MICHAEL B. DESANCTIS, Managing Partner, Washington, DC Publications · Professional Activities Washington, DC Office Office: (202) 637-6323 Fax: (202) 639-6066 Email: mdesanctis@jenner.com  Add to Outlook Contacts

Michael B. DeSanctis is Managing Partner of Jenner & Block’s Washington, DC office.  He is a member of the Firm’s Litigation Department and Co-Chair of the Election Law and Redistricting Practice.  He is also a member of the Creative Content and Communications Practices.  Mr. DeSanctis serves on the Firm's Management Committee.

Mr. DeSanctis has been recognized for three consecutive years in Chambers USA as a leading lawyer in Washington, DC.  Clients commended Mr. DeSanctis’s courtroom experience and described him as “a terrific advocate.”  Mr. DeSanctis was also named in the Legal 500 U.S.(2009), for litigation and telecommunications, where clients described him as “superb” and as “a credit to the firm and to the profession.”   In July 2009, Mr. DeSanctis was recognized by The National Law Journal in its "40 Under 40: Washington's Rising Stars," feature as one of Washington, DC’s most prominent rising stars for his litigation work in the entertainment industry.  The Firm was also selected as 2010 "Copyright Firm of the Year" by Managing Intellectual Property magazine.

Mr. DeSanctis maintains an active and diverse litigation practice.  Mr. DeSanctis regularly represents clients in the recorded music industry, television and other sectors of the entertainment industry.  His litigation practice in this area has focused on issues involving new technologies and the Internet, as well as on more traditional copyright infringement matters.  His work has involved precedent-setting litigation in federal courts, industry-wide royalty rate-setting proceedings concerning satellite radio and other digital distribution channels before the Copyright Royalty Board, and pre-litigation counseling to clients on a broad range of novel copyright and digital technology law issues.  Notable matters include In Re Determination of Rates and Terms, 2006-1 (CRB 2008) (establishing more than 300% increase in royalty rates for sound recordings performed by satellite radio stations); Atlantic Recording Corp., et al. v. XM Satellite Radio, Inc. (S.D.N.Y. 2007) (establishing new precedent limiting scope  of defenses under the Audio Home Recording Act).  Mr. DeSanctis is currently representing Viacom, Inc. in its copyright infringement case against Google and YouTube (S.D.N.Y.) and SoundExchange, Inc. in its rate-setting proceeding against the webcasting industry before the CRB.

In the broader field of communications, Mr. DeSanctis represents leading telecommunications companies in the federal courts and before the Federal Communications Commission in a wide range of telecommunications matters.  Mr. DeSanctis regularly appears as lead counsel for national communications companies in enforcement matters before  the FCC’s Enforcement Bureau and the FCC’s Office of the Inspector General.  In addition, Mr. DeSanctis had first-chair responsibility for one of the nation’s leading telecommunications companies in over 50pieces of litigation under the Telecommunications Act of 1996.  Mr. DeSanctis argued over a dozen appellate matters in courts throughout the country involving novel issues of pricing, interconnection, access and ISP-related issues.  E.g., MCIMetro Access Transmission Servs. v. BellSouth Telecomms. Inc., 352 F.3d 872 (4th Cir. 2003).

Mr. DeSanctis also has an active complex civil litigation practice.  His trial and appellate litigation work in this area has focused on a diverse range of substantive fields including administrative law appeals, product liability cases, and commercial contract disputes.  His commercial litigation work has included class action defense, multi-district litigation (MDL), and domestic and international arbitration.  Mr. DeSanctis has successfully defended Fortune 500 companies in federal court breach of contract and misappropriation of trade secrets litigation, defeated putative nationwide class actions, and engineered novel settlements in MDL proceedings involving over 200 pieces of litigation. 

As Co-Chair of the Firm’s Election Law and Redistricting practice, Mr. DeSanctis has litigated numerous congressional redistricting cases from in the 2000 cycle, and has been involved in numerous election law and voting rights cases in the 2004 and 2008 congressional and presidential election cycles.   

Mr. DeSanctis received his J.D. cum laude from New York University School of Law and his B.A. summa cum laude from Boston College.  He is admitted to practice in the District of Columbia, New York and New Jersey.

Publications and Presentations:

• The Realists’ Guide To Redistricting: Avoiding The Legal Pitfalls (2010) (co-author)
• How To Survive And Thrive In The Digital Environment: A Cross-Industry Perspective On Managing The Risks And Of On-Line Piracy And Taking Advantage Of Business Opportunities In The Digital Age (2008)
• Managing the Risks and Costs of Class Action Litigation (2009, 2007)