Kirkland & Ellis partner Paul Clement and Hogan Lovells partner Neal Katyal are the most successful ex-U.S. solicitors general when it comes to getting high court petitions granted in recent years.
They have the “extreme distinction of surpassing the 20% threshold for petition grants relative to denials,” according to a Juris Lab post by legal data expert Adam Feldman, who studied filings from January 2017-December 2020 of former officials in private practice.
Clement’s grant rate is 21.2% and Katyal’s is 20.6%, Feldman found.
Trailing them on grant rates, in order, are other big names from the Supreme Court bar: Munger, Tolles & Olson’s Donald B. Verrilli, Jr.; WilmerHale’s Seth Waxman; Latham & Watkins’ Gregory Garre; and Gibson Dunn’s Theodore B. Olson.
“The cumulative performance of these former SGs on cert showcases that the justices pay attention when they file petitions for cert,” Feldman said in the post.
Clement was the Justice Department’s top Supreme Court lawyer during George W. Bush’s administration. Katyal was the acting head during Barack Obama’s.
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