Sheila Baynes

Sheila is an astute legal strategist who draws on her experience in courtrooms, boardrooms, and within the halls of the U.S. Department of Justice to best position her clients and advocate for their interests.

A graduate of Harvard College, Sheila attended New York University School of Law on the nation’s premier public service scholarship, the full-tuition Root-Tilden-Kern Scholarship. There, she worked for leading legal scholars, including former NYU Law Dean and current OIRA Administrator Richard Revesz, D.C. Circuit Judge Douglas H. Ginsburg, former White House Counselor Jody Freeman, and former U.S. Sentencing Commissioner Rachel Barkow. Sheila graduated from law school magna cum laude, winning recognition with the Maurice Goodman Memorial Prize, which is awarded for outstanding and passionate academic achievement and the “promise to become a thought leader in the legal community.”

Sheila honed her skills at the highest levels. After law school, she earned a coveted position clerking at the U.S. Department of Justice’s Office of Legal Counsel, which provides controlling legal advice to the Executive Branch. Sheila also clerked for the Chief Judge of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, the Honorable Sidney R. Thomas. Sheila then entered the U.S. Department of Justice’s Honors Program as an Environmental and Natural Resources Division trial attorney, where she litigated trials and appeals and negotiated cases to resolution, receiving the Assistant Attorney General’s Award for Excellence. She spent her next four years handling high-stakes appeals at Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe LLP, including as an author on the winning brief in Torres v. Madrid, 592 U.S. __ (2021).

Sheila’s government experience included work across over a dozen federal agencies, including the Environmental Protection Agency, the Department of Energy, and the Defense Department. She is an adept tactician, particularly in navigating highly regulated sectors and crafting legal strategies that will hold up on appellate review. Sheila is also a natural leader, having spent more than 10 years in education and leadership development, including teaching high school in coastal Alaska and coaching people of all ages in leadership and wilderness skills on expeditions in remote settings throughout North America.

PROFESSIONAL & CIVIC AFFILIATIONS

• Senior Field Faculty, National Outdoor Leadership School (NOLS)

HONORS & AWARDS

• New York University School of Law
  • Root-Tilden-Kern Scholar
  • Maurice Goodman Memorial Prize Winner
  • Butler Scholar
  • Furman Academic Scholar
  • Frank J. Guarini Leaders in Government Service Scholar
  • Order of the Coif
  • Articles Editor, New York University Law Review
• Assistant Attorney General’s Award for Excellence

REPRESENTATIVE EXPERIENCE

Selected Prior Firm Representations

• Vindicated client’s Fourth Amendment rights before the U.S. Supreme Court as co-author of briefs in Torres v. Madrid, 592 U.S. __ (2021).
• Drafted dispositive motions for healthcare client leading to resolution of multi-hundred-million-dollar liability exposure in federal False Claims Act case.
• As counsel to municipal clients, helped persuade California appellate court to reinstate municipal law set aside by trial-level court as co-author of amicus brief in Lacy v. City & Cnty. of San Francisco, 94 Cal. App. 5th 238 (2023).
• As amicus counsel to legal scholars, helped persuade U.S. Supreme Court to permit appellate review of criminal defendants’ legal arguments as co-author of briefs in Cruz v. Arizona, 598 U.S. __ (2023).
• Co-authored appellate briefs and coordinated amicus strategy in pending appeal of $1 billion copyright judgment in Sony v. Cox, 22-1451 (4th Cir.).
• Worked on amicus brief on behalf of businesses in the STEM field in Students for Fair Admissions, Inc. v. President & Fellows of Harvard College, 143 S. Ct. 2141 (2023).
• Represented death row inmate in certiorari petition to U.S. Supreme Court in Whatley v. Warden, 593 U.S. __ (2021).

Selected Government Representations

• Won rulemaking petitions, as first-chair appellate counsel, before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, Sierra Club v. EPA, 939 F.3d 649 (5th Cir. 2019), and before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, Montana Envt’l Inf. Ctr. v. Thomas, 902 F.3d 971 (9th Cir. 2018).
• Succeeded on trial-level dispositive motions in various cases, including summary judgment on remand from the Supreme Court in Sackett v. EPA, 566 U.S. 120 (2012).
• Managed the representation of numerous federal agencies in mediation with more than 100 other parties as to resolution of Portland Harbor CERCLA liabilities.
• Defeated preliminary injunction motions by the State of Washington and others, seeking to impede nuclear and other hazardous waste cleanup at the U.S. Department of Energy’s Hanford site. Hanford Challenge v. Moniz (E.D. Wash. Nov. 15, 2016).

NEWS

• November 7, 2023 | In The News
  Harter Secrest & Emery Adds Orrick Litigator In NY
• November 3, 2023 | Press Releases
  HSE Welcomes Sheila Baynes to its Government & Internal Investigations Practice