Michael J. Showalter

Michael Showalter is the founding partner of Showalter PLLC and leads the firm's litigation and appellate practice. He handles appellate representation, complex commercial litigation, amicus briefs, and legal analysis and predictive assessment for companies, organizations, and individuals. He previously practiced in the Washington, D.C. offices of Gibson Dunn and Wiley Rein, focusing on Supreme Court and appellate matters.

U.S. Supreme Court. Michael has drafted merits and certiorari-stage briefs at the U.S. Supreme Court on behalf of clients including a defense contractor in a statutory-interpretation case, an energy company in a Takings Clause case, an automobile company in a retirement-plan case, an energy company in an administrative-law case, and a fitness company in a personal-jurisdiction case. He has also drafted Supreme Court amicus briefs, including a brief in the landmark case SEC v. Jarkesy that made arguments ultimately advanced by Justice Neil Gorsuch in a concurring opinion.

U.S. Courts of Appeals. Michael has drafted dozens of briefs before the federal courts of appeals. These cases span constitutional law, administrative law, complex commercial litigation, statutory interpretation, and contract interpretation. He has presented oral argument before a D.C. Circuit panel on behalf of a broadband provider challenging an FCC order; the panel took the unusual step of praising his argument in its opinion.

Trial courts. At Gibson Dunn, Michael was a leader on a team representing a foreign mining company in a multijurisdictional effort to enforce an international arbitration award of approximately $500 million, which included prosecuting fraudulent-transfer claims against judgment debtors. Michael is serving on a trial team in a complex commercial matter pending in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida. Michael has also drafted dozens of trial-court motions and dispositive briefs. And two years out of law school, he defeated Microsoft pro se in a trial-level adjudication before the U.S. Trademark Trial and Appeal Board.

Scholarship. Michael has written ten published or forthcoming law review articles, including with the Harvard Journal of Law & Public Policy; George Mason Law Review; Wake Forest Law Review; and Georgetown Journal of Law & Public Policy. Michael has also published in Law360 and Bloomberg Law. He has taught constitutional law at Catholic University and has presented at various law schools and legal organizations.

Law & AI thought leadership. Michael has written law review articles on law and AI published with the Notre Dame Law Review, Ohio State Law Journal, and SMU Law Review. Michael's social media writing on law and AI has been viewed by hundreds of thousands. The AI Firm Index, a third-party directory and scoring system that evaluates law firms on AI integration, describes Showalter PLLC as “a genuinely interesting early-stage entrant” whose “ambition is credible.”