On Wednesday, the U.S. law firm Paul Hastings announced the hiring of Benjamin Snyder, a government lawyer who argued a significant case on federal agency powers before the U.S. Supreme Court earlier this year. Snyder will join the firm’s Washington, D.C., office as a partner and co-chair of its appellate practice.
Snyder previously served as an assistant to the U.S. solicitor general, representing the federal government in appellate and Supreme Court cases. A Paul Hastings spokesperson confirmed that Snyder will begin at the firm in early December, leading the appellate practice alongside current co-chair Stephen Kinnaird.
Snyder left the solicitor general’s office in mid-September after five years. He represented the U.S. government in oral arguments regarding a North Dakota convenience store’s challenge to a Federal Reserve regulation on debit card “swipe fees.”
The case centered on whether the store should be bound by a six-year statute of limitations to challenge the 2011 regulation, given that it opened for business in 2018 after the deadline had passed.
The Supreme Court sided with Corner Post in July, marking a series of rulings that favored opponents of agency power.
That same week, the Court also restricted agencies’ use of their internal judges and overturned the 1984 precedent known as “Chevron deference,” which required judges to defer to agency interpretations of ambiguous laws.
Snyder noted that new lawsuits filed against TikTok on Tuesday accuse the social media platform of harming and failing to protect young people. He expressed excitement about advising clients on these emerging legal issues and helping them navigate potential outcomes.
Snyder anticipates that a significant portion of his practice will focus on administrative law challenges and False Claims Act cases. Before joining the solicitor general’s office in 2019, Snyder spent six years as an associate at Latham & Watkins and served as a clerk for U.S. Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts.
