Ari Zymelman’s practice focuses on complex business litigation and counseling, especially on issues involving technology, including a wide range of government contracting issues, particularly those involving national defense.  Mr. Zymelman has litigated and counseled on bid-protests, termination issues, defective pricing, false claims, and other government contracting issues.  His experience also includes substantial antitrust and patent litigation.  Mr. Zymelman honed his technology expertise at the MITRE Corporation, a non-profit research lab which also manages federally-funded research centers.

Currently Mr. Zymelman represents L-3 Services, Inc. in lawsuits arising out of the Abu Ghraib disclosures.  After prevailing on the first wave of cases on motions to dismiss and for summary judgment, he successfully defended the judgments before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit (Saleh v. Titan Corp. 580 F.3d 1 (D.C. Cir. 2010), cert. denied, 131 S. Ct. 3055 (2011)), and is currently litigating similar issues in the Fourth Circuit.  Other recent first-chair representations include a two-week ICC arbitration on behalf of a power plant contractor in Afghanistan and a six-week damages trial in the Court of Federal Claims after establishing the government’s liability for breach of a timber supply contract on a summary judgment motion.  

Mr. Zymelman has also represented a government landlord in lease disputes involving the Americans with Disabilities Act.  In the antitrust arena, he has litigated for and provided counseling to plaintiffs and defendants on mergers, price discrimination, distribution issues, patent matters, and restraints of trade. 

Drawing on his work at MITRE researching applications for artificial intelligence to battlefield intelligence, Mr. Zymelman has represented and advised clients in a wide range of cutting-edge technology issues, from lawsuits over patents and other issues concerning optical scanners and computer software to bid protests over computer, communications, airplane, and technical support contracts.  He has also handled disputes involving technology valuation and Internet- and network-related antitrust claims.

Born in Newton, Massachusetts, and raised in Rockville, Maryland, Mr. Zymelman received his B.A., cum laude, in economics (with distinction) from Yale University in 1984.  After college, he worked as a member of MITRE’s technical staff and ran a year-long project for the Defense Advanced Projects Research Agency at the 9th Infantry Division investigating the use of expert systems by an infantry division intelligence staff.  Mr. Zymelman received his J.D., with honors, from the University of Chicago Law School, where he was a member of the Order of the Coif.  After clerking for Chief Judge Frank H. Easterbrook of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit, he joined Williams & Connolly LLP in 1989, and has been a longtime member of the firm’s technology committee.  Mr. Zymelman speaks conversational Hebrew.