Herbert Smith Freehills Kramer has hired Haynes Boone’s US Supreme Court practice chair Daniel Geyser as a partner in Washington DC, continuing the merged firm’s expansion of its US disputes platform.
Geyser will serve as co-head of Supreme Court and appellate litigation in the US alongside Roy Englert Jr and Daniel Lerman.
His arrival comes as HSF Kramer targets further growth in litigation and appellate work in Washington, which it reiterated following the firm’s recent financial results. Geyser leaves Haynes Boone after five years, where he headed the firm’s US Supreme Court practice – a role he previously held at Alexander Dubose & Jefferson, into which he merged his sole Dallas-based practice after two years as a nationally highly-regarded sole practitioner.
He also held appellate leadership roles at Stris & Maher and McKool Smith, both as partner, for stints of over two and a half years each. Other firms and organisations he has worked for include Gibson Dunn, Munger Tolles and the Office of the Solicitor General for the State of Texas, in which state he has spent most of his career before moving to Washington DC in 2020.
Geyser has argued 19 cases before the US Supreme Court, including two during its most recent term. His practice covers appeals and complex disputes involving bankruptcy, patents, securities, arbitration, consumer protection and the Employee Retirement Income Security Act.
The firm said Geyser had secured rulings striking down an Act of Congress under the Bankruptcy Clause and reshaping national arbitration rules in three separate cases. It added that, over the past five years, he had achieved one of the country’s three highest Supreme Court grant rates and was ranked among the top 10 appellate lawyers by number of arguments before the court.
Paul Schoeman, HSF Kramer’s US executive partner, said: “Dan’s exceptional appellate credentials and Supreme Court experience will be invaluable as we continue to scale our capabilities in the United States and deepen our bench strength in key markets while leveraging the full power of our global platform.”
Englert said he had first practised with Geyser more than 20 years ago. “His arrival significantly elevates the firm’s credentials, bringing the team’s combined Supreme Court experience to more than 40 arguments,” he added.
Nearly half of the partners in HSF Kramer’s Washington office have argued before the Supreme Court, according to office managing partner Ariel Lavinbuk.
Geyser said: “HSF Kramer is a true litigation and appellate powerhouse with top-shelf talent. The potential here is both exciting and limitless. It is a rare privilege to embark on the firm’s next chapter with extraordinary new colleagues, longtime friends and some of the finest lawyers I know.”
The appointment also builds on HSF Kramer’s recent Washington recruitment of antitrust partners David Pearl and John Elias, following the merger of both legacy firms in June 2025. In April, HSF Kramer promoted 25 lawyers to partner in its first post-merger round, including two in New York, having added 35 lateral partners worldwide since 2025, eight of them in New York. Recent recruits include a three-partner M&A team from Paul Hastings led by Robert Leung.
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