Partner, Washington DC
1900 K Street NW
Washington, DC 20006-1108

TEL: 202.496.7727
FAX: 202.496.7756
EMAIL: lebner@mckennalong.com

PROFILE

Larry Ebner is an accomplished appellate litigator.  He founded and heads the firm’s Appellate Practice Group.  Clients and colleagues throughout the United States praise Larry for his brief writing, oral advocacy, and analytical skills. 

Larry specializes in representing companies whose products or services are regulated or procured by the federal government.  During the past 36 years, he has tackled an enormous variety of challenging legal issues in cases before the Supreme Court, federal courts of appeals, and state appellate courts.  This includes Larry’s nationally prominent role in advocating federal preemption of state-law liability claims involving federally regulated products such as pesticides, drugs, and medical devices. Recent examples of appellate issues that Larry has addressed include the following:

• Whether consumer protection is enhanced by express and/or implied preemption of product liability claims that are based on state-law duties which diverge from federal regulatory requirements
  
  
• Whether the patent exhaustion doctrine bars patent infringement suits against downstream commercial entities that purchase computer components from a manufacturer licensee and incorporate them into consumer end-products such as personal computers
  
  
• Whether the political question doctrine bars damages claims against government contractors that provide combat-related logistical support services to the U.S. military in Iraq
  
  
• Whether the state secrets privilege bars litigation challenging a prominent telecommunication company’s alleged assistance to the National Security Agency in connection with an alleged terrorist surveillance program
  
  
• Whether Congress intended federal courts to be the exclusive forum for adjudication of actions that directly implicate the war powers, sovereign immunity, and other fundamental interests of the United States
  
  
• Whether the BlackBerry^®  wireless email system is used “within the United States” under § 271(a) of the Patent Act even though components crucial to the system’s operation are located outside the United States
  
  
• Whether, and to what extent, the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act preempts state-law tort claims involving the use of pesticides
  
  
• Whether local governments are preempted from regulating the sale or use of pesticide products, including fertilizer-pesticide (“weed & feed”) combination products
  
  
• Whether the federal False Claims Act’s qui tam relator provisions are unconstitutional, and alternatively, how federal courts should interpret and apply the  statute’s “original source” jurisdictional requirement
  
  
• Whether the trivial risk of a genetically modified plant threatening the recreational or esthetic interests of an individual is sufficient to confer Article III standing
  
  
• Whether a defendant-intervenor, in the absence of an appeal by a federal agency defendant, can independently appeal a federal district court’s ruling that public interest group plaintiffs have Article III standing
  
  
• Whether the Federal Government can avoid traditional remedies such as restitution when it materially breaches a contract
  
  
• Whether a government contractor can pursue contractual remedies when the United States fails to comply with a congressional procurement policy protecting contractors against financial risks when performing research and development that is essential to national defense
  
  
• Whether non-appealable interlocutory rulings issued by federal district courts can be afforded offensive non-mutual collateral estoppel effect

In addition to handling appeals, Larry for more than three decades has represented the pesticide industry in declaratory judgment actions relating to federal regulatory policies and procedures, and has counseled pesticide producers and users on numerous federal and state regulatory, enforcement, and data compensation issues. See attachment for Larry's pesticide-related experience.

Prior to joining the firm in 1974, Larry served for two years as an Honors Program attorney in the Civil Division of the U.S. Department of Justice.  He was Office Managing Partner in the firm’s Washington, D.C. office between 1994-97.