Burt Rublin

Burt M. Rublin

Senior Counsel
Philadelphia

Burt M. Rublin is the Practice Leader of the firm's Appellate Group. Burt has a diverse practice, and for over 45 years, he has successfully handled numerous significant appellate matters, as well as complex commercial litigation and class actions in state and federal courts around the country.

He has substantial experience in defending consumer class actions brought against banks and credit card issuers involving a wide array of state and federal statutes. He also has considerable experience with the enforcement of arbitration clauses in consumer contracts and has prevailed on numerous motions to compel arbitration. In addition, Burt has handled many cases involving antitrust claims and has defended a number of defamation lawsuits.

Experience 

Representative Matters

Appellate Cases

  • Beneficial National Bank v. Anderson, 539 U.S. 1 (2003) (allowing national banks to remove usury cases to federal court)
  • American Manufacturers Mutual Ins. Co. v. Sullivan, 526 U.S. 40 (1999) (insurance companies not "state actors" under Federal Civil Rights laws)
  • KEM Res. LP v. Deer Park Lumber, Inc., 310 A.3d 142 (Pa. 2024) (statutory claim for accounting by one co-tenant against another is subject to six-year statute of limitations)
  • DiNardo v. Kohler, 304 A.3d 1187 (Pa. 2023) (“no felony conviction rule” barred psychiatric malpractice claim by confessed murderer)

Professional Highlights

Pro Bono Experience

  • Filed amicus curiae briefs in United States Supreme Court and Colorado Supreme Court on behalf of NAACP Legal Defense Fund and others arguing that Donald Trump should be disqualified from the 2024 Presidential primary ballot in Colorado pursuant to Section 3 of the Fourteenth Amendment of the Constitution because of his engagement in the January 6, 2021, insurrection at the United States Capitol.
  • Filed an amicus brief on behalf of the NAACP New Mexico State Conference in support of a successful effort to remove a New Mexico County Commissioner from office because of his participation in the January 6, 2021, insurrection at the United States Capitol. This was the first time since 1869 that a court disqualified a public official under Section 3 of the Fourteenth Amendment of the Constitution. State of New Mexico ex rel. White v. Griffin, 2022 N.M. Dist. LEXIS 1 (Santa Fe Co. N.M. Sept. 6, 2022).
  • Filed an amicus brief on behalf of the Pennsylvania Cancer Alliance, a consortium of Pennsylvania’s leading hospitals, universities, and cancer research institutions, resulting in trial and appellate court rulings that preserved $126 million in a settlement payment made by tobacco companies for health care costs related to smoking. Commonwealth of Pa. v Philip Morris USA, Inc., 114 A.3d 37 (Commw. Ct. 2015).

Recognition & Accomplishments

The Best Lawyers in America, Litigation - First Amendment (Philadelphia), 1995-2025

Benchmark Litigation, "Local Litigation Star," Antitrust, Appellate, and General Commercial Litigation, 2010-2022

Elected to The American Law Institute, 2006

Speaking Engagements

Frequent presenter at Practising Law Institute and Pennsylvania Bar Institute programs and seminars.

Publications

Author, chapter on class actions, Philadelphia Court of Common Pleas Civil Practice Manual, 9th-21st eds., 1998-2023

Author of numerous Ballard Spahr legal alerts. Other publications include:

Co-author, "Shedding Light on Shady Grove: Rule 23 Trumps State Law," Law360, July 21, 2015

"Multistate Class Actions Face Tough Test at 3rd Circuit," Law360, October 23, 2014

Co-author, "Reaffirming Mandatory Arbitration of Consumer Claims," Law360, January 17, 2012

Credentials 

Education

University of Chicago Law School (J.D. 1978)
Research Assistant to Professor Philip B. Kurland, one of the nation's leading constitutional law scholars, assisting in the research, writing, and editing of The Supreme Court Review (1975 and 1976) and Watergate and the Constitution (1978)

University of Chicago (B.A. 1976)
Member, Phi Beta Kappa

Admissions

Pennsylvania

New York

Illinois (no longer admitted to practice)

U.S. Supreme Court 

U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit

U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit

U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit

U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit

U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit

U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit

U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit

U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit