Thomas Sprankling
California
WilmerHale LLP
2600 El Camino Real
Suite 400
Palo Alto, California 94306
Tel: +1 650 858 6000
Email:
thomas.sprankling@wilmerhale.com
Web:
www.wilmerhale.com
Thomas Sprankling is a Partner in WilmerHale’s Appellate and Supreme Court Litigation Practice, based in the firm’s Palo Alto office. His practice focuses on complex appellate and trial-court briefing, with particular strength in intellectual property and technology disputes. He also handles a broad range of appellate matters arising from the western United States, including cases involving contract disputes, federal preemption, constitutional issues, and other significant questions of law.
Thomas has substantial experience before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, where he has presented oral argument and filed more than two dozen briefs. He was part of WilmerHale teams that secured decisions vacating a $2.75 billion patent judgment in 2022 and a $500 million award in 2023. He has also argued multiple times before the Ninth Circuit and the California Court of Appeal.
His Supreme Court practice is similarly extensive. Thomas has filed briefs in more than 20 U.S. Supreme Court matters, including petitions for certiorari, merits briefs, and amicus submissions. His work has addressed issues ranging from patent and immigration law to constitutional questions. In 2022, he served as counsel of record on two amicus briefs that were cited in the Court’s eventual decisions.
His appellate work has earned repeated professional recognition. Thomas has been named to the Daily Journal’s Top 40 Under 40 list, recognized as a Lawyer on the Fast Track by The Recorder, selected as a 40 Under 40 recipient by the Silicon Valley Business Journal, and included in Best Lawyers: Ones to Watch for appellate practice and commercial litigation. He has also been recognized by Lawdragon and Northern California Super Lawyers.
Before joining WilmerHale, Thomas clerked for Judge Alex Kozinski of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit and for Justice Anthony M. Kennedy of the U.S. Supreme Court. He earned his J.D. from Columbia Law School in 2012, where he received the Ruth Bader Ginsburg Prize for finishing in the top one percent of his class and served as Executive Articles Editor of the Columbia Law Review. He previously earned his B.A., with distinction, in History and Politics from Pomona College.
WilmerHale’s Appellate practice handles complex and high-stakes matters before the U.S. Supreme Court, federal courts of appeals, and state appellate courts. The team also assists with significant legal issues in trial courts and provides strategic appellate advice across a broad range of industries and substantive areas.
The practice has exceptional depth in Supreme Court and appellate advocacy. It is co-chaired by former U.S. Solicitor General Seth Waxman, who has argued more than 85 cases before the Supreme Court, and Mark Fleming, who has argued eight. Several other members of the group have also appeared before the Supreme Court, while the broader team has argued several hundred appeals in federal and state appellate courts.
Since 2023, WilmerHale lawyers have delivered more than 100 oral arguments across numerous state and federal appellate courts, including the U.S. Supreme Court and multiple federal circuits. The firm also has particularly extensive experience before the Federal Circuit, reflecting the practice’s ability to handle technically demanding and precedent-setting appeals.
Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr LLP, commonly known as WilmerHale, is an international law firm advising corporations, financial institutions, technology companies, life sciences businesses, governments, nonprofit organizations, and individuals on complex legal, regulatory, and strategic matters. The firm has offices across the United States, Europe, and Asia and is particularly well known for its capabilities in high-stakes litigation, investigations, regulatory matters, intellectual property, and sophisticated transactions.
The firm’s multidisciplinary practice spans litigation and dispute resolution, corporate and transactional matters, investigations and white-collar defense, intellectual property, antitrust and competition, securities, financial services regulation, labor and employment, tax, privacy and cybersecurity, public policy, and regulatory counseling. Its lawyers work across sectors including technology, life sciences, financial services, aerospace and defense, energy, media, communications, and consumer products.
WilmerHale emphasizes collaboration across offices and practice groups, assembling integrated teams to address matters involving multiple jurisdictions, regulatory regimes, and commercial considerations. The firm combines deep subject-matter knowledge with a practical understanding of clients’ broader business and strategic objectives, supporting them through major disputes, government investigations, significant transactions, regulatory challenges, and other complex legal matters.
“Thomas has developed an impressive appellate practice at the intersection of technology, IP, and complex federal litigation. His experience before the Federal Circuit and U.S. Supreme Court gives him exceptional range in matters involving difficult legal questions and substantial financial stakes.”