Joshua D. Branson

Joshua D. Branson is a partner with Kellogg, Hansen, Todd, Figel & Frederick, P.L.L.C. in Washington, D.C., who regularly serves as lead counsel in high-stakes trial, appellate and regulatory matters. Drawing on skills he honed as a record-setting, national-champion collegiate debater, Mr. Branson has successfully represented clients in a range of contentious disputes worth billions of dollars. His experience as lead counsel includes civil terrorism-funding lawsuits, copyright litigation, shareholder disputes, commercial contract cases, whistleblower litigation and telecommunications matters. He also has significant experience in antitrust, securities and foreign exchange, and defamation litigation. Mr. Branson has tried multiple cases to judgment, including a nearly billiondollar interstate-water dispute in the U.S. Supreme Court. At the appellate level, he is undefeated in the five U.S. Courts of Appeals cases in which he was primary counsel. He also has drafted many additional briefs — including merits, certiorari and amicus briefs — in the U.S. Supreme Court and U.S. Courts of Appeals. His appellate representations have spanned a range of topics, including bankruptcy, terrorism, antitrust, telecommunications and ERISA. He also has advised multiple litigation-funders and represented clients in regulatory proceedings before the Federal Communications Commission. Mr. Branson has been quoted discussing his cases in many media outlets, including the Wall Street Journal, the New York Times, Reuters and Bloomberg. In 2022, the American Lawyer named him the national Litigator of the Week for his D.C. Circuit appellate victory in Atchley v. AstraZeneca, No. 20-2077 (D.C. Cir. Jan. 4, 2022), which unanimously reversed the dismissal of a high-profile lawsuit on behalf of Gold Star Families and other Americans harmed by terrorism in Iraq. He also received recognition in David Lat’s weekly Original Jurisdiction newsletter for the same victory. In 2022, Mr. Branson was named among Lawdragon 500’s Leading Litigators in America. He also has delivered a guest lecture on complex litigation at Georgetown University Law Center. Mr. Branson received his J.D. magna cum laude from Harvard Law School and clerked for Hon. Diana Gribbon Motz on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit in Baltimore. Before law school, he was a championship policy debater at Northwestern University, where he broke the then-record for best individual performance at the 2006 National Debate Tournament.