Attorney — Shaun M. Palmer

Shaun M. Palmer

Managing Attorney, Palmer Law LLC

Bar Admissions: District of Columbia  |  New York
J.D., Harvard Law School, 1999  |  B.A., University of Virginia, 1996

Shaun Palmer founded Palmer Law after more than two decades of legal practice spanning federal clerkships, complex litigation, federal prosecution, and seventeen years as General Counsel of OMA, the Rotterdam-based practice founded by Rem Koolhaas and one of the most influential architecture and design firms of the past half-century.

Shaun began his career as a law clerk to the Honorable James Robertson of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, and subsequently to the Honorable R. Guy Cole, Jr. of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit. He then joined Covington & Burling in Washington, D.C., where his practice focused on civil litigation, white-collar and regulatory investigations, and employment matters. He subsequently served as a Trial Attorney in the U.S. Department of Justice's Public Integrity Section, where he led sensitive federal investigations and trials involving public corruption and official misconduct.

At OMA, Shaun served as the firm's chief legal officer, advising the management board and executive team on global legal strategy and risk. He joined as only the second lawyer in the firm's history and built the legal department from the ground up, recruiting and leading a team of in-house counsel and external advisors. He drafted and negotiated hundreds of commercial agreements across client, consultant, vendor, and joint venture contexts in Europe, the Americas, Asia, Australasia, and the Middle East, translating complex creative and technical objectives into precise scope, fee, IP, and risk terms. He drove IP and licensing strategy for exhibitions, publications, and product collaborations, and managed dispute resolution and litigation across multiple jurisdictions. He advised on corporate restructuring, governance, insurance, and cross-border compliance throughout his tenure.

Clients of Palmer Law get a lawyer who has clerked for judges in federal courts, stood in courtrooms as a prosecutor, and sat in-house at a globally active creative organization. The work is done personally and directly, with no associates, no handoffs, and no institutional overhead.