Appellate and Supreme Court Matters

Pro bono work, including many civil and criminal cases in the Supreme Court, is an integral part of Sidley's Appellate Practice. Sidley's pro bono presence in the Supreme Court is well-reflected in the firm’s work in Grutter v. Bollinger, in which the Court upheld affirmative action at the University of Michigan School of Law. During argument and in its opinion, the Court cited Sidley's brief on behalf of retired military leaders who supported Michigan’s program. A New York Times commentator described the brief "as the most influential amicus brief in the history of the Supreme Court."

The firm is noted especially for its representation of defendants in criminal cases in the Court. In the June 2008 Georgetown Law Journal article entitled Advocacy Matters, Professor Richard Lazarus wrote that Sidley is the "notable exception" to the general rule that the pro bono assistance at the Supreme Court level is largely "ad hoc." According to Professor Lazarus, Sidley, for several years, has undertaken "a mostly unheralded effort to provide pro bono assistance to defense counsel, by helping in the drafting of petitions for writs of certiorari, filing amicus briefs in support of review or on the merits, and assisting in the preparation of counsel for oral argument"

In 2007, Sidley filed eleven petitions for a writ of certiorari in the Supreme Court on behalf of criminal defendants. Sidley also filed seven Supreme Court amicus briefs supporting the criminal defendant, including five on behalf of the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, one on behalf of former Oklahoma City bombing prosecutors, and one on behalf of the National Association of Federal Defenders. Sidley filed merits briefs on behalf of the defendant/petitioner in four cases.


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