Liz Clark Rinehart

Partner
Rinehart Liz

Liz Clark Rinehart represents clients in complex class action, commercial litigation, and regulatory investigation matters involving violations of consumer protection statutes, antitrust, false advertising, misappropriation of trade secrets, unfair competition, and constitutional challenges to legislation and agency rulemaking. Liz advises clients in litigation involving the Sherman Act, the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA), the Lanham Act, and other Federal Trade Commission (FTC), Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), and state attorney general enforcement matters, as well as matters involving the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) and the Postal Regulatory Commission (PRC).

Her litigation experience spans the entire litigation life cycle, from pre-litigation strategy to appellate practice, but Liz is also passionate about helping clients avoid litigation through robust compliance reviews, business-savvy counseling, and strategic advocacy.

Liz maintains a diverse pro bono practice, including representing individuals in post-conviction and immigration proceedings and before the U.S. Supreme Court. She is also an active participant in Venable’s associate training and mentoring programs.

Experience

Representative Matters

  • Leading a litigation team for putative class action matters under the Maryland Consumer Protection Act and Maryland Consumer Debt Collection Act, including briefing a successful motion to dismiss
  • Second-chaired a trial in federal court that brought claims for civil aiding and abetting and unjust enrichment related to a multi-million-dollar fraudulent scheme
  • Primary drafter for appellate brief that prevailed in upholding an order dismissing as a sanction a federal enforcement action based on government misconduct during discovery
  • Defending a telecommunications company in matters alleging violations of the Sherman Act and FCC rules
  • Member of team representing a poultry producer against multiple class actions brought under the Sherman Act and state consumer protection statutes
  • Member of a trial team that obtained a multi-million-dollar verdict in federal court based on fraud claims
  • Member of a team that represented a technology company that provides cloud-based platforms to the healthcare industry, in a "junk fax" class action in Maryland federal court, and representing the company with respect to a related petition for an expedited declaratory ruling pending before the FCC
  • Member of a team that represented a nail salon in a putative class action in Florida state court, alleging unsolicited autodialed telemarketing calls and calls to telephone numbers contained on the National Do Not Call Registry; plaintiff voluntarily dismissed her case (without settlement)
  • Member of a team that represented a home security provider in a TCPA class action of first impression in Oklahoma federal court, arising out of telemarketing calls placed by a lead generator that utilized soundboard technology, and representing the company with respect to a related petition for an expedited declaratory ruling pending before the Federal Communications Commission
  • Member of a team that represented a top online women's fashion store in a putative TCPA class action in Florida federal court, alleging the use of an autodialer to send marketing text messages to consumers without their consent
  • Member of a team that successfully removed a putative consumer class action to federal court and obtained an order compelling individual arbitration that was upheld by the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals
  • Member of a team that successfully defended a payment processing company that was the subject of a CFPB investigation; the investigation was closed without any recommended enforcement action
  • Member of an appellate litigation team that successfully defended the dismissal with prejudice of trade secret misappropriation and related claims in excess of $50 million on behalf of an Italian software company in the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals
  • Successfully defeated a motion to remand to state court based on lack of Article III standing in a putative class action
  • Member of a team that obtained a dismissal for lack of personal jurisdiction in a trade secret misappropriation case against an international chemical technology company
  • Represented a company facing a breach of contract lawsuit and negotiated a confidential settlement for significantly less than demanded

Insights

Credentials
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Education

  • J.D. magna cum laude University of Maryland School of Law 2015
    • Order of the Coif
    • Certificate in Environmental Law
    • Sam Allen Memorial Prize for Excellence in Leadership and Scholarship
    • Joseph Bernstein Award for Legal Writing
    • Judge Simon E. Sobeloff Prize for Constitutional Law
    • Editor in Chief, Maryland Law Review
  • B.A. Social Work Salisbury University 2011
  • B.A. Russian Language and Literature magna cum laude University of Maryland 2003
    • Phi Beta Kappa
    • Honors Program
    • Dobro Slovo National Slavic Honor Society

Bar Admissions

  • District of Columbia
  • Maryland

Court Admissions

  • U.S. Supreme Court
  • U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit
  • U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit
  • U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit
  • U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit
  • U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit
  • U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit
  • U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit
  • U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia
  • U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland

Clerk Experience

  • The Honorable Diana Gribbon Motz U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit
  • The Honorable Roger W. Titus U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland

Recognition
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  • Super Lawyers, Rising Star, 2021 – 2023
  • The Best Lawyers in America, Ones to Watch, 2021 – 2025