Litigation & Trial Associate Featured as a Rising Star in the Appellate Bar

Supreme Court and Appellate associate Samir Deger-Sen was selected by Bloomberg Law to be featured in its “They’ve Got Next: Appellate” series, highlighting five young lawyers changing the landscape in the appellate bar. The series celebrates lawyers with a track record of success in significant matters, the respect of their colleagues, strong leadership skills, novel ways of thinking about their legal practice, and support for and participation in diversity and inclusion efforts.

In his profile article, Deger-Sen was honored for a number of high profile wins in federal appellate courts across the country, including convincing the Ninth Circuit to issue a sweeping equal protection ruling for prisoners challenging gender-based policies, securing Social Security Disability benefits for a client before the Second Circuit, and for being a primary author on Latham’s brief on behalf of Norris Babb in Babb v. Wilkie, an 8-1 US Supreme Court victory which significantly expanded the scope of federal age discrimination coverage.

All three of those cases were pro bono, providing crucial services to those in need while also giving an associate like Deger-Sen significant stand-up appellate experience. Describing his Second Circuit victory, Deger-Sen said “Seeing that he’s going to be able to get these benefits now is a very fulfilling thing… To be able to get a remedy that I know has helped my client straight away was a fantastic feeling.”

Deger-Sen was also the primary brief author in Barr v. American Association of Political Consultants, persuading the Supreme Court to invalidate a portion of the Telephone Consumer Protection Action that violated the First Amendment.

Chair of Latham’s Supreme Court and Appellate Practice, Greg Garre described Deger-Sen as “an absolute star” and praised the skills he acquired clerking at all three levels of the federal judiciary, “That’s not something you see every day, particularly with the district court experience,” Garre said. “He knows how cases are developed in the trial courts and can identify errors in a quicker, more insightful way…He’s beyond his years in his instincts.”