Patricia Ann Millett

Patricia A. Millett heads Akin Gump’s Supreme Court practice and co-heads the firm’s national appellate practice. She has argued a total of 32 cases before the U.S. Supreme Court and approximately 36 in the courts of appeals. She has briefed scores of cases in the Supreme Court and appellate courts across the nation. Practice & Background From August 1996 to September 2007, Ms. Millett served as an Assistant to the Solicitor General in the Office of the Solicitor General at the U.S. Department of Justice in Washington, D.C. During that time, she was awarded the Attorney General’s Distinguished Service Award for representing the interests of the United States Government before the Supreme Court in July 2004, and the Environmental and Natural Resources Division, Special Commendation for Assistance and Support in the Activities of the Division, in September 2005. Prior to her employment with the Office of the Solicitor General, Ms. Millett worked for four years in the Department of Justice’s Civil Division, Appellate Staff, where she briefed and argued more than 20 cases before the federal courts of appeals and, occasionally, state appellate courts. Before that, she clerked for two years for the late Judge Thomas Tang, on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit. She also worked for two years in the litigation department of a Washington, D.C. law firm. One of Ms. Millett’s Supreme Court briefs is featured in the book, Point Made: How to Write Like the Nation’s Top Advocates by Ross Guberman (2011). Representative Matters Ms. Millett’s oral arguments before the U.S. Supreme Court include: Arizona, et al. v. Inter Tribal Council of Arizona, Inc., et al., No. 12-71 Match-E-Be-Nash-She-Wish Band of Pottawatomi Indians v. David Patchak, et al., Nos. 11-246, 11-247 Filarsky v. Delia, No. 10-1018 Gonzalez v. Thaler, No. 10-895 Samantar v. Yousuf, et al., No. 08-1555 United States v. Stevens, No. 08-769 United States v. Clintwood Elkhorn Mining Co., No. 07-308 Blessing v. Freestone, No. 95-1441 Kalina v. Fletcher, No. 96-0792 Ricci v. Village of Arlington Heights, No. 97-0501 Bank of America v. 203 North LaSalle Street Partners, No. 97-1418 INS v. Aguirre-Aguirre, No. 97-1754 Norfolk Southern Ry. v. Shanklin, No. 99-0312 Reeves v. Sanderson Plumbing Prods., No. 99-536 City of Indianapolis v. Edmond, No. 99-1030 Shaw v. Murphy, No. 99-1613 Young v. United States, No. 00-1567 Devlin v. Scardelletti, No. 01-417 Gonzaga Univ. v. Doe, No. 01-679 Washington Dep’t of Human Servs. v. Keffeler, No. 01-1420 Nguyen & Phan v. United States, No. 01-10873 Illinois v. Lidster, No. 02-1060 Office of Indep. Counsel/ Nat’l Archives & Records Admin. v. Favish, No. 02-954 KP Permanent Make-Up v. Lasting Impressions, No. 03-409 Small v. United States, No. 03-750 Gonzalez v. Crosby, No. 04-6432 Dolan v. U.S. Postal Service, No. 04-848 Arkansas Department of Human Servs. v. Ahlborn, No. 04-1506 Washington v. Recuenco, No. 05-83 Safeco Ins. Co. v. Burr, and Geico Ins. Co. v. Edo, Nos. 06-84, 06-100 Fry v. Pliler, No. 06-54247 Sole v. Wyner, No. 06-531. Community Involvement Ms. Millett is involved in numerous professional, community, civic and charitable activities that include being a: member of the Supreme Court Fellows Commission (by appointment of the Chief Justice) Fellow of the American Academy of Appellate Lawyers Fellow of the American Bar Foundation member of the Board of Trustees of the Supreme Court Historical Society board member of the Dwight D. Opperman Institute of Judicial Administration at New York University Law School member of the Outside Advisory Board for the Georgetown Law School’s Supreme Court Institute member of the Board of Trustees of the Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights Master in the Edward Coke Appellate Inn of Court member of the Virginia Bar Association and its Appellate Practice Committee member of the American Bar Association, Litigation Section, Appellate Practice Committee, and Standing Committee on Amicus Curiae Briefs member of the D.C. Bar Association member of the Virginia Women Attorney’s Association member of the Women’s Bar Association of D.C. member of the American Constitution Society member of the Third Circuit Bar Association. Awards & Accolades Named to National Law Journal list of 100 Most Influential Lawyers in America (2013) Law 360 MVP for Appellate Practice (2012) Ms. Millett was named by Washingtonian magazine as one of Washington’s 100 Most Powerful Women (2011-2012), in which the magazine reported that she “is known as a persuasive writer and an eloquent arguer” Washington’s Best Lawyers for her Supreme Court work (2011) Named by the National Law Journal as one of Washington’s Most Influential Women Lawyers (2010) Am Law Litigation Daily as “Litigator of the Week” (2010) for her successful, closely watched and highly publicized argument before the 2nd Circuit in the matter of Securities and Exchange Commission v. Galleon Group, et al. Chambers USA: America’s Leading Lawyers for Business (2009-2012) - appellate law The Best Lawyers in America (2012) - appellate practice Ms. Millett been listed by Washingtonian magazine and Benchmark Appellate as a top lawyer in the areas of Supreme Court and appellate practice Washington D.C. Super Lawyers (2009-2013). Speaking Engagements Ms. Millett regularly speaks on Supreme Court practice and appellate advocacy issues in forums nationwide. Some of her recent speaking engagements include: Speaker, Washington Legal Foundation Media Briefing Series “High Court at Halftime: The October 2012 Term at Midpoint,” February 12, 2013 Panelist, “Appellate Advocacy: Building Skills, Building a Practice,” NAPABA National Convention, November 16, 2012 Speaker, “Appellate Advisory 2012," D.C. Bar Conference Center, October 26, 2012 Speaker, Arizona State University of Law, October 8, 2012 Panelist, “The Evolution of Appellate Specialization and the Emergence of Appellate Bars” at The American Academy of Appellate Lawyers 2012 Fall Meeting, October 5, 2012 Speaker, “My perspectives on the U.S. Supreme Court,” PLAC 2012 Fall Conference, October 4, 2012 Panelist, Penn Law ACS Supreme Court Review, September 20, 2012 Panelist on Supreme Court Term CLE Program, Northern Virginia Chapter, Federal Bar Association, Washington, D.C., July 25, 2012 Panelist, “Webinar Supreme Court Review,” State and Legal Local Center, July 19, 2012 Panel on “Appellate Experts To Review October 2011 Supreme Court Term,” Washington Legal Foundation, Washington, D.C., June 26, 2012 Panel on “The Supreme Court Review 2012,” Federal Circuit Bar Association Annual Bench and Bar Supreme Court Panel Conference, San Diego, California, June 21, 2012 Panel on “2011-2012 Supreme Court Review,” American Constitution Society, Washington, D.C., June 19, 2012 Panel on “The United States Supreme Court: A Discussion for Obama Care and Other Significant High Court Cases,” Maryland State Bar Association’s Annual Meeting, Ocean City, Maryland, June 14, 2012 Speaker at the 2012 Legal Aid Society of the District of Columbia Generous Associates Campaign Reception, Washington, D.C., June 4, 2012 Panel on “Effective Appellate Advocacy: Views from the Bench and the Bar,” Oral Advocacy, Sponsored by the Dwight D. Opperman Institute of Judicial Administration, the Edward Coke Appellate Inn of Court, and the American Academy of Appellate Lawyers, Washington, D.C., April 20, 2012 Legal Overview: An update on the Supreme Court Litigation, American Farm Bureau Federation Health Care Reform Conference, Washington, D.C., April 11, 2012 “Post-Argument Panel Discussion of ACA arguments,” Supreme Court Institute, Georgetown Law School, April 2, 2012 “Second Annual Capital Area Legal Writing Conference,” Keynote Speaker, Georgetown Law School, March 9, 2012 Panel “The Women at the United States Supreme Court,” The Supreme Court Fellows Alumni Association, Southwestern Law School, Los Angeles, California, February 24, 2012 Treason and Sedition in American History, Smithsonian Resident Associates program, Washington, D.C., February 9, 2012.