Stephanie Schuster

Stephanie is a recognized appellate lawyer and seasoned oral advocate. Clients across industries trust Stephanie to argue high-stakes motions and appeals and to lead complex litigation in the trial court. She is committed to brief-writing excellence for every client and in any forum.

Stephanie is sought for her creative and practical approach to difficult legal issues and litigation matters. Clients turn to Stephanie to defend against novel discrimination claims under 42 U.S.C. § 1981, Title II of the Civil Rights Act, the Fair Housing Act, Section 1557 of the Affordable Care Act, the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), the Rehabilitation Act, California’s Unruh Civil Rights Act, the New York State Human Rights Law, and similar laws. In particular, Stephanie regularly defends DEI and supplier-diversity programs and litigates emerging issues that arise from the application of established laws to new technologies, including artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning, autonomous vehicles, websites, and apps. She also helps clients navigate civil rights investigations by the US Department of Justice and state regulators.

Stephanie has significant experience briefing and arguing motions to compel arbitration and related interlocutory appeals under the Federal Arbitration Act. In these cases, Stephanie has litigated many questions relating to preemption and enforcing arbitration agreements against nonsignatories.

Stephanie is also committed to LGBTQ+ rights. Over the course of her career, Stephanie’s pro bono efforts have included developing business-focused amicus curiae briefs on marriage equality in the US Supreme Court and various US Courts of Appeals, representing transgender service members challenging the now-withdrawn ban on transgender persons openly serving in the US military, and obtaining asylum for a woman persecuted by Salvadoran authorities for her sexual orientation. Most recently, Stephanie represented (in the US District Court for the Western District of Kentucky, the US Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit, and the US Supreme Court) parents and families challenging a Kentucky law prohibiting doctors from administering certain medications to transgender adolescents, contrary to the standard of care. 

Stephanie is the local practice group leader for Morgan Lewis’s litigation practice in Washington, DC. She also co-leads both the firm’s DEI and Affirmative Action Task Force and LGBTQ+ Lawyer Network.

• Secured an important victory with implications for the entire retail industry in a decision affirming the dismissal of claims that retailers must sell braille gift cards to comply with the ADA (Second Circuit)
• Secured reversal and vacatur of a broad, nationwide injunction issued against a major online retailer under Section 10(j) of the National Labor Relations Act (Second Circuit)
• Secured affirmance of ruling for large retailers that price-comparison claims are not cognizable under Missouri’s consumer protection statute (Eighth Circuit)
• Secured affirmance of a trial win for a rideshare technology company against claims that it violated the ADA by not spending tens of millions of dollars to guarantee rides in wheelchair-accessible vehicles (Ninth Circuit)
• Secured affirmance of a post-trial judgment as a matter of law on behalf of a US railroad against an employee’s claim that he was entitled to bring his service animal to work despite his ability to perform all essential job functions without doing so (Eighth Circuit)
• Secured an appellate victory for a statutory retiree benefit fund in a case of first impression under the Coal Industry Retiree Health Benefits Act (Coal Act) (DC Circuit)
• Secured an appellate victory for an automobile manufacturer in a case of first impression involving the whistleblower provisions of the Moving Ahead for Progress in the 21st Century Act (MAP 21) (Eighth Circuit)
• Secured a significant appellate victory for a rideshare technology company in a decision imposing important limitations on Article III standing of individual plaintiffs and the scope of the private right of action for entity plaintiffs under Title III of the ADA (Seventh Circuit)
• Secured an appellate victory for a US railroad on the issue of whether stock railroads transfer to employees is subject to a federal tax on “money remuneration,” creating a 2–1 circuit split, which the Supreme Court ultimately resolved in the railroad’s favor (Eighth Circuit)
• Secured a path-marking victory for a web-only marketplace in the first federal appellate decision holding that Title III of the ADA, which applies to “places of public accommodation,” does not apply to the websites of web-only businesses (Ninth Circuit)
• Secured reversal of a district court’s decision denying an online travel company’s motion to compel arbitration on the ground that the company’s ability to modify its terms and conditions rendered the entire contract illusory (Fifth Circuit)
• Secured an appellate victory for a local school district holding that individuals lack standing to pursue Establishment Clause claims when they do not claim to have been exposed to the challenged governmental conduct (Second Circuit)
• Secured reversal of the Social Security Administration’s decision denying benefits to an individual with multiple disabilities (DC Circuit)