Latham Named to 2016 “Appellate Hot List”

The National Law Journal (NLJ) has named Latham to its annual “Appellate Hot List” for the ninth consecutive year — every year since the list began. The list recognizes select firms for  “winning big in federal and state appeals courts across the country.” The accompanying article highlighted three of the firm’s Supreme Court & Appellate Practice’s standout wins in 2016.

• A Latham team led by Supreme Court & Appellate Practice Chair and former Solicitor General Gregory Garre secured a complete victory for the University of Texas at Austin (UT) in the landmark US Supreme Court case Fisher v. University of Texas at Austin in which the Court issued a closely watched decision upholding the constitutionality of UT’s consideration of race as one of many factors in undergraduate admissions. The NLJ wrote, “It was the second round of the Fisher v. University of Texas case, and few court observers predicted Garre would convince the high court that the university's race-conscious admissions policy was constitutional. Justice Anthony Kennedy, who had never before voted in favor of an affirmative action plan, wrote the decision for a 4-3 majority. After an inconclusive decision in the case in 2013, Garre had retooled his arguments with Kennedy in mind, and it worked.
• Latham scored a victory for the US Soccer Federation Inc. in a dispute over advertising with a players' group when the US Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit “took the rare step of reversing an arbitration award.”
• In March 2016, the firm secured a significant win on behalf of Maher Terminals LLC when the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit ordered the Federal Maritime Commission to reconsider its decision to allow the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey to give a multimillion dollar lease discount to one terminal operator while denying a similar deal for Maher Terminals LLC.  

When discussing the successes of Latham’s Supreme Court & Appellate Practice in 2016 with the NLJ, Deputy Managing Partner of the Washington, D.C. office Melissa Arbus Sherry said, “It was a blockbuster year, and Fisher was a huge win for the firm and for Greg — and a surprising win.” Latham’s Supreme Court & Appellate Practice also includes partners Richard Bress and J. Scott Ballenger. In addition, Roman Martinez recently rejoined the firm as a partner after serving as an Assistant to the United States Solicitor General since 2013. He adds to the already deep bench in which four out of five of the lead attorneys have served in the Solicitor General’s office, and at all levels of the Office — Solicitor General, Deputy Solicitor General and Assistant to the Solicitor General.