Former US Solicitor General Ian Heath Gershengorn Re-Joins Jenner & Block As A Partner In Washington, DC

WASHINGTON, May 1, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Jenner & Block announced today that former Acting US Solicitor General Ian Heath Gershengorn will join the firm as a partner in its Washington, DC office, effective September 1. Mr. Gershengorn will serve as chair of the firm's highly recognized Appellate and Supreme Court Practice. He will also be a member of its Complex Commercial Litigation Practice, where he will use his extensive experience in regulatory matters to assist clients across multiple industry sectors.

"We are thrilled to welcome Ian back home to Jenner & Block and very much look forward to sharing with our clients his extraordinary experience and leadership during this next phase of a distinguished career," said Terrence J. Truax, the firm's managing partner.

"Ian's considerable talents will be a distinct asset as we continue to grow our presence, reach and reputation for assisting clients in their most important and sophisticated litigation matters," said Craig C. Martin, chair of the firm's Litigation Department. 

Mr. Gershengorn was named Acting Solicitor General of the United States on June 2, 2016, an appointment he held until the end of the Obama administration in January 2017.  Before that time, Mr. Gershengorn served in the US Department of Justice for three years as the Principal Deputy Solicitor General, and before that, starting in 2009, as the Deputy Assistant Attorney General in charge of the Department of Justice's Federal Programs Branch. In each of these positions, Mr. Gershengorn led the development and execution of legal strategy in the Department's most important litigation matters, appearing regularly in the US Supreme Court, the federal courts of appeals and district courts around the country.

While at the Solicitor General's Office, Mr. Gershengorn argued more than a dozen cases at the Supreme Court. He also supervised the government's briefing in a range of high-profile cases, including those involving the Affordable Care Act, Dodd-Frank, election law and redistricting, immigration reform, the Fair Housing Act, Title VII, the Religious Freedom Restoration Act, and same-sex marriage. While at Federal Programs, Mr. Gershengorn oversaw what The New York Times described in a December 2010 profile as "one of the most captivating dockets in American jurisprudence." He led the district court defense of the Affordable Care Act, personally arguing the principal district court challenges to the constitutionality of the Act. And he supervised the defense of virtually all federal agencies, the President, cabinet officers, and other government officials in challenges to major regulatory and policy initiatives, including those relating to financial regulation, immigration, executive privilege, and national security matters such as drone strikes, CFIUS, and detainees at Guantanamo Bay. As Attorney General Loretta Lynch stated when Ian was named Acting Solicitor General, "Ian Gershengorn has earned a reputation as an exceptionally talented attorney and a gifted defender of the Constitution," and he has "displayed his unwavering dedication to public service and his irreproachable commitment to the rule of law."

"Ian's skills as an advocate are second-to-none," said Thomas J. Perrelli, partner and chair of Jenner & Block's Government Controversies and Public Policy Litigation Practice. "Apart from his experience in the Solicitor General's office and overseeing the Federal Programs Branch, all of which will add enormous value for our clients, Ian embodies the core of what defines us at Jenner & Block: An unbending commitment to excellence and to public service. We're very excited to have such a great colleague back."

Mr. Gershengorn added:  "It's an honor to have the opportunity to return home to Jenner & Block.  This is where I began my career in private practice and where I am very excited to continue the great tradition of zealous, innovative legal advocacy on important business and other policy-related issues affecting a wide array of clients." 

Before joining the Department of Justice in 2009, Mr. Gershengorn was a partner in Jenner & Block's Washington, DC office, where he was a member of the firm's Appellate and Supreme Court Practice as well as its Litigation Department, with substantive concentrations in telecommunications and constitutional law, as well as Native American law. Mr. Gershengorn joined the firm as an associate in 1997 and was elevated to partner in 2001.  From 1995 to 1997, Mr. Gershengorn served in the Department of Justice, first as Special Assistant and Counsel to Deputy Attorney General Jamie S. Gorelick, and then as Assistant to Attorney General Janet Reno.

He received his A.B. magna cum laude from Harvard College, where he was elected Phi Beta Kappa.  He received his J.D. magna cum laude from Harvard Law School, where he was an editor of the Harvard Law Review.  After law school, Mr. Gershengorn served as a law clerk, first for Judge Amalya L. Kearse of the US Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, and then for retired Associate Justice John Paul Stevens of the US Supreme Court.

ABOUT JENNER & BLOCK'S APPELLATE AND SUPREME COURT PRACTICE
Jenner & Block's Appellate and Supreme Court Practice lawyers combine exceptional skills in crafting persuasive briefs and oral arguments with extensive experience shepherding high-stakes matters through appellate courts.  The lawyers appears before federal and state appellate courts on a range of issues and also have an extensive amicus practice before the US Supreme Court and other appellate courts and regularly brief, argue and advise on complex legal issues that arise in various trial-level fora. The group has had 11 merits cases in the last two terms, including the October 2015 Term in which the firm presented six oral arguments – winning all six cases – and won a seventh without argument.

ABOUT JENNER & BLOCK'S COMPLEX COMMERCIAL LITIGATION PRACTICE
Clients from around the world rely on Jenner & Block for their most complex and challenging business cases. Our trial prowess in high-profile litigation is well known. The BTI Litigation Outlook 2014, an in-depth analysis of the litigation market, ranked Jenner & Block as "A Powerhouse in Complex Commercial Litigation," one of just five law firms that clients see as best in that area.  The American Lawyer previously selected us as one of the top five litigation departments in the United States. Citing our impressive business victories for Fortune 500 clients, the magazine singled out Jenner & Block for our "astonishing" trial results and "hard fought" settlements. Chambers Global legal directory has described Jenner & Block as a firm with "bedrock strength in trial work," while reporting that our clients "remain steadfast in their support, describing the group as 'absolutely outstanding.'"

ABOUT JENNER & BLOCK
Jenner & Block (www.jenner.com) is a law firm with global reach, with more than 500 lawyers and offices in Chicago, London, Los Angeles, New York and Washington, DC. The firm is known for its prominent and successful litigation practice and experience handling sophisticated and high-profile corporate transactions.  Firm clients include Fortune 100 companies, large privately held corporations, financial services institutions, emerging companies and venture capital and private equity investors.  In 2016, The American Lawyer named Jenner & Block to the A-List, which recognizes the top 20 US law firms. The American Lawyer also recognized the firm as the #1 pro bono firm in the United States six of the past nine years; the firm has been ranked among the top 10 in this category every year since 1990.

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