Jaime Santos

Practice Areas

Jaime A. Santos is co-chair of Goodwin’s Appellate and Supreme Court Litigation practice, a member of the firm’s ERISA Litigation and Life Sciences Disputes groups, and co-chair of Goodwin’s Dobbs Task Force. Her work in appellate litigation, ERISA litigation, IP Litigation, and DEI issues have led to her being recognized as a DC Rising Star by the National Law Journal, a Rising Star by Law360, and a Top 250 Women in Litigation by Benchmark Litigation.

Jaime’s work focuses on appellate matters and complex civil litigation in federal courts, including ERISA litigation, patent litigation, class actions, constitutional law, and product litigation. She has argued before the Supreme Court of the United States and more than half of the federal courts of appeals. Most recently, Jaime successfully argued before the Supreme Court in Wilkinson v. Garland, an important case about the reviewability of immigration decisions that the Court decided 6-3 in favor of our client Situ Wilkinson, and she recently won two significant ERISA appeals before the Third and Eleventh Circuits on behalf of firm clients MetLife and John Hancock.

Jaime also regularly speaks publicly about matters affecting the Supreme Court, as well as diversity and bias within the legal profession. She previously co-hosted the Supreme Court podcast Strict Scrutiny and has been a guest on numerous podcasts and programs, including NPR’s All Things Considered, the National Constitution Center’s podcast We the People, and Bloomberg’s podcast Cases and Controversies. Jaime currently serves as on the Board of Directors of the Washington Lawyers’ Committee and has served on the Executive Committee of the Edward Coke Appellate Inn of Court (the first American Inn of Court dedicated to appellate practice), the MacArthur Justice Center Supreme Court & Appellate Advisory Board, the National Women’s Law Center’s Leadership Advisory Council, and as an appellate mentor for The Appellate Project—an organization committed to empowering law students of color to thrive in the appellate field.

Jaime maintains an active pro bono practice and was the 2023 winner of Robert B. Fraser Award, which Goodwin presents annually to one partner who has provided significant service to pro bono clients. She has also received awards for her commitment to pro bono civil rights work from the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights and from Goodwin.

In addition to her pro bono practice, Jaime has been a thought leader in preventing and addressing bias and harassment in the legal profession. She speaks at conferences across the country, has testified before the Senate Judiciary Committee and Judicial Conference of the United States, has advised state and federal courts on improving the policies and processes governing inappropriate conduct in the workplace, and has published several articles on the topic.

Before joining Goodwin in 2013, Jaime served as a law clerk to the Honorable George H. King of the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California, and to the Honorable Raymond C. Fisher of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. In law school, she was a supervising editor for the Harvard Law Review.

Personal

JD, Harvard Law School 2011 (magna cum laude); BA, University of San Diego 2005 (summa cum laude)