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JUSTIN DILLON

PARTNER

A former Assistant United States Attorney with dozens of trials under his belt, Justin Dillon now uses his years of litigation and investigative experience to defend clients in Title IX and campus discipline cases and in complex, high-stakes white-collar criminal investigations.


Justin has gained nationwide attention for his work representing students and professors in campus misconduct cases, which he and his firm have handled at more than 100 schools nationwide. Along with his partner Chris Muha, he co-authored Title IX Hearings and Litigation: A Practitioner’s Guide, published by The Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression and available here to any member of FIRE’s Legal Network.


While most of his cases are successfully resolved on campus, Justin is not afraid to take it all the way to court—he was the first lawyer in the country to win summary judgment against a university in a campus sexual assault case, and he has never lost a lawsuit against a college. 

In his white-collar practice, Justin has successfully defended the General Counsel of a public company in a foreign-bribery investigation, helped a government contractor avoid criminal charges after a lengthy federal investigation, and represented numerous individuals and small-business owners.


Justin also frequently represents government employees under investigation for alleged ethical or criminal misconduct, including a former Cabinet secretary, a former Senate-confirmed head of a federal agency, and many other federal employees and federal prosecutors. He has extensive experience with Offices of Inspector General and the Justice Department’s Office of Professional Responsibility (OPR). He is also the former white-collar crime columnist for the website Above the Law; a collection of his columns is available here.


Earlier in his career, Justin worked for the Civil Rights Division of the Justice Department and later spent five and a half years as a federal prosecutor in Washington, DC, where he led more than 100 Grand Jury investigations, tried more than 60 criminal cases, and handled more than a dozen appeals.


Justin has been recognized by Chambers & Partners in Litigation: White-Collar Crime & Government Investigations in Washington, DC. He has also been recognized by Best Lawyers© in the category Criminal Defense: White-Collar; named by Super Lawyers as one of the Top Rated White Collar Crime Attorneys in Washington, D.C.; and selected by Washingtonian Magazine as one of Washington’s Best Lawyers in Criminal Defense.


Justin is licensed to practice law in the District of Columbia and the Commonwealth of Virginia.

  • Legal 500 Justin Dillon Recommended Attorney 2023

    • EDUCATION

    • J.D., Harvard Law School. Editor, Harvard Law Review; Captain, Winning Team, Ames Moot Court Competition
    • B.A., Duke University, magna cum laude

    RECOGNITION

    • Recognized by Best Lawyers® 2023
    • The Legal 500 Recommended Attorney 2023
    • Rated Super Lawyers® 5 Years
    • Recognized by Best Lawyers® 2022

    GOVERNMENT SERVICE

    • Assistant United States Attorney, District of Columbia
    • Trial Attorney, Housing & Civil Enforcement Section, Civil Rights Division, United States Department of Justice
    • Clerkship, The Honorable David M. Ebel, United States Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit

    RECOGNITION & SPEAKING ENGAGEMENTS

    Justin is a member of the Edward Bennett Williams Inn of Court, an invitation-only professional organization devoted to white-collar practice, and the John Carroll Society. He teaches trial advocacy at Harvard Law School and has guest-lectured on criminal law and Title IX matters at Harvard, George Washington University, American University, and the University of Maryland. He is the former chair of the Continuing Legal Education Committee of the D.C. Bar and a member of the Board of Directors of Families Advocating for Campus Equality, a nonprofit organization devoted to bringing greater due process protections to campus disciplinary proceedings.


    SPEAKING ENGAGEMENTS:

    • American Bar Association 
    • National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers
    • Virginia State Bar
    • District of Columbia Bar
    • Colorado Bar Association
    • Harvard Law School (video here)
    • Defense of Freedom Institute (video here)
    • The Federalist Society
    • University of Kentucky's Center for Research on Violence Against Women
    • The Association of Title IX Administrators
    • The Higher Education Consultants Association
    • Virginia Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers


    PUBLICATIONS

    Justin has also been published or quoted in more than a dozen national newspapers and magazines, including The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Los Angeles Times, USA Today, National Review, and The Chronicle of Higher Education.


    Here is a sample:



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