Of Counsel
John M. Pellettieri joined the firm in 2025 and represents clients in litigation matters at both the trial and appellate levels. John joined the firm from the United States Department of Justice, where he worked in the Appellate Section of the Criminal Division and served on details to the Office of Special Counsel Jack Smith and the United States Attorney’s Office for the District of Maryland. He has briefed and argued more than 50 appeals in every federal court of appeals except the Federal Circuit, including three en banc cases. He has also drafted over a hundred Supreme Court briefs at the merits and certiorari stages. At the trial level, he has handled complex motions, factual hearings, and trial. For his work at the Department of Justice, he received the John Marshall Award, the Department’s highest award to attorneys for exceptional legal performance. Prior to joining the Department of Justice, John worked at a litigation boutique in New York City, where he represented clients in criminal and regulatory proceedings and civil litigation.
John received his J.D. from Yale Law School and his A.B. from Dartmouth College. After law school, he served as a law clerk to the Honorable Michael Chertoff of the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit and the Honorable Colleen McMahon of the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York. He is a member of the Edward Bennett Williams Inn of Court and has taught criminal procedure as an adjunct professor at American University Washington College of Law.
John can be reached at