John Vail

Past Employment Positions

• John Vail Law, PLLC, 2013
• Center for Constitutional Litigation, P.C., Vice President and Senior Litigation Counsel, 2002 – 2013
• The George Washington University Law School, Professorial Lecturer in Law, 2007 – 2009
• Association of Trial Lawyers of America, Senior Counsel and Associate Director for Constitutional Litigation, 1998 – 2001
• Center for Law and Education, Staff Attorney, 1997 – 1998
• Catawba Valley Legal Services, Inc, Executive Director, 1990 – 1997
• Catawba Valley Legal Services, Inc, Litigation Director, 1988 – 1990
• Center for Defense of Human Rights, Budapest, Hungary, 1995
• New Mexico Legal Services Support Project, Project Director, 1984 – 1988
• Legal Services of Upper East Tennessee, Inc., Attorney, Senior Attorney, and Litigation Director, 1980 – 1984
• National Labor Relations Board, Trial Attorney, 1980

Published Works

• Big Business Acts the Bully, National Law Journal, August 4th, 2008
• The Real Issue Is Jurors’ Rights, National Law Journal, February 4th, 2008
• Big Money v. The Framers, Yale L.J. (The Pocket Part), December, 2005
• Discrimination in Education: Some Thoughts on American Law and Experience, European Roma Rights Center (Budapest),, 2004
• The Invisible Constitution (Review of Eponymous Book by Laurence H. Tribe), 45 TRIAL 4, April, 2009
• Blame It on the Bee Gees: The Attack on Trial Lawyers and Civil Justice, 51 N.Y.L Sch. L. Rev.323, 2006
• Courts Resist Calls for Intervention in Physician Expert Testimony, 19 California Litigation 3, 2006
• The Menace of Mandatory Arbitration, 41 TRIAL 8, August, 2005
• Justice in Plainclothes: A Theory of American Constitutional Practice (Review of Eponymous Book by Lawrence Sager), 41 TRIAL 2, February, 2005
• Chipping at the Core of Justice 50 TRIAL 28, April, 2004
• State Courts Do the Work Federal Courts Can’t – and Shouldn’t, 50 TRIAL 68, January, 2004
• The Inside the Beltway Mentality: Three Beliefs Are Poisoning Our Legal System, NCATL Trial Briefs, Dec, 2003
• Access to Courts and Choice of Forum, NLADA Federal Litigation Manual, 2003
• Civil Rights Now, 38 TRIAL 59, September, 2002
• A Common Lawyer Looks at State Constitutions, 32 Rutgers L.J. 977, Summer, 2001
• Defeating Mandatory Arbitration Clauses, 36 TRIAL 70, January, 2000
• Six Questions in Light of J. McIntyre v. Nicastro, 63 S.C. L. Rev. 517, 2012
• Supreme Court Review: Mandatory Arbitration Revisited 48 Trial 1, January, 2012
• The People Shall Judge, ATLA Docket, Summer, 2010
• A Closer Look at State Constitutions (Review of The Law of American State Constitutions by Robert F. Williams), 46 TRIAL 6;, June, 2010

Representative Cases

• Beverly Enterprises v. Ping, 133 S.Ct. 1996 (Mem) (2013)
• American Express Company v. Italian Colors Restaurant, 133 S.Ct. 2304 (2013)
• Comcast v. Behrend, 133 S.Ct. 1426 (2013)
• Johnson v. Kindred Healthcare, No. SJC-11335 (Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts 2013)
• Warr .v. JMGM Group, LLC, No. 230 (Court of Appeals of Maryland)
• Coleman v. Soccer Association of Columbia, A.3d, 2013 WL 3449426 (Md 2013)
• CompuCredit v. Greenwood, 132 S.Ct. 665 (2012)
• J. McIntyre v. Nicastro, 131 S.Ct. 2780 (2011)
• Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. v. Dukes, 131 S.Ct. 2541 (2011)
• Witt ex rel. Estate of Witt v. U.S, 131 S.Ct. 3058 (Mem)
• Zuress v. Donley, 131 S.Ct. 3056 (Mem) (2011)
• AT&T Mobility LLC, v Concepcion, 131 S.Ct. 1740 (2011)
• Ruiz v. Podolsky, 50 Cal.4th 838, 237 P.3d 584 (2010)
• John J. Kane Regional Centers v. Grammer, 130 S.Ct. 1524 (Mem) (2010)
• Bennett v. Islamic Republic of Iran, 618 F.3d 19 (DC Cir 2010)
• Jones v. Halliburton, 625 F. Supp 2d 339 ((S.D.Tx.) 2008)
• D’Jamoos ex rel. Estate of Weingeroff v. Pilatus Aircraft Ltd, 130 S.Ct. 2340
• Mendez v. Puerto Rican National Companies, Inc, 553 F.3d 709 ((3d Cir) 2009)
• Peters v. Columbus Steel Castings Co, 115 Ohio St.3d 134, 873 N.E.2d 1258 (2007)
• Bundren v. Parriott, 245 Fed.Appx. 822 (10th Cir 2007)
• Melena v. Anheuser-Busch, Inc, 219 Ill.2d 135, 847 N.E.2d 99 (2006)
• Gourley v. Knolla, 265 Neb. 918 (2003)
• Milon v. Duke University, 355 N.C. 263 (2002)
• Lisanti v. Alamo Title Co, 137 N.M 750 (2002)
• University of Maryland Medical System Corp. v. Malory, 143 Md.App. 327, 795 A.2d 107 (Md.App 2001)
• Huffstetler v. North Carolina Dept. of Human Resources, 404 S.E.2d 880 (N.C.App. 1991)
• Marlow v. North Carolina Employment Sec. Com’n, 493 S.E.2d 302 (N.C.App. 1997)
• Martinez v. Bowen, 655 F.Supp.95 (1986)
• Hayes v. Secretary of Health, Education & Welfare, 656 F.2d 204 (6th Cir 1981)
• Snowden v. Secretary of Health, Education & Welfare, 648 F.2d 1082 (6th Cir 1981)

Community Service

I have served on numerous boards and committees over the years. My activities have been primarily related to law, civil liberties, poverty policy, and the environment.

I was President of the American Civil Liberties Union of Virginia 2005-2010, having served on its board since moving to the state in 1997. I was President of the American Civil Liberties Union of North Carolina in 1996 and 1997, having served on its board for 4 years prior to my Presidency.

I have been President of my local bar association and have served on the Council (governing body) of the Litigation Section of the North Carolina Bar Association. I have served on other state bar committees. I am a member of the American Bar Association and several of its sections.

I was a convener of the Poverty Task Force of the New Mexico Conference of Churches and of the Immigration Reform Act Task Force of Catholic Social Services in New Mexico.

I was a member of the North Carolina Education and Law Task Force, which gave birth to the North Carolina Education and Law Project.

I originated the idea for the North Carolina Budget and Tax Policy Center and I was a founding member of the board of directors of its parent organization, the North Carolina Justice and Community Development Center.

I have been a member of the Executive Committee of the North Carolina Chapter of the Sierra Club and have been active in the club for over 30 years. I was the first chair of The Advisory Commission for South Mountains State Park. I was a founder of the South Mountains Coalition and I helped that organization become the Foothills Conservancy of North Carolina. I have served on my local planning and zoning commission. I remember with great fondness my years of service on the board of directors of the Tennessee Environmental Council.

I am a member of the board of directors of the Velocity Bicycle Co-op, a not-for-profit organization devoted to promoting bicycling and community development, in part through refurbishing bicycles for donation to low-income persons and through employing low-income youth in bicycling-related activities.