Lawyers

Judd Littleton is a partner in Sullivan & Cromwell’s Litigation Group and serves as Co-Head of the Firm’s Supreme Court & Appellate Practice and co-hiring partner for the Washington, D.C. office. In addition to his Supreme Court and appellate work, Mr. Littleton maintains a diverse practice that includes complex commercial litigation and criminal defense and investigations. He has represented a number of leading multinational companies and financial institutions, including BP, Fiserv, HSBC, ING Group, JPMorgan Chase, MUFG Bank, and Volkswagen. He has also represented individuals accused of crimes or other serious wrongdoing in high-profile matters.
 
Prior to joining the Firm, Mr. Littleton served as a trial attorney in the Civil Division of the U.S. Department of Justice, where he litigated cases involving a wide range of constitutional and statutory issues and received the Attorney General’s Distinguished Service Award, the Department’s second-highest award for employee performance. Mr. Littleton also previously served as a Bristow Fellow in the Office of the Solicitor General at the U.S. Department of Justice, where he worked on numerous cases before the U.S. Supreme Court and federal courts of appeals.
 
He clerked for Chief Justice John G. Roberts, Jr. of the U.S. Supreme Court and for Judge A. Raymond Randolph of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit.
 
Mr. Littleton is a member of the Edward Coke Appellate Inn of Court and the Supreme Court Historical Society. He was recognized by The National Law Journal as one of its 2019 D.C. Rising Stars. Mr. Littleton is a frequent speaker at Supreme Court and appellate forums. He is also one of the creators and editors of S&C’s annual Supreme Court Business Review.

SELECTED REPRESENTATIONS

• BP p.l.c., in numerous Fifth Circuit appeals stemming from the Deepwater Horizon Economic and Property Damages Settlement.
• Fiserv and First Data Merchant Services, in an agreed resolution with the Federal Trade Commission in connection with allegations regarding insufficient controls and transaction monitoring of a wholesale independent sales organization (ISO) and its downstream merchants and affiliates.
• Former president of a major U.S. university, in convincing a state appellate court to reverse the trial court and dismiss criminal charges of perjury, obstruction of justice, and conspiracy based on violations of attorney-client privilege by his counsel in connection with the grand jury investigation.
• HSBC Holdings plc, in the successful resolution with the DOJ related to OFAC sanctions and anti-money laundering compliance.
• HSBC Holdings plc, in negotiating the settlement of a shareholder derivative lawsuit arising out of HSBC’s 2012 resolutions with the DOJ and other agencies.
• ING Group, in obtaining dismissal and affirmance on appeal of a $4.9 billion federal RICO and fraudulent conveyance claim filed in the Southern District of New York in connection with ING’s conduct that was the subject of a $619 million criminal sanctions settlement that S&C had previously negotiated for ING.
• JPMorgan Chase, in securities fraud, shareholder derivative, and ERISA litigation in trial and appellate courts arising out of the bank’s 2012 so-called “London Whale” trading losses.
• MUFG Bank, Ltd, in successfully quashing a post-judgment citation and subpoenas that sought to require MUFG to search for and freeze any Iranian assets held by any of its hundreds of branches in more than 40 countries around the world, including on appeal in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit.
• Volkswagen and Audi, in numerous consumer and environmental enforcement actions brought by state attorneys general and counties in connection with emissions “defeat devices” in diesel vehicles. Obtained full or partial dismissal of claims in numerous cases at the appellate and trial court levels.
• Volkswagen and Audi, in securing the dismissal in the Texas Court of Appeals of the Texas Attorney General’s claims relating to diesel emissions issues on the ground that Texas lacked jurisdiction over Volkswagen AG and AUDI AG in those matters.
• Volkswagen, in a putative nationwide class action alleging the unlawful sale of “pre-production” and other vehicles used internally by the company before being sold as certified pre-owned to consumers.

Recent Publications

• S&C Critical Insights podcast “Supreme Court Business Review: Series Overview, Collins v. Yellen and California v. Texas” (July 2021).
• Supreme Court Business Review: October Term 2020 (July 2021) (Editor).
• S&C Critical Insights podcast “Supreme Court Limits FTC’s Remedial Authority in AMG Capital Management v. FTC” (April 2021).
• S&C Critical Insights podcast “FTC Authority To Obtain Monetary Relief May Be Under Threat” (January 2021).
• “FTC Authority To Obtain Monetary Relief May Be Under Threat,” Law360 (January 2021).
• S&C Critical Insights podcast “Supreme Court Business Review: Criminal Defense and Investigations in Kelly and Liu” (August 2020).
• S&C Critical Insights podcast “Supreme Court Business Review: Labor & Employment in Bostock and Comcast” (August 2020).
• S&C Critical Insights podcast “Supreme Court Business Review: Arbitration in GE Energy and Schein II” (August 2020).
• S&C Critical Insights podcast “Supreme Court Business Review: Series Overview and Seila Law v. CFPB” (August 2020).
• S&C Critical Insights podcast “S&C Supreme Court Business Review – October Term 2019” (August 2020).
• Supreme Court Business Review: October Term 2019 (July 2020) (Editor).
• “INSIGHT: The SEC Survives Liu, but FTC Is on Deck,” Bloomberg Law (July 2020).
• Supreme Court Business Review: October Term 2018 (July 2019) (Editor).
• Supreme Court Business Review: October Term 2017 (July 2018) (Editor).
• “Expert Q&A on Seeking or Opposing Certiorari in the US Supreme Court,” Practical Law (February 2018).
• Supreme Court Business Review: October Term 2016 (July 2017) (Editor).
• “Investment Trusts Must Trust Their Members’ Citizenships,” Law360 (March 2016).
• “How Cybercriminal Are Targeting Corporate Transactions,” Law360 (May 2015).