Hogan Lovells announced today that Neal Katyal, former Acting Solicitor General of the United States, has joined its Litigation, Arbitration and Employment practice as a partner in the Washington, D.C. office. Neal will be Co-Head of Hogan Lovells’ Appellate practice alongside Washington, D.C. partner Cate Stetson.
“Neal’s career is most impressive by any standard. His recent service to the United States as Acting Solicitor General and his success in many notable Supreme Court cases over the course of his career have given him insight into some of the most complex and important legal issues facing our country today,” said Warren Gorrell, Co-CEO of Hogan Lovells. “They also have given him great practical insights into the various ways our clients’ critical matters can be addressed through the judicial process, from beginning to end. Neal is widely regarded as an exceptional lawyer and a prominent legal scholar, and our clients will immediately benefit from his deep knowledge of constitutional, administrative, and patent law, among many other areas.”
“Hogan Lovells has one of the most prominent appellate and litigation practices in the nation,” said Katyal. “With world-class lawyers experienced in handling oral arguments in sophisticated cases before the Supreme Court and federal and state courts of appeals across the country, Hogan Lovells is uniquely positioned to serve clients across all industries and geographies.”
As Acting Solicitor General, Katyal was responsible for representing the federal government in all appellate matters before the U.S. Supreme Court and the Courts of Appeals throughout the nation. He served as Counsel of Record in hundreds of cases and orally argued 15 U.S. Supreme Court cases, as well as numerous cases in lower courts. Katyal has also served as a law professor for nearly 15 years at Georgetown University Law Center and was Director of the Georgetown Center on National Security and the Law until his appointment as Principal Deputy Solicitor General. He has extensive experience in matters of patent, securities, tort, commercial, and constitutional law.
“Neal is intimately familiar with the complex legal issues involved in the healthcare reform case now pending on a petition for certiorari before the Supreme Court, having argued all of the major federal appeals in which the healthcare reform legislation was challenged. Neal also has argued and won several notable Supreme Court cases during his illustrious career, including Hamdan v. Rumsfeld, the landmark case that ruled military tribunals at Guantánamo Bay to be unconstitutional. Neal also argued the major defense-industry case of General Dynamics v. United States, making him one of very few people who have argued in the Supreme Court with $6 billion on the line. The breadth and depth of his experience in a wide variety of appellate matters is unparalleled,” said Stephen Immelt, Co-Chair of Hogan Lovells’ Litigation, Arbitration and Employment practice.
In addition to Hamdan v. Rumsfeld, Katyal has argued numerous Supreme Court cases during his career. He successfully defended the constitutionality of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 in the landmark case, Northwest Austin v. Holder, and secured a unanimous win in a Supreme Court case defending former Attorney General John Ashcroft against alleged abuses of civil liberties in the war on terror. In 2011, Katyal secured a unanimous Supreme Court win in American Electric Power Company v. Connecticut, a major decision that rejected attempts to litigate, through common-law “nuisance” lawsuits, issues related to greenhouse gas emissions. He also is the only head of the Solicitor General’s Office to argue a patent appeal in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit; Katyal presented arguments in a high-profile case posing the question whether certain aspects of the human genome were patentable.
“We are absolutely thrilled to have Neal join Hogan Lovells,” said Cate Stetson, Co-Head of the Appellate practice. “He will significantly deepen our appellate practice at all levels and across all areas. Neal is not only brilliant; he is a thoughtful and creative counselor, and he will be a wonderful colleague.”
