John Dienelt is a partner with Quarles & Brady, and was the founding managing partner of its Washington, DC office. He focuses his practice on franchising, antitrust, intellectual property and other commercial cases. Dienelt has concentrated on complex and enterprise-threatening litigation, including class actions. He has also represented private parties in disputes with the federal government before courts and administrative agencies.
Dienelt has tried, or handled arbitrations in, more than 75 cases and has argued more than 25 appeals in various federal and state courts and the U.S. Supreme Court. The author of numerous articles, he is a regular speaker at programs on franchising and teaches franchise law as an adjunct professor at the Georgetown University Law Center in addition to UVA Law. He has also taught complex contracts and in the Institute for Public Interest Representation and the National Institute of Trial Advocacy program at Georgetown.
Dienelt received his J.D. from Yale Law School, where he served as managing editor of the Yale Law Journal; his M.A. from the Tufts University Fletcher School of Law & Diplomacy; and his B.A. from the University of Virginia. Before entering private practice, he served as clerk to Hon. Gerhard Gesell on the District Court for the District of Columbia, in the Solicitor General's office of the U.S Department of Justice, and as Washington Counsel for the Environmental Defense Fund.