Parker Rider-Longmaid

In Reed v. Goertz, No. 21-442, 143 S. Ct. 955 (2023), Mr. Rider-Longmaid led a team from Skadden, the Innocence Project, and other firms to secure a U.S. Supreme Court victory for longtime pro bono client Rodney Reed, a Texas death-row inmate who has steadfastly maintained his innocence for more than two decades. Mr. Rider-Longmaid argued the case, his first before the Supreme Court, in October 2022, after convincing the Court to grant review in April 2022. In April 2023, the Court sided with Mr. Reed, reversing the Fifth Circuit and holding that his 42 U.S.C. § 1983 suit seeking DNA testing of crime-scene evidence was timely. The decision has significant ramifications for inmates with innocence claims seeking access to DNA testing.

Reed was one of four Supreme Court merits cases that Skadden’s Supreme Court and Appellate Practice briefed and argued during the Court’s 2022 Term — more than almost any other law firm. Mr. Rider-Longmaid helped guide strategy and lead drafting in each of those cases. He has also helped convince the Court to grant review in two cases for the upcoming October 2023 Term.

Beyond the Supreme Court, Mr. Rider-Longmaid also plays leading roles in the Practice’s major matters before the federal courts of appeals. His work ranges from constitutional and administrative law to tax, preemption, arbitration, antitrust, bankruptcy, class-certification, and employment, as well as federal Indian law, criminal defense and habeas corpus, and voting rights. Mr. Rider-Longmaid’s work has led to significant wins, including:

• A groundbreaking victory for the Eaton Corporation in Sixth Circuit transfer-pricing cross-appeals with more than $350 million at stake, where the court stated the “tax collector” is not “above the law” and “sid[ed] with Eaton on all issues presented.” Eaton Corporation & Subsidiaries v. Commissioner, 47 F.4th 434, 436-37 (6th Cir. 2022)
• An 8-4 victory on behalf of Preferred Collection and Management Services, Inc., before the en banc Eleventh Circuit, which ordered the district court to dismiss the plaintiff’s Fair Debt Collection Practices Act claim for lack of Article III standing — a first-of-its-kind en banc opinion after the Supreme Court’s decision in TransUnion LLC v. Ramirez, 141 S. Ct. 2190 (2021). Hunstein v. Preferred Collection & Management Services, Inc., 48 F.4th 1236 (11th Cir. 2022) (en banc)
• A precedent-setting victory for Airlines for America (A4A) before the Ninth Circuit, which held that civil penalties can make government action regulatory and subject it to federal preemption, and remanded the case for the district court to consider A4A’s preemption arguments under the Airline Deregulation Act, Employee Retirement Income Security Act, and Railway Labor Act. Airlines for America v. City and County of San Francisco, 78 F.4th 1146 (9th Cir. 2023)
• A victory for Viking USA LLC in the Second Circuit, which held that the U.S. Maritime Administration reasonably determined that a lease of a vessel allowed Viking to operate cruises along the Mississippi River, and that the agency complied with its notice-and-comment requirements — a question of first impression in the courts of appeals. American Cruise Lines v. United States, --- F.4th ---, No. 22-1029, 2024 WL 1122340 (2d Cir. Mar. 15, 2024)

Mr. Rider-Longmaid maintains an active pro bono practice, representing clients in criminal, habeas, immigration, and constitutional cases at all levels of the federal courts. For example, he secured a Fourth Circuit win for a defendant erroneously sentenced as a career offender, United States v. Cannady, 63 F.4th 259 (4th Cir. 2023), and habeas relief for a client whose criminal defense attorney failed to provide him with the effective assistance of counsel guaranteed by the Sixth Amendment, Cook v. Foster, 948 F.3d 896 (7th Cir. 2020), following oral arguments in which judges praised his advocacy.

In recognition of his work, Mr. Rider-Longmaid was named a 2023 D.C. Rising Star by The National Law Journal and one of The Legal 500’s 2023 Rising Stars of the appellate bar, in addition to being repeatedly selected as one of Best Lawyers’ Ones To Watch in America (including in its 2024 edition). He was also recognized as one of Business Insider’s 2022 Rising Stars of the Courtroom. Mr. Rider-Longmaid’s success before the U.S. Supreme Court and federal courts of appeal contributed to Skadden’s recognition on The National Law Journal’s 2023 Appellate Hot List.

Before joining Skadden, Mr. Rider-Longmaid worked at another global law firm and served as a law clerk to Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg (2016 to 2017). From 2015 to 2016, he served as a Bristow Fellow in the Office of the Solicitor General at the U.S. Department of Justice. During that time, he successfully argued a Second Circuit appeal, assisted with numerous cases before the Supreme Court and advised the Solicitor General on cases pending before the lower federal courts. Before that, Mr. Rider-Longmaid clerked for Judge Anthony J. Scirica of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit and Judge Gene E.K. Pratter of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania. Before law school, Mr. Rider-Longmaid taught seventh and eighth-grade math and science in the School District of Philadelphia as a Teach for America Corps member.