Sheila Baynes
Counsel
Phone: (585) 304-7204
Sheila is a former U.S. Justice Department lawyer who advances her clients’ interests in litigation and investigations.
A brilliant lawyer with superb advocacy skills, Sheila graduated from Harvard College and New York University School of Law. She attended law school on the Root-Tilden-Kern scholarship and worked for leading legal scholars, including D.C. Circuit Judge Douglas H. Ginsburg, former NYU Law Dean and current OIRA Administrator Richard Revesz, former White House Counselor Jody Freeman, and former U.S. Sentencing Commissioner Rachel Barkow. Graduating from law school magna cum laude, Sheila received the Maurice Goodman Memorial Prize, which has been described as honoring those displaying the “promise to become a thought leader in the legal community.”
Sheila comes to Aurelian from practice at the highest levels. She started her legal career clerking at the U.S. Department of Justice’s Office of Legal Counsel, one of the most sought after positions in government. She then clerked for the Chief Judge of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, the Honorable Sidney R. Thomas. In 2015, Sheila entered the Honors Program at the U.S. Department of Justice, serving as a trial attorney in the Environment and Natural Resources Division and receiving the Assistant Attorney General’s Award for Excellence.
After her work at the Justice Department, Sheila handled high-stakes appeals at Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe LLP in Washington, D.C.
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Sheila considers investigations and litigation with the long view — not merely as to how matters may play out in front of a jury, but also how they will fare before appellate benches, all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court. She knows, however, that most successfully defended investigations never make their way to court. In defending organizations, she draws upon her extensive experience in government working across various federal agencies.
Noted by clients for her “gravitas,” Sheila is a natural leader. She spent more than a decade in education and leadership development, including time spent teaching high school in coastal Alaska and leading wilderness expeditions throughout North America.
Government Service
U.S. Department of Justice, Environment & Natural Resources Division
Trial Attorney, Honors Program, 2015-2019
U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Legal Counsel
Law Clerk, 2014
Clerkship
Hon. Sidney R. Thomas, Chief Judge, U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit
Law Clerk, 2014-2015
Education
New York University School of Law, 2014, J.D.
Harvard College, 2003, A.B.
Admissions
New York State
District of Columbia
Montana
W.D.N.Y.
E.D. Pa.
U.S. Courts of Appeals for First Circuit, Second Circuit, Fifth Circuit, Ninth Circuit, and D.C. Circuit
Recognition
Assistant Attorney General’s Award for Excellence.
New York University School of Law
Root-Tilden-Kern Scholar
Maurice Goodman Memorial Prize Winner
Butler Scholar
Furman Academic Scholar
Frank J. Guarini Leaders in Government Service Scholar
Order of the Coif
Articles Editor, New York University Law Review
Civic Affiliations
Trustee, National Susan B. Anthony Museum & House
Senior Field Faculty, National Outdoor Leadership School (NOLS)
Professional Highlights
Victory at the Supreme Court. Sheila was an author of the winning brief in Torres v. Madrid, 592 U.S. __ (2021), at the U.S. Supreme Court. The opinion secured greater rights for criminal suspects by embracing a broad view of the Fourth Amendment.
Defusing a False Claims Act threat. As counsel for a healthcare client facing hundreds of millions of dollars in a False Claims Act suit, Sheila developed an innovative defense approach that swiftly turned the tide in the litigation and led to the action’s prompt negotiated resolution.
Amicus author and strategist. Sheila has extensive experience with friend-of-the-court strategies and briefing. She has co-authored amicus briefs in Cruz v. Arizona, 598 U.S. __ (2023), Students for Fair Admissions, Inc. v. President & Fellows of Harvard College, 143 S. Ct. 2141 (2023), and Lacy v. City & Cnty. of San Francisco, 94 Cal. App. 5th 238 (2023). And in Sony Music Entertainment v. Cox Communications, 22-1451 (4th Cir. 2024), she assembled a broad-based amici coalition that helped convince an appeals court to reverse an unprecedented $1 billion copyright infringement verdict in an opinion defining the contours of secondary infringement on the internet.
Administrative law litigator. Sheila Baynes brings a deep understanding of litigation arising from the administrative process, including as first-chair appellate counsel in rulemaking challenges in Sierra Club v. EPA, 939 F.3d 649 (5th Cir. 2019), and Montana Environmental Information Center. v. Thomas, 902 F.3d 971 (9th Cir. 2018), where the Fifth and Ninth Circuits adopted her arguments in precedential opinions.