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    Jeffrey B. Wall

    Partner

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    Washington, D.C.

    +1-202-956-7500

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    wallj@sullcrom.com

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    Jeff Wall is a partner in the Firm’s Litigation Group and the head of its Supreme Court and Appellate Practice. Mr. Wall is the former Acting Solicitor General of the United States. He has argued 30 cases in the Supreme Court in a number of areas, including securities, class actions, arbitration, intellectual property, taxation, labor and employment, bankruptcy, preemption, the False Claims Act, the First Amendment, and criminal law and procedure. His recent arguments for the government and in private practice include Murphy v. NCAA (sports gambling), Financial Oversight and Management Board for Puerto Rico v. Aurelius Investment, LLC (fiscal oversight of Puerto Rico), Frank v. Gaos (class actions), Epic Systems Corp. v. Lewis (arbitration), and Halo Electronics v. Pulse Electronics Inc. (patent damages). Mr. Wall has briefed and argued numerous cases before federal and state courts of appeals and administrative agencies. In addition to his appellate experience, Mr. Wall has represented clients in a range of complex civil and criminal matters at the trial level, including as lead counsel in a successful federal criminal trial. He often counsels clients on strategic legal issues arising from litigation, legislation, or governmental oversight or investigation.

    Before rejoining Sullivan & Cromwell, Mr. Wall served in the Office of the Solicitor General as the Principal Deputy for four years, twice leading the office as the Acting Solicitor General from March to September 2017 and again from July 2020 to January 2021. In that role, he was responsible for overseeing appellate litigation by the United States in the Supreme Court and the courts of appeals, which required coordinating with and counseling agencies throughout the federal government on their regulatory objectives. He successfully argued several major Supreme Court cases on the separation of powers, constitutional rights, executive authority, and religious liberty. Mr. Wall also served as an Assistant to the Solicitor General from 2008 to 2013.

    Following law school, Mr. Wall clerked for Associate Justice Clarence Thomas of the U.S. Supreme Court, and Judge J. Harvie Wilkinson III of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit. He has taught courses in law school on administrative law and federal jurisdiction. He is a member of the American Law Institute, member and former officer of the Edward Coke Appellate Inn of Court, member of the Supreme Court Historical Society, and former member of the Advisory Committee on Procedures for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit.

    Recent Speaking Engagements

    • “25th Annual Supreme Court Review: October 2022 Term,” (Practising Law Institute, August 3, 2023)
    • “Market Evolution and the Effects of Regulation in the Asset Management Industry,” (Sullivan & Cromwell LLP, June 13, 2023)
    • “Reflections: A Conversation with Judge Julius N. Richardson and Jeffrey B. Wall, (Columbia Law School and NYU Law School April 4, 2023)”
    • “Oral Argument Before The Supreme Court,” (National Association of Attorneys General, November 30, 2022)
    • “A Conversation with Jeff Wall and U.S. Judge Julius Richardson,” (Federalist Society at the University of Virginia School of Law, September 29, 2022)
    • “Supreme Court Preview,” (Heritage Foundation, September 27, 2022)
    • “Supreme Court Preview,” (Federalist Society, September 27, 2022)
    • "Supreme Court Preview," (William & Mary Law School, September 16, 2022)
    • “Appellate Advocacy: Tips from the Pros” (Sixth Circuit Judicial Conference, September 1, 2022)
    • “Supreme Court – A Year in Review, 2021 Term” (New York City Bar, July 20, 2022)
    • “An Evening with Adrian Vermeule,” (The National Press Club, Book Launch for Adrian Vermeule’s Common Good Constitutionalism, May 26, 2022)
    • “Congress, Jurisdiction, Process, & the Institution of the Supreme Court,” (The C. Boyden Gray Center, Congress’s Interbranch Role: The Executive, the Court, and Dobbs, May 25, 2022)
    • “The Supreme Court at a Crossroads,” (Harvard Law School Association, May 12, 2022)
    • “Regulatory Outlook: EPA, FTC, & SEC,” (U.S. Chamber Litigation Center and Institute for Legal Reform, Free Enterprise in the Courts: What to Expect in 2022 and Beyond, April 27, 2022)
    • “U.S. Supreme Court Update,” (Eighth Circuit Judicial Conference, Law in a Time of Crisis, October 29, 2021)
    • “Advocacy in the Thomas-era Court,” (The Heritage Foundation, Justice Thomas’s Thirty-Year Legacy on the Court, October 21, 2021)
    • “Backing a Winner: Long Term Davis Conference Center Strategies for Cases to Advance to the Supreme Court,” (The Heritage Foundation, Legal Strategy Forum, October 6, 2021)
    • “Supreme Court Press Preview: Anticipating the Supreme Court’s October Term 2021,” (Georgetown University Law Center, September 21, 2021)
    • “Dunn Lecture: A Conversation About The Supreme Court,” (William & Mary Law School, September 13, 2021)
    • “What will be the role of the Biden Solicitor General and what’s in store for the shadow docket?” (William & Mary Law School, Supreme Court Preview, September 11, 2021)
    • “Are we all textualists now? A look at the Supreme Court’s business cases and statutory interpretation puzzles,” (William & Mary Law School, Supreme Court Preview, September 11, 2021)

    Spotlight

    JPMorgan Obtains Second Circuit Win in Major Syndicated Loan Case

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    Dalia Blass, Jay Clayton and Jeff Wall Host Program Moderated by Gary Cohn on ‘Market Evolution and the Effects of Regulation in the Asset Management Industry’

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    S&C Wins Tenth Circuit Reversal for Spirit AeroSystems in Dispute with Ex-CEO

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    Experience

    Selected Representations

    • BMC Software in an appeal before the Fifth Circuit defending a $1.6 billion judgment against a competitor for violating a software licensing agreement.
    • Canadian Pacific Railway before the Supreme Court in opposing certiorari in a set of lawsuits arising from a train derailment.
    • Major League Baseball in an appeal before the Second Circuit defending the league’s exemption from the federal antitrust laws.
    • Spirit AeroSystems in an appeal to the Tenth Circuit involving compensation for the company’s former CEO.

    • U.S. Chamber of Commerce and Business Roundtable in litigation against the Securities Exchange Commission over its revision of the rules governing proxy voting advice.
    • U.S. Chamber of Commerce in briefs to the Supreme Court and Fourth Circuit about public-company disclosures regarding cybersecurity risks.
    • Valero Energy Corporation in a set of consolidated appeals to the D.C. Circuit challenging vehicle-emission and fuel-economy rules issued by the Environmental Protection Agency and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.
    • Walgreens Boots Alliance in an appeal to the Sixth Circuit from a $650 million judgment in the national opioid multidistrict litigation.

    Cases Argued in the Supreme Court

    Arbitration:

    • Epic Systems Corp. v. Lewis, 138 S. Ct. 1612 (2018): whether the National Labor Relations Act prohibits enforcement of an individual arbitration agreement.

    Bankruptcy:

    • Schwab v. Reilly, 130 S. Ct. 2652 (2010): whether the bankruptcy trustee is required to object to a debtor’s market valuation of property.

    Civil Rights:

    • Hernandez v. Mesa, 140 S. Ct. 735 (2020): whether a Bivens remedy is available for cross-border incidents.
    • McDonough v. Smith, 139 S. Ct. 2149 (2019): when the statute of limitations for a Section 1983 claim based on fabrication of evidence in criminal proceedings begins to run.
    • Nieves v. Bartlett, 139 S. Ct. 1715 (2019): whether probable cause defeats a claim of retaliatory arrest under the First Amendment.
    • Lozman v. City of Riviera Beach, Florida, 138 S. Ct. 1945 (2018): whether probable cause defeats a claim of retaliatory arrest under the First Amendment.

    Class Actions:

    • Frank v. Gaos, 139 S. Ct. 1041 (2019): whether a class-action settlement that distributes cy pres funds satisfies Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 23(e)(2).

    Constitutional Law:

    Criminal Law and Procedure:

    • United States v. Briggs, 141 S. Ct. 467 (2020): whether the Uniform Code of Military Justice allows for the prosecution of certain rapes only within five years.
    • Henderson v. United States, 133 S. Ct. 1121 (2013): whether an error is plain for purposes of plain-error review when the law is unclear at the time of the error but subsequently becomes clear.
    • Bailey v. United States, 133 S. Ct. 1031 (2013): whether the Fourth Amendment permits police officers executing a search warrant to detain an occupant who has left the immediate vicinity of the premises.
    • Martinez v. Ryan, 132 S. Ct. 1309 (2012): whether a prisoner has a constitutional right to the assistance of counsel on collateral review when that is the first opportunity to raise a particular claim of error.
    • Sykes v. United States, 131 S. Ct. 2267 (2011): whether a felony conviction for fleeing from law enforcement in a vehicle qualifies as a violent felony under the Armed Career Criminal Act.
    • Barber v. Thomas, 130 S. Ct. 2499 (2010): whether good conduct time for federal inmates should be calculated on the basis of the sentence imposed or time served.

    False Claims Act:

    Intellectual Property:

    Labor and Employment: 

    Securities:

    • Gabelli v. SEC, 133 S. Ct. 1216 (2013): when a statute of limitations begins to run for civil penalty claims against investment advisers.
    • Credit Suisse Securities (USA) LLC v. Simmonds, 132 S. Ct. 1414 (2012): when a statute of limitations begins to run for short-swing trading claims against financial institutions, officers, and directors.

    Sports Gambling:

    Rankings and Recognitions

    • Chambers USA – Nationwide Appellate Law (2023)
    • The Best Lawyers in America – Appellate (2024)
    • Lawdragon – 500­ Leading Litigators in America (2024)
    • Law360 Practice Group of the Year – Appellate (2016)
    • Law360 MVP – Appellate (2016)
    • The National Law Journal Appellate Hot List (2014, 2016)
    • Law360 Legal Lion (2016)
    • The Best Lawyers in Washington, D.C. – Appellate Practice (2017)
    • Legal Times D.C. Rising Star (2014)

    News

    Credentials

    Education

    • The University of Chicago Law School, J.D., 2003
    • Georgetown University, B.A., 1998

    Bar Admissions

    • District of Columbia
    • Georgia

    Clerkships

    • The Honorable Clarence Thomas, United States Supreme Court, 2004-2005
    • The Honorable J. Harvie Wilkinson III, United States Court of Appeals, Fourth Circuit, 2003-2004

    Related Practices