Patrick J. Fuster

Patrick J. Fuster is an associate in the Los Angeles office of Gibson Dunn. He is a member of the firm’s Appellate and Constitutional Law, and Class Actions practice groups. He has worked on many cert- and merits-stage cases at the Supreme Court, as well as dozens of appeals in the federal courts of appeals, California Supreme Court, and California Court of Appeal.

Highlights include:

• Persuaded the Supreme Court to grant review and then to hold that the enforcement of laws regulating camping on public property is not “cruel and unusual punishment” under the Eighth Amendment. Grants Pass v. Johnson, 603 U.S. 520 (2024).
• Persuaded the Supreme Court to grant review of a critical question concerning the available remedies for trademark infringement and to rule unanimously that the lower courts had improperly disregarded the fundamental principle of corporate separateness in ordering a defendant to disgorge its nonparty affiliates’ profits under the Lanham Act. Dewberry Group, Inc. v. Dewberry Engineers Inc., 145 S. Ct. 681 (2025).
• Briefed an important immigration issue regarding the timing to file a petition for review in the court of appeals. Riley v. Bondi, No. 23-1270 (U.S.).
• Secured wins for clients in appeals on a wide range of issues, including online contract formation for arbitration agreements, Keebaugh v. Warners Bros. Entertainment Inc., 100 F.4th 1005 (9th Cir. 2024), claimed consumer deception, Whiteside v. Kimberly Clark Corp., 108 F.4th 771 (9th Cir. 2024), and Medicare Part C preemption, Quishenberry v. UnitedHealthcare, Inc., 14 Cal. 5th 1057 (2023).
• Persuaded the Los Angeles Superior Court to order an 87% reduction of a nine-figure verdict for wrongful termination, cutting punitive damages by over $130 million.

Patrick also maintains an active pro bono practice. Highlights include:

• Argued and prevailed in the Ninth Circuit on behalf of a civil-rights plaintiff whose constitutional claim was wrongly short-circuited on jurisdictional grounds. Love v. Villacana, 73 F.4th 751 (9th Cir. 2023).
• Represented a variety of amici in briefing before the Supreme Court in cases involving constitutional criminal procedure, Lesh v. United States, No. 24-654 (U.S.); Anibowei v. Mayorkas, No. 23-199 (U.S.), justiciability, FBI v. Fikre, 601 U.S. 234 (2024), and the First Amendment, TikTok Inc. v. Garland, 145 S. Ct. 57 (2025).
• Represented firearms historian in amicus brief defending constitutionality of state laws forbidding gun possession in “sensitive places.” Wolford v. Lopez, 116 F.4th 959 (9th Cir. 2024).

Before joining the firm, Patrick served as a law clerk to Chief Justice John G. Roberts, Jr. of the Supreme Court of the United States, Judge Vince Girdhari Chhabria of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, and Judge Paul J. Watford of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit.

He graduated with Highest Honors from the University of Chicago Law School in 2018, where he was selected as a Kirkland & Ellis Scholar and as a member of the Order of the Coif. Patrick also served as managing editor of the University of Chicago Law Review and as a student member of the Jenner & Block Supreme Court and Appellate Clinic. He graduated from the University of California, Berkeley, in 2014, where he received a degree in economics with high distinction.

Patrick is admitted to practice law in the State of California as well as before the Supreme Court of the United States, the United States Courts of Appeals for the Second, Fourth, Eighth, Ninth and Tenth Circuits, and the United States District Courts for the Central and Northern Districts of California.

Capabilities

• Appellate and Constitutional Law
• Class Actions
• Litigation

Credentials

Education:

• University of Chicago - 2018 Juris Doctor
• University of California, Berkeley - 2014 Bachelor of Arts

Admissions:

• California Bar

Clerkships:

• US Supreme Court, Hon. John G. Roberts, Jr., 2020 - 2021
• USDC, Northern District of California, Hon. Vince G. Chhabria, 2019 - 2020
• US Court of Appeals, 9th Circuit, Hon. Paul J. Watford, 2018 - 2019