Attorney with local roots is making a name in public policy and law

Union-Endicott graduate, Joshua Riley, was recently named one of Washington, D.C.’s Top 40 lawyers under 40, and was also honored to be named the American Lawyer’s Litigator of the week with his law partner, Mike Gottlieb, for their work fighting “fake news.” 

This1999 graduate of Union Endicott High School graduated from College of William and Mary in Virginia. In High School he was editor of his school newspaper. He graduated seventh in his class of 1,350 at the College of William and Mary.  

Josh spent his breaks from college working for Congressman Maurice Hinchey, eventually serving as a Staff Assistant in the Congressman’s Capitol Hill office.  The experience taught Josh that the purpose of public service is to give a voice to those who otherwise might go unheard, and it inspired Josh to pursue a career in public policy and law.

Josh went on to attend Harvard Law School, where he graduated in the top 10 percent of his class and earned the Dean’s Award for Community Leadership. Josh spent the summer following his first year of law school serving on Senator Edward Kennedy’s Labor and Pensions Committee staff, where Josh worked to protect the Family and Medical Leave Act from attacks by big corporations who sought to weaken it.

After law school, Josh accepted a job in south Florida, representing low-income and special needs children in a landmark civil rights lawsuit brought to improve their access to health care. Josh also successfully represented workers who had been cheated out of their wages by a big corporation and consumers who had been defrauded in a pyramid scheme.

Josh later accepted a one-year clerkship with a prominent federal judge on the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals in Los Angeles, where Josh wrote legal memoranda and helped draft opinions on constitutional law.

After his clerkship, Josh served as Senator Al Franken’s General Counsel on the Senate Judiciary Committee, where he developed a reputation for brokering bipartisan agreements with his colleagues. Senator Franken publicly described Josh as  “brilliant and hardworking” and “an exceptionally skilled attorney whose sound counsel I have relied on for over three years.”  

Josh currently is a Partner with Boies Schiller, Flexner, LLP, which the Wall Street Journal has described as “a Litigation powerhouse” and Forbes has called  “one of the most prolific litigation boutiques in the world.” Josh has submitted briefs in Supreme Court cases involving federal immigration laws, campaign finance laws and civil rights issues, among others.    

Josh also received the Union Endicott Alumni Award for making a difference in the lives of others in 2017. 

Upon being named one of Washington, D.C.’s Top 40 lawyers under 40, Josh stated that he is grateful to his colleagues for the opportunity to have such a challenging and rewarding legal practice.”   

Josh was born and raised in Endicott, an area where his parents and grandparents continue to reside.