Cody M. Akins

CODY AKINS is a legal tactician who handles clients’ most difficult, high-stakes legal challenges. He represents corporations in all stages of litigation, with a focus on complex questions of administrative law, federal jurisdiction, statutory interpretation, and constitutional litigation.

Cody has helped secure wins for clients as the lead strategist and brief writer in cases before the U.S. Supreme Court, the federal courts of appeals, and federal district courts across the country. He has extensive experience challenging federal administrative action across a variety of subject areas, including environmental, healthcare, and international trade. Cody has also counseled numerous clients on prelitigation strategy in highly regulated industries.

Cody’s notable wins include:

• Securing vacatur of the Environmental Protection Agency’s denial of a small-refinery exemption under the Clean Air Act’s Renewable Fuel Standard program.
• Representing healthcare providers in a series of successful challenges to federal regulations implementing the No Surprises Act.
• Successfully challenging on behalf of a national health insurance company a Department of Health and Human Services’ rule implementing a federal law governing fixed indemnity insurance.
• Using litigation pressure to achieve favorable resolution of a mistake by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services in calculating a client pharmaceutical manufacturer’s Medicare reimbursement rate.
• Winning a postconviction appeal in the District of Columbia Court of Appeals on behalf of a client sentenced under an erroneous jury instruction on causation.

Before joining Sidley, Cody served as a law clerk to the Honorable Joan L. Larsen of the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit and the Honorable Diane S. Sykes of the United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit.

Cody earned his law degree from the University of Texas School of Law, where he graduated with High Honors and was an articles editor for the Texas Law Review.