Morgan Lewis’s U.S. Supreme Court and Appellate Litigation Practice is an essential part of the full range of services we provide to address our clients’ most sophisticated legal problems.
The Appellate Litigation Practice focuses on winning high-stakes appeals in the state and federal courts. We also assist clients with complex legal and strategic problems in the trial court, providing guidance and advice on critical issues.
Our partners are nationally recognized appellate litigators. The group is led by skilled Supreme Court advocates who are listed in Chambers USA for appellate litigation nationally and described by the National Law Journal as a “key voice” to whom “the [U.S. Supreme Court] Justices listen.”
In 2010, Morgan Lewis was named to National Law Journal’s Appellate Hot List—the top 20 firms nationally “that represent the best in the practice of appellate law.”
Our Appellate Team
The group is led by Ted Cruz, former Solicitor General of Texas and a former law clerk to Chief Justice William Rehnquist, who has authored more than 80 U.S. Supreme Court briefs and presented 37 oral arguments, including eight before the U.S. Supreme Court; Allyson Ho, a former law clerk to Justice Sandra Day O’Connor, Counselor to the Attorney General of the United States, and Special Assistant to the President; and Tom Peterson, a former Ninth Circuit clerk who has argued over 75 appeals in state and federal appellate courts throughout the nation.
Morgan Lewis attorneys have clerked for federal appellate judges, for state supreme court justices, and for Chief Justice William Rehnquist, Chief Justice Warren Burger, and Justices William Brennan, Antonin Scalia, and Sandra Day O’Connor at the U.S. Supreme Court.
In the last five years, our team members have won several of the most complex and highest profile cases before the U.S. Supreme Court. Our major appellate victories have garnered recognition by the National Law Journal as one of the top 20 firms nationwide that have “made singular contributions to appellate practice during the past year.”
The appellate team advises clients on issues across the full range of practice, including antitrust, bankruptcy, business and commercial litigation, energy, insurance, intellectual property, labor and employment, securities, and tax. The team’s attorneys also frequently assist at the trial court level in handling complex or sensitive legal issues.
Effective appellate brief writing and oral argument require skills that differ from litigating in the trial courts. Our lawyers are adept at taking the most complex of subjects and presenting them clearly and persuasively to appellate judges.
Our appellate attorneys have:
- Argued more than two dozen cases before the U.S. Supreme Court, including 10 cases in the past six years
- Authored more than 100 U.S. Supreme Court briefs
- Presented more than 1,000 oral arguments before every federal court of appeal and before state supreme courts across the nation
- Authored more than 100 amicus curiae briefs before the U.S. Supreme Court and state and federal appellate courts nationally
Government Experience:
- Solicitor General of Texas
- U.S. Department of Justice, Assistant to the Solicitor General
- U.S. Department of Justice, Assistant Attorney General
- U.S. Department of Justice, Associate Deputy Attorney General
- U.S. Department of Justice, Counselor to the Attorney General
- U.S. Deputy Secretary of Labor
- U.S. Solicitor of Labor
- White House, Special Assistant to the President
- Federal Trade Commission, Director of the Office of Policy Planning