Photo of Shiloh Rainwater

Shiloh Rainwater is an associate in the Litigation Department and a member of the Firm’s Appellate, Real Estate, and Mass Torts & Product Liability Groups. Shiloh’s practice spans a broad spectrum of appellate matters and complex commercial disputes, with a particular emphasis on contracts, bankruptcy, constitutional law, labor & employment, real estate, and securities.

Shiloh has successfully represented clients in high-stakes appeals in state and federal appellate courts across the country, including at the certiorari and merits stages in the U.S. Supreme Court. He has been part of the core team that prevailed at the Supreme Court on behalf of the Financial Oversight and Management for Puerto Rico in an 8-1 decision that recognized the Board’s sovereign immunity and at the First Circuit in numerous appeals stemming from Puerto Rico’s historic debt restructuring, including appeals seeking to overturn Puerto Rico’s $33 billion plan of adjustment. Shiloh also helped obtain a critical victory at the Eighth Circuit in an appeal raising a question of first impression concerning whether avoidance actions constitute saleable property of the bankruptcy estate. Several of these representations have earned “Litigator of the Week” runner-up and shout-out honors from The American Lawyer. He has also co-authored chapters of Principles of Appellate Litigation: A Guide to Modern Practice (PLI Press), a leading treatise on appellate practice that is updated annually.

At the trial level, clients routinely turn to Shiloh to handle the most difficult matters at every stage of litigation. Shiloh’s varied experience includes serving as the lead associate representing Walmart in opposing conditional certification of the largest FLSA collective action in history related to COVID-19 screening policies; Warner Brothers Discovery in a $150 million dispute over the value of a tendered interest in a joint venture; and Monsanto in litigating claims alleging that use of the herbicide Roundup causes non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma.

Shiloh maintains an active pro bono practice. For several years, he has provided pro bono representation to a veteran seeking vocational rehabilitation & employment benefits from the Department of Veterans Affairs. He has also represented prisoners asserting claims against prison officials for violations of their Eighth Amendment rights.

Before joining Proskauer, Shiloh served as a law clerk to the Honorable James O. Browning of the U.S. District Court for the District of New Mexico, one of the nation’s most prolific federal judges. He also clerked for the Honorable Gregory A. Phillips of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit.

Proskauer recently prevailed at the Second Circuit on behalf of our incarcerated pro bono client, James Thomas, in an appeal that determined that Mr. Thomas was not provided adequate notice before the district court entered summary judgment against him. Proceeding pro se, Mr. Thomas brought claims for civil rights violations under the Fourth, Eighth, and Fourteenth Amendments against prison officials related to multiple searches. Defendants moved for summary judgment and provided Mr. Thomas with a short and plain statement providing an overview of summary judgment procedure. Under the district court’s local rules, however, represented parties moving for summary judgment against pro se litigants must also provide the full text of the applicable rules governing summary judgment procedure to ensure adequate understanding of the complicated nature and serious consequences of the motion. Despite this requirement, the district court excused defendants’ failure to provide documentation of the rules because, in its view, the plain statement they provided sufficiently advised Mr. Thomas of his obligation to submit evidence in opposition to summary judgment. The district court then entered summary judgment against Mr. Thomas, in part because he failed to adduce evidence specifically controverting defendants’ factual assertions, as the rules require.