Indian-American attorney to be nominated by Trump as U.S. District Judge

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President Donald Trump announced July 24, his intent to nominate an Indian-American attorney from Pennsylvania as U.S. District Judge.

Jagan Nicholas Ranjan is slated to be nominated as United States District Judge for the Western District of Pennsylvania, to replace Judge Kim R. Gibson who retired.

A summa cum laude graduate of Grove City College in Pennsylvania, with a law degree cum laude from University of Michigan Law School, Ranjan is a partner at K&L Gates, which describes itself as a “fully integrated global law firm” with lawyers in five continents, representing leading global corporations in every major industry, capital markets participants and middle-market and emerging growth companies.

Ranjan’s practice focuses on a variety of complex litigation and arbitration (including class action defense and energy litigation), appeals, compliance counseling, and internal investigations, the Indian-American’s profile on the company website says.

Admitted to the bar in numrous states, Ranjan’s practice emcompasses different industries, such as the energy, commercial real estate, financial services, higher education, innovation, internet marketing, insurance, consumer, pharmaceutical, and transportation industries.

He has been selected by Chambers USA as one of the top commercial litigators in Pennsylvania multiple times, with clients commending his “creative approach and responsiveness.” He has been selected as a fellow with The Litigation Counsel of America, which is an invitation-only trial lawyer honorary, representing less than one-half of one percent of American lawyers. He serves as a 2017 fellow with the Leadership Council on Legal Diversity. He also serves as a member of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Litigation Center (state litigation advisory committee), advising the Chamber of Commerce on appellate amicus involvement throughout the country.

He is active in leading diversity initiatives within the firm and in the community, the law firm says, and for these efforts, he was a recipient of the Leadership Excellence Award, awarded by the Pittsburgh Leadership Conference.

Apart from handling complex litigation, Ranjan has counseled clients on cybersecurity and telecommunications class action liabilities and risks, including those associated with cyber data breaches and those associated with text messaging and junk faxes under the TCPA.

In addition to his class-action experience, Ranjan has served as lead counsel in complex commercial disputes; is qualified to act as an arbitrator for the American Arbitration Association; and is qualified to serve individually and on panels concerning commercial disputes, oil and gas disputes, and consumer disputes, among other matters, the company bio says.

Additionally, Ranjan has an active domestic arbitration practice, where in many cases, he has initially compelled the matter from court to arbitration. Six of these cases were taken to a full award in the last five years.

He also has an active pro bono practice, representing prisoners, criminal defendants, and religious entities in free speech, religious liberties, civil rights, criminal, and habeas cases, both at the trial level and on appeal. Several of these cases have garnered local and national media attention.

Since 2010, he has been one of the authors of the Pennsylvania Bar Institute’s Third Circuit treatise.