Sullivan & Cromwell taps new Supreme Court practice leaders
- Sullivan & Cromwell poaches trio of former solicitor general staffers to plug massive leadership hole.
- Legal industry 'musical chairs' continues as top firms swap high-court talent to combat administrative state uncertainty.
- Corporate giants are banking on elite appellate specialists to navigate a turbulent, regulation-heavy landscape.
- The revolving door between the DOJ and K Street spins faster as firms scramble to secure Supreme Court influence.
Brief Summary
Sullivan & Cromwell is scrambling to restock its Supreme Court bench after a mass exodus of talent to rival Gibson Dunn earlier this year. The firm has tapped former solicitor general deputies Jonathan Ellis and Michael Huston to head its appellate practice, bringing along Nicholas Crown to complete the trio. This move is part of a wider, cutthroat trend in the legal industry where top-tier firms are aggressively poaching high-court litigators to handle the fallout from a shifting regulatory environment.
Why This Matters
When the most powerful corporations on earth pay millions for elite legal talent, it is because the rules of the game are being rewritten. As the Supreme Court continues to dismantle the administrative state and shift power away from federal agencies, the legal strategies used by these firms will dictate which regulations survive and which are struck down. This affects everything from environmental standards to financial oversight, and ultimately, it determines how much power unelected bureaucrats—or the corporations challenging them—actually wield over your daily life.