Biography
IJay Palansky serves clients across the country from his location in the Maryland suburbs of Washington, D.C.
His practice focuses on high-value, complex litigation in federal and state courts throughout the country, including a wide range of business disputes, and more than 20 consumer fraud class actions across industries including automotive, consumer products and consumer services, and often involving product defect, technological and/or regulatory issues.
Although IJay focuses primarily on trial court litigation, he has considerable appellate experience, including before the U.S. Supreme Court. He has also handled cases before state and federal administrative agencies, as well as numerous arbitrations and mediations.
IJay is also a regular speaker and has appeared on national stages such as the Black Hat Conference. He is also sought by national media for commentary on Internet of Things (IoT) litigation.
Trial Experience
In 2017, IJay successfully first chaired a four-week, $230 million trial, defending a large career college against consumer protection and lending claims brought by the Colorado Attorney General.
IJay was trial counsel in a first-of-its-kind, five-day preliminary injunction hearing, winning a complete victory for a career college. The evidentiary presentation led the Court to comment that the Attorney General’s office appeared to be “biased” against private colleges.
IJay was prevailing trial counsel in a FERC administrative trial relating to the agency’s statutory authority to regulate certain hydroelectric dams in Maine.
While with the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Washington, D.C., IJay first-chaired more than 25 trials.
Complex Commercial/Consumer Protection/Class Action/Product Liability
IJay has served as lead counsel for both defendants and plaintiffs in complex commercial litigations and class actions in federal and state courts throughout the country. His matters usually involve amounts in controversy of between $10 million and $250+ million, and regularly focus on allegations and claims of product defect, breach of contract, fraud, business torts (such as tortious interference and breach of fiduciary duty), strict liability, false advertising and labeling, unfair trade practices, breach of warranty, unjust enrichment, and violation of state and federal consumer protection laws.
Education
- Harvard Law School (J.D., cum laude, 1996)
- Huron College (B.A., 1993)
- valedictorian
Admissions
Background
Before joining Armstrong Teasdale, IJay spent 10 years at WilmerHale’s D.C. office. He also completed a fellowship as a Special Assistant U.S. attorney in Washington, D.C.
Combining his legal interests with his love of sports, especially hockey, IJay is founder of The Department of Hockey Analytics, a sports analytics consulting firm working with NHL and minor league teams, scouts, and media. IJay wrote a regular column for Sports Illustrated.com about hockey analytics, and prior to that wrote for Canada’s largest newspaper, the Toronto Star. His approach blends his background in statistics with elements of game theory and behavioral economics. He has coupled his analytics knowledge with his litigation experience to counsel teams and player agents regarding player contract and arbitration issues.
IJay also spent several years as a professional high-stakes poker player. His success and reputation led to his selection as a member of the two-man “human” team that played the world's leading artificial intelligence poker computer in the “Man vs. Machine” exhibition at the World Series of Poker in 2008.