U.S. Supreme Court
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The team at Kirkland & Ellis LLP is ‘extremely knowledgeable, has great judgment and is a pleasure to work with’. - Legal 500 USA, 2018
When experience matters and performance is not optional, Kirkland delivers.
Kirkland’s appellate attorneys have extensive experience briefing and arguing high-stakes cases in the U.S. Supreme Court. The practice features former U.S. Solicitor General Paul Clement; Erin Murphy, who has been named one of the nation’s “Outstanding Women Lawyers”; and many other attorneys who have served as law clerks on the Supreme Court, the courts of appeals, and the district courts.
Extensive experience before the Supreme Court
Collectively, our attorneys have argued more than 150 Supreme Court cases spanning countless substantive areas. In the 2017 term alone, our lawyers argued 8 cases — 13 percent of the court’s docket — involving issues ranging from energy law to arbitration to bankruptcy to labor law to religious liberty.
Deep commitment to pro bono work
Our attorneys have secured landmark Supreme Court rulings for pro bono clients including criminal defendants, the Omaha Tribal Council, a class of disabled California prisoners, and the Little Sisters of the Poor. We regularly provide pro bono appellate representation to immigrants, criminal defendants, inmates, and nonprofit organizations.
Experience
FTI Consulting
Merit Management Group, LP v. FTI Consulting, Inc.
Successfully argued on behalf of FTI Consulting, Inc., in a case addressing the avoidance of transfers under section 546(e) of the Bankruptcy Code. Kirkland was retained to defend the Seventh Circuit’s holding that section 546(e) does not prohibit avoidance of transfers that simply pass through financial institutions. In 2018, the Court unanimously affirmed in FTI's favor.
Ernst & Young
Successfully argued on behalf of Epic Systems Corp, Ernst & Young LLP, Murphy Oil USA, and in consolidated cases defending workplace arbitration agreements that ban class actions as fully enforceable under federal labor laws. In 2018, the Court agreed with Kirkland's clients that employment agreements with class action waivers do not violate the National Labor Relations Act.
Arab Bank
Successfully argued on behalf of Arab Bank Plc in a case addressing whether courts should create a federal common-law right of action to bring claims against corporations under the Alien Tort Statute (ATS), 28 U.S.C. § 1350, for alleged violations of international law. The Court granted certiorari to resolve that question a few years earlier in Kiobel v. Royal Dutch Petroleum but ultimately declined to do so. The Court took up the issue again in Jesner and, in 2018, the Court agreed with Arab Bank that foreign corporations cannot be sued under the ATS.
Encino Motorcars
Successfully argued—twice—on behalf of Encino Motorcars, LLC in a case involving whether service advisors are exempt from overtime pay requirements under the Fair Labor Standards Act. In 2016, after we persuaded the Court to grant Encino Motorcars' first petition for certiorari, the Court vacated and remanded the Ninth’s Circuit original decision holding service advisors non-exempt. On remand, the Ninth Circuit once again found service advisors non-exempt. We persuaded the Court to grant certiorari once again, and in 2018, the Court reversed, finding service advisors exempt.
WesternGeco
Successfully argued on behalf of WesternGeco in a case involving whether lost profits are available under section 271(f)(2) of the Patent Act. After Kirkland won a jury verdict and over $100 million damages judgment against ION in 2012, the Federal Circuit vacated the lost profits award, concluding that it was impermissibly extraterritorial. We persuaded the Supreme Court to grant certiorari and then succeeded in persuading the Court that lost profits are available under section 271(f)(2).
Wisconsin State Senate
Successfully argued on behalf of the Wisconsin State Senate and Wisconsin State Assembly in this closely watched partisan gerrymandering case. After a three-judge district court held that Wisconsin’s 2011 State Assembly districting map is an unconstitutional partisan gerrymander, the Wisconsin Legislature hired Kirkland to represent them as an amicus before the Supreme Court. The Court took the rare step of granting the legislature’s motion to participate in argument as an amicus, and the Court ultimately unanimously vacated the district court’s judgment holding the state’s map unconstitutional, concluding that the challengers failed to demonstrate that they had standing to challenge the map on a statewide basis.
Citigroup Global Markets
Successfully argued on behalf of Citigroup Global Markets Inc. and more than two dozen other underwriters in this case involving whether the filing of a putative class action tolls the three-year statute of repose in Section 13 of the Securities Act with respect to the claims of putative class members. In 2017, the Court agreed with Kirkland’s clients that the Section 13’s statute of repose is not subject to tolling.
#1 Firm for U.S. Supreme Court Wins
2018 Law Firm Scorecard, Law360
Kirkland’s lawyers have argued before the Supreme Court more during the last 10 terms than any other law firm.
Law360
Band 1 Nationwide Ranking: Appellate Law
Chambers USA, 2019