Advisory Board of Governors
Seth P. Waxman
Partner, Wilmer Cutler Pickering and Dorr LLP
Universally considered to be among the country's premier Supreme Court and appellate advocates, Seth Waxman served as Solicitor General of the United States from 1997 through January 2001. In addition to leading the firm's appellate practice, Mr. Waxman engages in a broad litigation and counseling practice, with particular emphasis on complex challenges involving governments or public policy issues. A Fellow of the American College of Trial Lawyers, he also is a widely respected business trial litigator—one of only three litigators in Washington, DC, accorded both "star" rating by Chambers USA and "leading lawyer" ranking in PLC's Global Counsel Handbook. He also has been ranked among Washingtonian magazine's "Top 30 Lawyers" and listed for "Bet-the-Company-Litigation" (among other categories) in The Best Lawyers in America.
Mr. Waxman's practice spans both federal and state trial and appellate courts. He has delivered over 45 oral arguments in the United States Supreme Court—16 in the past four Terms—making him, as The American Lawyer recently reported, "the dominant force in the Supreme Court bar, without question." Mr. Waxman's clients range from financial institutions to consumer, industrial and media companies. He also represents a number of local, state and national governments. The recipient of numerous professional awards and honors, Mr. Waxman is among only a handful of practicing attorneys ever elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. He also holds the Jefferson Medal in Law, an honor awarded once a year and only rarely to an attorney in private practice. In recognition of his exceptional service to law enforcement, Mr. Waxman holds the extraordinary status of permanent honorary Special Agent of the Federal Bureau of Investigation.
Mr. Waxman recently won a complete victory for the Government of Canada in a multi-billion-dollar trade dispute involving softwood lumber imports before a NAFTA Extraordinary Challenge Committee proceeding.
Mr. Waxman won a landmark ruling this year in Roper v. Simmons, in which the Supreme Court declared unconstitutional the death penalty for juvenile offenders. He won three other cases in the Supreme Court this year, including long-running property-rights disputes in California (in which he represented the City of San Francisco) and Hawaii (in which he represented the State of Hawaii).
Mr. Waxman successfully represented Senators John McCain and Russell Feingold and other congressional sponsors of the Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act in landmark litigation defending the constitutionality of the legislation, including an historic four-hour argument in a special Supreme Court session.
Mr. Waxman has won successive 9-0 victories in the Supreme Court on behalf of financial institutions, and over the past three Terms, has also argued Supreme Court cases involving class actions, telecommunications, environmental regulation, international litigation, mass torts, racial bias and criminal procedure.
Mr. Waxman represents a major financial institution in tackling the multi-dimensional problems caused by claims associated with exposure to asbestos. Under his leadership, our representation includes litigation in insurance coverage and bankruptcy proceedings and strategic advice on constitutional and other issues associated with the current effort to achieve a legislative solution to the national asbestos liability crisis.
Mr. Waxman's clients constitute a broad range of public as well as corporate institutions. By special appointment, Mr. Waxman advised the Office of the Governor of the State of Connecticut in connection with the state legislature's landmark proceedings to consider impeachment of a sitting governor. He served as counsel to the Commission to Review the United States Olympic Committee, a blue-ribbon commission created by the United States Senate to review and recommend changes to the structure and operations of the USOC. He represents the United Nations in litigation concerning the Oil for Food investigation and several state regulatory agencies in First Amendment and environmental matters.
Mr. Waxman currently represents a range of business clients in patent, trade-secret and other intellectual property litigation in both trial and appellate courts. He has won multiple consecutive cases in the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit involving complex issues of patent licensing and infringement.
Mr. Waxman serves on the faculty of the Georgetown University Law Center and as chairman of Legal Affairs magazine. He is a director and fellow of several professional, educational and cultural institutions, including the American College of Trial Lawyers, the American Academy of Appellate Lawyers, the American Bar Foundation, the American Law Institute, the Supreme Court Institute and the Supreme Court Historical Society. He lectures and writes frequently on topics related to litigation, constitutional history and doctrine, the First Amendment, intellectual property and the Supreme Court.
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