Lide E. Paterno
Counsel
Areas of Focus
- Supreme Court & Appellate
- Disputes & Investigations
- Administrative & Regulatory Litigation
- International Disputes
- Supreme Court & Appellate: Indian Tribes
- Practice concentrates on federal and state appellate litigation and on providing strategic advice to clients appearing before trial courts and agencies.
A member of the Supreme Court and appellate practice, Lide has represented clients in various stages of appellate and trial litigation, as well as in international arbitration. As a former clerk to a federal appellate judge, he applies firsthand insights into how courts analyze and decide important cases and an in-depth appreciation for what makes a brief and oral argument persuasive.
Lide has authored countless briefs filed in the U.S. Supreme Court and the federal courts of appeals, has presented oral argument in several federal appellate courts, and has drafted pleadings and motions filed in trial courts at the federal and state levels.
Lide also regularly provides critical strategic guidance on constitutional, administrative law, and statutory interpretation questions concerning draft legislation and pending litigation. He maintains an active and wide-ranging appellate pro bono practice.
Prior to joining Akin, Lide practiced appellate and trial litigation as an associate at another Washington, D.C., law firm and served as a law clerk to the Honorable Paul V. Niemeyer of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 4th Circuit. While in law school, he served as a legal intern at the U.S. Department of Justice and Department of State.
Prior to law school, Lide worked as a child advocate at a public interest law firm in Charlotte, NC, served as a paralegal in the Office of the Legal Adviser at the U.S. Department of State, and carried out community development and refugee-related projects in East Africa. He is the founder and president of a non-profit organization expanding access to education in Tanzania.
Lide attended the University of Virginia School of Law on a Hardy Cross Dillard Scholarship, graduated Order of the Coif, and received the Mary Claiborne & Roy H. Ritter Prize for honor, character and integrity, the Roger and Madeleine Traynor Prize for the best written work in his class, and the Raven Society Scholarship for leadership, scholarship and community service.
- Representing the Lac du Flambeau Band of Lake Superior Chippewa Indians at the U.S. Supreme Court following successful cert petition presenting the question whether the Bankruptcy Code abrogates tribal sovereign immunity.
- Representing the petitioner at the U.S. Supreme Court in a case concerning the scope of a district court’s jurisdiction to review an invalid sentence under the federal habeas statute.
- Representing the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Authority in various challenges to a new federal law concerning national regulation of horseracing, including presenting oral argument in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit.
- Successfully opposed a petition for a writ of certiorari—and a recommendation by the U.S. Solicitor General that the petition be granted—to protect a precedent-setting D.C. Circuit ruling that foreign officials charged with torture could not invoke conduct-based immunity.
- Secured a favorable decision from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit overturning section 1782 discovery order.
EducationJ.D., University of Virginia School of Law, 2015
A.B., Princeton University, magna cum laude, 2006
J.D., University of Virginia School of Law, 2015
A.B., Princeton University, magna cum laude, 2006
ClerkshipsU.S.C.A., 4th Circuit
U.S.C.A., 4th Circuit
Bar AdmissionsDistrict of Columbia
Virginia
District of Columbia
Virginia
- The Best Lawyers in America, Ones to Watch: Appellate, 2022.
- Super Lawyers, Rising Star, Appellate, 2021.
- The Legal 500 US, Appellate: Courts of appeals / supreme courts (states and federal), 2023.
- The Legal 500 US, Appellate: Supreme Courts (states and federal), 2022.
- Lide is the Founder and President of a non-profit organization expanding access to education in Tanzania.
- Edward Coke Appellate Inn of Court