The work of the lawyers in the Firm’s Washington office is tightly integrated with the work of the lawyers in the Firm’s other offices worldwide.
Many S&C lawyers have held senior government positions, including:
- Acting Assistant Attorney General of the Antitrust Division of the Department of Justice
- Legal Adviser of the U.S. State Department
- General Counsel of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve
- General Counsel of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation
- Under Secretary of the Treasury for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence
- Chief Counsel of the Internal Revenue Service
- White House positions including the White House Counsel’s Office
- leadership positions in various divisions of the U.S. Justice Department.
S&C’s Washington lawyers include many former judicial clerks, including from the U.S. Supreme Court, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit and other federal and state courts.
Lawyers joining the office after graduating from law school or completing a judicial clerkship become members of one of two groups—either Litigation or General Practice (corporate and financial services regulatory work—based on their interests).
In the Litigation Group, the lawyers of the Washington office represent a wide variety of U.S. and non-U.S. clients in diverse trial and appellate litigation matters, including antitrust, securities fraud and other complex commercial disputes. D.C.-based lawyers are an integral part of the Firm’s appellate litigation practice, participating in arguments and submitting briefs to a wide variety of federal and state courts, including the U.S. Supreme Court. S&C’s Washington lawyers also represent top-tier clients in high-profile civil and criminal government investigations and enforcement proceedings, including under the U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA), and commodity and benchmark manipulation and international cartel investigations brought by federal agencies such as the Department of Justice, the SEC, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), congressional committees and state attorneys general.
In our corporate practice, lawyers handle a wide variety of financial services matters, including for major foreign and domestic banks and bank holding companies, insurance companies, asset management firms, investment funds, private equity and hedge funds, and broker-dealers. The Firm is widely recognized as a global leader in the financial services practice, and S&C lawyers have regular interaction with the staff of the major federal banking agencies, the U.S. Treasury, the CFTC, the SEC and various other federal and state regulatory authorities in the financial services sector.
Lawyers in the Washington office are also involved in a variety of corporate transactional matters, including participation in the Firm’s leading merger-and-acquisition practice and executive compensation and benefits practice. In the capital markets and financing area, lawyers in the Washington office have worked on securities transactions; structured, leveraged and high-yield finance transactions; Latin America transactions; and a variety of derivatives and derivative-product transactions. Our lawyers often work on matters involving the various multilateral development banks, such as the World Bank Group, the Inter-American Development Bank and regional development banks, such as Corporación Andina de Fomento.
Lawyers in our Washington office also handle matters related to the regulation of foreign investment and trade. For example, lawyers in Washington routinely advise on the economic and trade sanctions of the United States, the FCPA and various anti-money-laundering laws and regulations of the United States, and work on national security reviews of investment transactions by the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States.
The Washington office is an integral part of the Firm and, while sharing the Firm’s overall culture and values, its smaller size allows for a deeply collegial experience. In addition, the lawyers in the Washington office have significant ties to the D.C.-area community and participate in a wide range of local programs and activities, including public service matters for local clients and organizations. Our lawyers and staff take advantage of the office’s relatively small size to develop close personal and professional relationships that have been an important part of the Washington office culture since its founding in 1977.
Our office building is located at 1700 New York Avenue, N.W., next door to the White House, and features sweeping panoramic views of the National Mall and many of Washington’s monuments.
To learn more about our associate and summer associate positions, please see Your Career at S&C. Hiring for our U.S. offices is handled by each individual office. Hiring for our U.S. offices is handled by each individual office.
