JUSTIN C. PFEIFFER

Justin C. Pfeiffer is licensed to practice law in both California and Texas and offers clients a wealth of experience in serving as attorney of record in both states.

Mr. Pfeiffer has litigated complex constitutional, civil rights, commercial, administrative, criminal matters in federal and state courts throughout the country. He has successfully argued at two different federal courts of appeal and at state courts of last resort. Mr. Pfeiffer has appeared in the Supreme Court of the United States as counsel of record on three separate occasions, the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit as counsel of record seven times, including on behalf of seven million people, the Supreme Court of Texas twice, and once in the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals where he represented 42% of the population of Texas.

The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals, which is the highest court in Texas for criminal matters, adopted Mr. Pfeiffer’s arguments—on behalf of Texas’ urban county prosecutors—that the Texas Constitution does not allow the Texas Legislature to provide to provide the Office of the Attorney General of Texas with independent authority to initiate criminal prosecutions. Stephens v. State, 663 S.W.3d 45 (Tex. Crim. App. 2021), rehearing denied, 664 S.W.3d 293 (Tex. Crim. App. 2022). This highly significant decision requires the Texas Attorney General to obtain the local prosecutor’s consent before the Texas Attorney General may prosecute criminal offenses related to elections, and other hot-button issues, including abortion, public corruption, and the Texas Legislature’s efforts to equate the illegal status of some migrants with criminality.

In addition to three of the high court’s judges losing their seats, including Presiding Judge Sharon Keller, the Texas Attorney General has now enacted onerous administrative regulations to blunt the effect of Stephens. Some of the district attorneys have retained Mr. Pfeiffer to file suit to invalidate the same.

After graduating Order of the Coif from Michigan Law School, Mr. Pfeiffer began his legal career as a law clerk to Judge William B. Shubb of the Eastern District of California in Sacramento, California. Immediately thereafter, he served as a law clerk to Judge Priscilla R. Owen, née Richman, of the Fifth Circuit in Austin, Texas. He received a B.A. from the University of Virginia where he was elected to Phi Beta Kappa and finished in the top 1% of his class.

Mr. Pfeiffer’s substantive federal experience includes the following areas of law: securities, constitutional, civil rights, environmental and land use, administrative, patent, copyright, federal criminal, federal death penalty, habeas and death penalty, employment, immigration, bankruptcy, and civil and criminal procedure. As evidenced by his published opinions, he is a leading expert on the Constitution of Texas.

In private practice, Mr. Pfeiffer served as lead counsel for Bela and Marta Karloyi in the California Nassar Cases, securing a dismissal of the causes of actions against them and their entities. Mr. Pfeiffer has represented a major mutual fund provider against class actions alleging claims under federal securities law and state law. He helped achieve dismissal of the state-law claims and substantially limited the federal claims. He helped achieve an interlocutory reversal, pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1292(b), of the district court’s conclusion that a federal securities statute provided a private right of action thereby saving the client from discovery.

Mr. Pfeiffer is bilingual in Castilian Spanish. He attended the University of Salamanca between undergraduate and law school where he completed coursework with native Spaniards and other Latin American students Mr. Pfeiffer has extensive connections throughout the Spanish-speaking world and has been decorated by foreign governments for merit.