Peter Karanjia

Partner

Chair, Administrative Law Appellate Practice

Emailpeter.karanjia@us.dlapiper.com

About

Peter Karanjia is chair of DLA Piper's Administrative Law Appellate practice. Drawing on his experience as Deputy General Counsel of the Federal Communications Commission (2010 – 2013) and Special Counsel to the Solicitor General of New York (2007 – 2010), Peter focuses on appellate, government-facing, and complex civil litigation.

Law360 has selected Peter four times as an MVP of the Year for his "successes in high-stakes litigation." Chambers USA notes that Peter "has a broad range of experience in representing clients in high-stakes courtroom proceedings," adding that he is "widely regarded as one of the go-to folks for appellate work" and "is a tremendous intellect with strong litigation knowledge" (2026, 2025, and 2019 editions). The Legal 500 United States similarly describes Peter as a "[l]eading partner" who "assists clients in government investigations" (2026) and as "an expert appellate and civil litigator" (2022). Washingtonian magazine (2024) identifies Peter as a "Top Lawyer," and Lawdragon (2025) features Peter among "500 Leading Litigators in America" in the categories of appellate and complex commercial litigation.

Peter has substantial experience in new technology and Artificial Intelligence-related litigation, as well as litigation involving the telecommunications and media sectors. He has handled numerous cutting-edge cases in these areas, including a First Amendment challenge to Florida's first-of-its-kind social media "deplatforming" law and the defense of what appears to be the first defamation action based on outputs by an AI chatbot.

Peter is also actively involved in pro bono and civic work, including regularly filing amicus briefs in the United States Supreme Court on behalf of members of Congress, bar associations, and government officials. He is an elected member of the American Law Institute (which publishes Restatements of the Law, Model Codes, and Principles of Law) and serves on – and is a past chair of – the national Board of Directors of the American Constitution Society.

Areas of FocusLitigation, Arbitration and Investigations Antitrust and Competition Regulatory and Government Affairs Technology Telecoms Artificial Intelligence and Data Analytics

Bar admissionsDistrict of ColumbiaNew York

CourtsDistrict of Columbia Court of AppealsNew York Court of AppealsSupreme Court of the United StatesUnited States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia CircuitUnited States Court of Appeals for the First CircuitUnited States Court of Appeals for the Second CircuitUnited States Court of Appeals for the Third CircuitUnited States Court of Appeals for the Fourth CircuitUnited States Court of Appeals for the Fifth CircuitUnited States Court of Appeals for the Sixth CircuitUnited States Court of Appeals for the Seventh CircuitUnited States Court of Appeals for the Eighth CircuitUnited States Court of Appeals for the Ninth CircuitUnited States Court of Appeals for the Tenth CircuitUnited States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh CircuitUnited States Court of Federal ClaimsUnited States District Court for the Southern District of New YorkUnited States District Court for the Eastern District of New YorkUnited States District Court for the District of Columbia

EXPERIENCE

Silverado Fire Litigations (Orange County Super. Ct. Complex Civil Litigation) – Representing a national telecommunications service provider in more than 25 lawsuits collectively seeking more than US$500 million (including actions filed by the California Attorney General), as well as related regulatory investigations, arising out of a major California wildfire
Verizon/Frontier Acquisition (CPUC) – Representing Verizon at administrative hearings in connection with its US$20 billion acquisition of Frontier Communications
HHS Advocacy (HHS) – Representing a health care client before the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services concerning the legality of a privacy rule
FCC v. Consumers' Research (US Supreme Court) – Represented former FCC Chairs and Commissioners as amici in support of the constitutionality of the FCC's US$9 billion Universal Service program in landmark case involving the nondelegation doctrine. In upholding the program, the Court cited and relied on our amicus brief
AI Defamation Case (Gwinnett County Super. Ct. & N.D. Ga.) – Represented a leading artificial intelligence (AI) company in a first-of-its-kind defamation action based on outputs generated by a large language model chatbot. Case dismissed on summary judgment
NetChoice v. Moody (N.D. Fla.) – Obtained preliminary injunction enjoining enforcement of Florida's social media "deplatforming" statute. The court found that the statute likely violates the First Amendment, and the Supreme Court subsequently issued a favorable opinion endorsing key aspects of the district court’s reasoning while remanding for further proceedings
MetroPCS v. Picker (9th Circuit and N.D. Cal.) – Represented wireless carrier in a challenge to the California Public Utilities Commission's assessment of a surcharge imposed on users of pay-as-you-go wireless services. On remand from the Ninth Circuit, the district court agreed that the assessment was preempted by federal law, thereby foreclosing a CPUC collection proceeding seeking more than US$200 million in surcharges, penalties and interest
PSSI Global Services v. FCC (DC Circuit) – Represented CTIA-The Wireless Association as an intervenor before the DC Circuit in an appeal from a major FCC order that repurposed underutilized spectrum for 5G services in conjunction with the then-largest spectrum auction in FCC history
Neustar v. FCC (DC Circuit) – Represented CTIA-The Wireless Association and US Telecom as intervenors before the DC Circuit in an appeal from an FCC order selecting a new vendor to provide services under a contract worth more than US$400 million per year
CWA v. FCC (DC Circuit) – Represented T-Mobile in defense of an FCC order approving its US$26 billion merger with Sprint. CWA voluntarily dismissed its appeal
T-Mobile v. City of Roswell, Georgia (US Supreme Court) – Obtained reversal of an adverse Eleventh Circuit decision in litigation challenging a municipality's denial of a wireless provider's application to install a wireless facility
Ameren Corp. v. FCC (8th Circuit) – Represented NCTA-The Internet & Television Association as an intervenor in support of an FCC order limiting rents that communications providers must pay to electric utilities in order to use their facilities to provide broadband service. The court upheld the order, which the FCC anticipated would incentivize broadband deployment by saving internet service providers US$150-200 million per year
FTC v. T-Mobile (Western District of Washington) – Represented T-Mobile in the first ever enforcement action brought by the Federal Trade Commission against a telecommunications carrier under Section 5 of the FTC Act. As PC Magazine reported, this was "the second-largest mobile cramming settlement ever handed down." It is also one of a handful of global settlements involving the FTC, the FCC, and the Attorneys General from all 50 states and the District of Columbia

Awards

Pro Bono

Education

M.A., Law, University of Oxford, 2001

LL.M., Harvard Law School, 1998
John F. Kennedy Scholarship (full scholarship)

B.A., Law, University of Oxford, 1997
First Class Honors (highest honors)
Brasenose College Scholarships, (1994 and 1996)
Distinction in First-Year Examinations
Slaughter & May Prize

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