Robert S. Peck

President

Robert S. Peck, founder and president of CCL, is among the most sought-after appellate litigators within the plaintiffs’ bar. He is credited with having developed groundbreaking constitutional challenges to laws impeding access to courts. He regularly appears before the U.S. Supreme Court and state supreme courts, litigating cases on the merits as well as at the petition stage. Bob’s diverse practice includes state and federal constitutional law, complex civil litigation, federal preemption, personal jurisdiction, punitive damages, products liability, mass torts, consumer protection, and Section 1983 cases. 

Bob has taught advanced constitutional law and state constitutional law at The George Washington University Law School and American University Washington College of Law as a member of the adjunct faculty. He is a past chair of the Board of Advisors of the RAND Corporation’s Institute for Civil Justice; past member of the Board of Directors of the National Center for State Courts; a member of the advisory committee of the Civil Justice Research Institute at the University of California, Berkeley; and a Leaders Forum member of the American Association for Justice. Bob is a past president of the U.S. Supreme Court Fellows Alumni Association and the Freedom to Read Foundation, and a past national chair of Lawyers for Libraries. He has received the prestigious AV Preeminent rating from Martindale Hubbell for both legal ability and ethical standards.

Select Representations

Bank of America Corp. v. City of Miami, 137 S.Ct. 1296 (2017) (represented the city in a Fair Housing Act case against major banks where the Supreme Court upheld the City's standing to sue) 

In re Chinese-Manufactured Dry Wall Prod. Liab. Litig., 2020 WL 3885081 (5th Cir. 2020) (sustained personal jurisdiction over parent company located in China)

In re Kemp, 894 F.3d 1038 (8th Cir. 2018) (represented Arkansas Supreme Court in obtaining dismissal of lawsuit seeking access to justices' internal deliberations)

Estate of McCall v. United States, 134 So.3d 894 (Fla. 2014) (represented plaintiffs in a case in which the Florida Supreme Court struck down cap on non-economic damages that applied to claims for wrongful death caused by medical negligence as a violation of equal protection under the Florida Constitution)

Philip Morris USA. v. Williams, 129 S. Ct. 1436 (2009) (lead counsel for plaintiff in case concerning propriety of state-law ground for decision on remand from U.S. Supreme Court)

Philip Morris USA v. Williams, 549 U.S. 346 (2007) (lead counsel for plaintiff in case concerning constitutional standard for federal excessiveness review of punitive damages awards)

Jinks v. Richland County, 538 U.S. 456 (2003) (successful petition, merits briefing and argument on constitutionality of supplemental jurisdiction statute’s tolling provision)

Bradley v. Sebelius, 621 F.3d 1330 (11th Cir. 2010) (as lead appellate counsel, successfully represented plaintiffs in case concerning whether the federal government, like its beneficiary, is entitled to only a proportionate recovery under the Medicare Secondary Payer Act, 42 U.S.C. § 1395y(b), when a beneficiary compromises a tort or other claim and recovers a reduced amount)

In Re: Petition to Amend Rules Regulating The Florida Bar Rule 4-1.5(f)(4)(B), 939 So.2d 1032 (Fla. 2006) (represented the Academy of Florida Trial Lawyers before the Florida Supreme Court in opposing a petition to change the rules of professional conduct so that waivers of limitations on contingency fees would be unethical; court ruled waivers permissible)

State ex rel. Ohio Academy of Trial Lawyers v. Sheward, 715 N.E.2d 1062 (Ohio 1999) (lead appellate counsel in precedent-setting case concerning constitutionality of omnibus tort “reform” law).

Select Publications

Articles

For Trailblazers, When the U.S. Constitution is Not Enough, 45 New Engl. L. Rev. 855 (2011).

A Separation-of-Powers Defense of the “Presumption Against Preemption,” 84 Tulane L. Rev. 1185 (2010).

New Supreme Court Justices and the “Freshman Effect,” 4 Charleston L. Rev. 149 (2009).

Violating the Inviolate: Caps on Damages and the Right to Trial by Jury, 31 U. Dayton L. Rev. 307 (2006).

The Development of the Law of Joint and Several Liability, 55 FDCC Q. 465 (2005).

Tort Reform’s Threat to an Independent Judiciary, 33 Rutgers L.J. 835 (2003).

Books

Libraries, Cyberspace and the First Amendment (ALA Editions 2000); The Bill of Rights and the Politics of Interpretation (West Publishing 1992); We the People: The Constitution in American Life (Harry Abrams 1987).

Television

Executive producer and senior scriptwriter for the award-winning 1987 PBS series, We the People.

Awards & Honors

Bob is an AV Preeminent Peer Review Rated attorney (Martindale-Hubbell). An October 2010 survey of the defense bar and corporate counsel named Bob one of the top 75 plaintiffs’ lawyers in the country in terms of expertise and effectiveness; he was the only purely appellate lawyer on the list. Bob has received the American Association for Justice's David S. Sharger Award (2014); the New Jersey Association for Justice’s Gold Medal award (2009); the Trial Lawyers of Metropolitan Washington; D.C.’s Champion of Justice Award (2008); the Academy of Florida Trial Lawyers’ S. Victor Tipton Award (2002); the American Bar Association’s Pursuit of Justice Award (2001); Trial Lawyers for Public Justice’s Public Justice Achievement Award (2001); the 1988 White House Citation for Public-Private Partnerships; and the U.S. Information Agency’s Award for Outstanding Service (1987).