Biography
Lee R. Crain is a litigation partner in the New York office of Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher. Mr. Crain’s practice focuses on a broad-range of high-stakes trial and appellate litigation in both federal and state courts. Mr. Crain has experience litigating cases involving media and entertainment, tech, employment disputes, and the First Amendment. Mr. Crain also has significant experience with crisis counseling and fast-paced, emergency litigation and has led teams seeking or defending against temporary restraining orders and preliminary injunctions in multiple matters.
Mr. Crain has argued before federal and state courts (trial and appellate) in high-profile cases, including defeating a motion for a temporary restraining order filed against a former Prime Minister of Mongolia in State Agency for Policy Coordination v. Batbold (N.Y. Sup. Ct.), prevailing on a preliminary injunction motion in the firm’s historic First Amendment victory in Turner v. USAGM (D.D.C.), as well as successfully defending against motions to dismiss certain claims in litigation filed against members of the Trump Administration in Buchanan v. Trump (D.D.C.). Mr. Crain has participated as a lead associate on some of the firm’s recent historic victories, including CNN v. Trump, Karem v. Trump, Turner v. USAGM, and Roman Catholic Diocese of Brooklyn v. Cuomo, and has been a core member of multiple trial teams. Mr. Crain’s work has been covered in The Washington Post, NPR, CNN and other outlets both domestic and foreign.
Mr. Crain graduated first in his class from the University of Michigan Law School, summa cum laude, where he received the Henry M. Bates Memorial Scholarship Award—the law school’s highest honor. Mr. Crain also received the Daniel H Grady Prize and the Class of 1908 Memorial Scholarship, for highest class standing at the end of the second and third years, respectively, and certificates of merit for highest exam scores in civil procedure, criminal law, criminal procedure, contracts, jurisdiction & choice of law, and legislation & regulation. Mr. Crain served as an editor on the Michigan Law Review, where he published a note on civil liberties and national security, and was a semifinalist in the Campbell Moot Court Competition and later a member of the competition’s executive board.
Before joining the firm, Mr. Crain served as a law clerk to the Honorable Paul J. Watford of the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit and the Honorable Sidney H. Stein of the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York.
Mr. Crain is admitted to practice in the State of New York as well as before the United States District Courts for the Southern and Eastern Districts of New York and the District of Columbia as well as the United States Courts of Appeals for the Second, Ninth, and District of Columbia Circuits. Mr. Crain is also admitted in the United States Supreme Court.