Peter Karanjia

Partner and Chair Administrative Law Appellate practice, DLA Piper LLP

Peter Karanjia is a partner at DLA Piper LLP (in its Washington, D.C., and New York offices) and chairs the firm’s Administrative Law Appellate Practice.  In 2017, Karanjia was appointed to the ACS Board of Directors and was elected board chair from 2019 to 2023.

From 2010 to 2013, Karanjia served as Deputy General Counsel of the Federal Communications Commission.  In that role, Karanjia supervised all of the agency’s litigation—including defending the FCC’s first net neutrality rules in the D.C. Circuit.  Previously, as Special Counsel to the Solicitor General of New York, Karanjia argued several major appeals, including the successful defense of a first-of-its kind statute requiring online retailers to collect state taxes.  Karanjia received the New York Attorney General’s Award in 2010.

Karanjia focuses on appellate, regulatory, and complex litigation.  He is also active in pro bono and civic work, regulatory representing amici before the U.S. Supreme Court in constitutional cases, such as the litigation challenging the Trump administration’s rescission of the DACA program (on behalf of United We Dream and 50 other organizations); the litigation challenging President Trump’s “Travel Ban” executive orders (on behalf of more than 130 Members of Congress); and the litigation defending fair-share union fees against First Amendment challenge (on behalf of U.S. Senators Sheldon Whitehouse and Richard Blumenthal).  Karanjia also has represented media organizations and press associations (including The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Guardian, The Intercept, BuzzFeed, Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press, and The Center for Investigative Reporting) in cases raising novel First Amendment issues in connection with digital media.

Karanjia holds law degrees from Harvard Law School, where he studied as a John F. Kennedy Scholar, and the University of Oxford, from which he graduated with highest honors.