Junis L. Baldon is an experienced litigator with extensive experience in federal court who focuses his practice on consumer financial services matters. Junis is a former Assistant United States Attorney in the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of New Jersey, where he litigated cases under the federal antidiscrimination laws and defended the federal government in civil proceedings. He also conducted investigations of financial institutions, government entities, and businesses under various federal laws.
Junis also previously served in the Civil Rights Division of the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) as a trial attorney in the Division’s Housing and Civil Enforcement Section in Washington, D.C. There, Junis investigated and sued financial institutions for violations of the Fair Housing Act and Equal Credit Opportunity Act. He also helped develop the Division’s initiatives focused on fair lending and the use of artificial intelligence under the Trump and Biden administrations. He later served as an appellate attorney in the Division’s Appellate Section, where he litigated civil rights matters and criminal cases in the federal courts of appeals and the U.S. Supreme Court. In that role, Junis also advised the Solicitor General’s Office on civil rights matters pending before the U.S. Supreme Court.
Before joining the DOJ, Junis worked as a business and appellate litigator at a national Am Law 200 law firm where he represented financial institutions, large corporations, and small business owners. He gained additional experience as a U.S. Supreme Court litigation extern for the American Civil Liberties Union of Kentucky, and, during law school, served as a judicial extern for the Franklin County Court of Common Pleas in Columbus, Ohio, and as a summer associate for two national law firms.
Representative Experience
Representative Matters at DOJ
- Negotiated a consent decree requiring a social media company to adopt remedial measures under the Fair Housing Act to prevent the discriminatory targeting of housing and lending advertisements through the use of algorithms
- Conducted a two-year investigation of a Midwestern bank that resulted in a $1.6 million settlement to resolve redlining claims under the Fair Housing Act and Equal Credit Opportunity Act
- Conducted a two-year investigation of a loan modification company that targeted Hispanic homeowners with allegedly fraudulent loan products in violation of the Fair Housing Act and negotiated a $150,000 settlement after litigation in federal court
Representative Consumer Financial Services Matters
- Represented a student loan lender in bankruptcy proceedings and received judgments in its favor that a federal court of appeals affirmed
- Represented a group of restaurant franchisees and secured a $13 million arbitration award against a dairy conglomerate for manipulating the price of dairy products in violation of various state consumer protection laws
- Represented an international cellular phone company in an appeal of a state agency enforcement action and secured reversal of an agency order requiring it to pay a gross intrastate earnings tax based on the number of customers
Professional Highlights
Pro Bono Experience
Junis has written several amicus briefs in the federal district courts, federal courts of appeals, and U.S. Supreme Court related to the areas of free speech and technology, religious liberty, affirmative action, criminal procedure, and education.
Judicial Externships
Recognition & Accomplishments
Certificate of Commendation for Outstanding Performance and Invaluable Assistance in Support of the Civil Rights Division of the U.S. Department of Justice, 2023
Special Achievement Award for Outstanding Performance in Federal Duty, 2017, 2019-2020
Assistant Attorney General’s Special Commendation Award for Outstanding Service to the Civil Rights Division of the U.S. Department of Justice, 2018
Thomson Reuters, “Kentucky Rising Star,” 2015, 2016
Louisville Magazine, “Top Lawyer for Individual Rights Law,” 2014, 2016
Speaking Engagements
Speaker, Community Town Hall on Civil Rights Enforcement, Public Corruption, and Violent Crime, U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of New Jersey, September 12, 2023
Speaker, “Combatting Redlining in New Jersey: United States v. Lakeland Bank,” Federal Bureau of Investigation Civil Rights Conference, May 31, 2023
Speaker, Community Town Hall on Violent Crime and Civil Rights Enforcement, U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of New Jersey, Jersey City, March 21, 2023
Speaker, “Affirmative Action: A Product of the Constitution,” Western Kentucky University Office of Diversity Graduate Lecture Series, February 9, 2009
Publications
“Getting Real About Race and Class: An Evaluation of the Constitutionality of Class-Based, Socioeconomic Affirmative Action Without Grutter,” 24 University of Miami Business Law Review 19, 2016
“A Comity of Errors,” Law360 Expert Analysis, July 2012
“Tinkering With the First Amendment Rights For Teachers: The Sixth Circuit’s Application of Garcetti v. Ceballos to the In-Class and Out-of-Class Speech of Public School teachers,” Bar Briefs, Louisville Bar Association, May 2011
“Taking a Backseat: How Delaware Can Alter the Role of the SEC in Evaluating Shareholder Proposals,” 4 Entrepreneurial Business Law Journal 105, 2009
Credentials
Education
Ohio State University, Michael E. Moritz College of Law (J.D. 2009)
Staff Member, Ohio State Entrepreneurial Business Law Journal
Frederick Douglass Moot Court Team
University of Kentucky (B.A., magna cum laude, 2005)
Admissions
New Jersey
District of Columbia
Maryland
U.S. Supreme Court
U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit
U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit
U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit
U.S. District Court for the Western District of Kentucky
U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Kentucky