Archis A. Parasharami, a litigation partner in Mayer Brown's Washington DC office, is a co-chair of the firm's Consumer Litigation & Class Actions practice, recently named by Law360 as one of the top five class action groups of the year. He also is a member of the firm's Supreme Court & Appellate practice.
Archis was named by The National Law Journal in 2011 as one of the "Minority 40 Under 40," which identifies minority lawyers who have had significant influence in their practice areas over the past five years.
Archis routinely defends businesses in class action litigation in federal and state courts around the country. He frequently speaks on developments in the class action arena, and has been quoted on a number of occasions in the National Law Journal, Corporate Counsel, and the Wall Street Journal Law Blog.
He is a co-editor of Class Defense (www.classdefenseblog.com), the firm's blog on key issues affecting class action law and policy.
Archis has been recognized for his skills both in drafting arbitration agreements-particularly in the consumer and employment contexts-and in litigating the enforceability of those agreements. Most notably, Archis was one of the Mayer Brown lawyers who represented AT&T Mobility in AT&T Mobility LLC v. Concepcion, in which the US Supreme Court held that the Federal Arbitration Act preempts state-law rules that would refuse to enforce arbitration agreements solely because they waive class actions. Archis represented the company at all stages of the case, starting from the district court all the way to the Supreme Court, where Archis helped write the winning briefs. Along with his colleagues, he also represented one of the petitioners in Marmet Health Care Center, Inc. v. Brown, in which the US Supreme Court summarily reversed the West Virginia Supreme Court's categorical refusal to enforce all pre-dispute arbitration agreements that apply to personal-injury or wrongful-death claims against nursing homes as preempted by federal law.
Archis also maintains a substantial appellate practice, drafting briefs in the U.S. Supreme Court, federal and state appellate courts, and trial courts around the country
Archis attended Princeton University and Harvard Law School. He joined Mayer Brown in 2003 after clerking for Judge Leonard I. Garth of the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit.