circuit appeal.
  • Incarcerated individuals bringing Eighth and Fourteenth Amendment challenges in the Ninth, Eleventh, and D.C. Circuits. 

Practice Areas

Education

  • Harvard Law School (J.D., magna cum laude, 2015); president, Harvard Law Review

  • Yale University (B.S., cum laude, 2010)

Clerkships

  • Chief Justice John G. Roberts, Jr., U.S. Supreme Court, 2016-2017
  • Chief Judge Merrick B. Garland, U.S. Court of Appeals, District of Columbia Circuit, 2015-2016

Bar Admissions

  • District of Columbia

Experience

Key Representations

  • The Financial Oversight and Management Board for Puerto Rico in litigation challenging the selection of its members under the Constitution’s Appointments Clause, ultimately obtaining a unanimous victory in the U.S. Supreme Court.
  • Wells Fargo Bank before the California Supreme Court in a case addressing whether a lender has a general duty of care to avoid causing economic loss in renegotiating a loan contract.
  • The National Fire Protection Association, a major standards-setting organization, in litigation challenging whether standards lose their copyright protection when government bodies incorporate them by reference.
  • Lyft, Inc., in two successful federal appeals on the scope of the transportation-worker exception to the Federal Arbitration Act.
     

Pro Bono

  • The United States House of Representatives in defending the constitutionality of the Affordable Care Act before the U.S. Supreme Court.
  • The estates of victims of the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting in opposing U.S. Supreme Court review of a decision allowing a suit against gun manufacturers and marketers to proceed.
  • Parents, children, and the League of Women Voters of Florida in a suit challenging a school district program authorizing elementary school employees to carry firearms on campus.
  • A mother and daughter seeking asylum on the basis of perceived sexual orientation and past domestic violence in a successful Fifth Circuit appeal.
  • Incarcerated individuals bringing Eighth and Fourteenth Amendment challenges in the Ninth, Eleventh, and D.C. Circuits. 

Practice Areas

Education

  • Harvard Law School (J.D., magna cum laude, 2015); president, Harvard Law Review

  • Yale University (B.S., cum laude, 2010)

Clerkships

  • Chief Justice John G. Roberts, Jr., U.S. Supreme Court, 2016-2017
  • Chief Judge Merrick B. Garland, U.S. Court of Appeals, District of Columbia Circuit, 2015-2016

Bar Admissions

  • District of Columbia