DANA L. KAERSVANG 

PARTNER

Dana joined Deutsch Hunt in 2025 after over fifteen years at the Department of Justice in the Civil Division’s Appellate Staff. 

Dana is an experienced appellate advocate who has handled a wide range of civil litigation in cases involving the government.  She has served as appellate counsel in over 130 matters and argued almost fifty cases in eleven federal courts of appeals. 

Practice and Background

While at the Department of Justice, Dana developed deep expertise in litigating challenges to executive actions, particularly under the APA, and in complex procedural and threshold issues that arise in tort suits against the United States under the Public Health Service Act, the Federal Tort Claims Act, and Bivens.  She partnered with federal agencies at all stages of litigation from pre-litigation strategic planning through post-litigation compliance.  She also drafted petition-stage and merits-stage U.S. Supreme Court filings for the Office of the Solicitor General and assisted with their argument preparation. 

Immediately after law school, Dana served as a law clerk for Judge Stephen Reinhardt on the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit.  She then served as a Bates Fellow at the South African Human Rights Commission, a Fulbright Fellow in The Netherlands at the Appellate Chamber of the International Criminal Tribunals for Rwanda and the Former Yugoslavia, and a staigiare at the European Court of Justice in Luxembourg before joining the Department of Justice through the Honors Program in 2009.

Dana earned her B.S.E. (Bachelor of Science and Engineering) in computer science cum laude from Princeton and spent several years designing software for Goldman Sachs before law school. Dana then studied law at the University of Michigan Law School, where she received her J.D. summa cum laude.  She was on the editorial board of the Michigan Law Review and was a recipient of awards for the highest G.P.A. after first and second years as well as the Bates Award (the law school’s highest honor, awarded to three students annually).

Selected Matters

Federal Courts of Appeals

  • Kelley v. Richford Health Ctr., Inc., 115 F.4th 132 (2d Cir. 2024): Successfully defended the government’s interpretation of the Federally Supported Health Centers Assistance Act in challenge to Department of Health and Human Services’ denial of coverage for a federally funded health center.

  • Mobility Workx, LLC v. Unified Patents, LLC, 15 F.4th 1146 (Fed. Cir. 2021): Successfully defended funding structure of the Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) against due process challenge.

  • Nat'l Postal Policy Council v. Postal Regulatory Comm'n, 17 F.4th 1184 (D.C. Cir. 2021): Successfully defended Postal Regulatory Commission’s decision to allow above-inflation rate increases as consistent with statutory authority and the Administrative Procedure Act's requirement of reasoned decision-making.

  • Owner-Operator Indep. Drivers Ass'n v. United States DOT, 858 F.3d 980 (5th Cir. 2017); Int'l Bhd. of Teamsters v. United States DOT, 861 F.3d 944 (9th Cir. 2017): Successfully defended Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration's grant of permanent operating authority to motor carriers domiciled in Mexico from challenge under the APA.

  • Actelion Pharm., Ltd. v. Matal, 881 F.3d 1339 (Fed. Cir. 2018); Mohsenzadeh v. Lee, 790 F.3d 1377 (Fed. Cir. 2015); Novartis AG v. Lee, 740 F.3d 593, 595 (Fed. Cir. 2014): Successfully defended Patent and Trademark Office’s method for calculating patent term adjustments.

  • Zivotofsky v. Sec'y of State, 725 F.3d 197 (D.C. Circ. 2013), affirmed sub. nom. Zivotofsky v. Kerry, 576 U.S. 1 (2015): Prevailed in establishing that the power to recognize foreign sovereigns is held solely by the Executive and a statute providing that individuals born in Jerusalem should have Israel listed as the place of birth on their passports was unconstitutional because it interfered with the President's exclusive recognition power.

  • Nat'l Fed'n of Indep. Bus. v. Sebelius, 567 U.S. 519, 530 (2012): As part of a team, successfully defended the Affordable Care Act from constitutional challenge.

T: (202) 888-0404

dkaersvang@deutschhunt.com

Degrees

  • J.D., University of Michigan School of Law, summa cum laude, 2006

  • B.S.E., Princeton University, cum laude, 1999

Clerkship

  • U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit (Reinhardt, J., 2006-2007)

Bar Memberships

Not a member of the D.C. Bar (application pending).

Admitted to practice in Colorado, and before the United States Supreme Court, and the United States Courts of Appeals for the First, Second, Fourth, Fifth, Ninth, Tenth, and D.C. Circuits.