Hogan Lovells' Neal Katyal shortlisted in The American Lawyer Litigator of the Year award

Katyal, a former acting solicitor General under President Obama, is the 2017 Grand Prize winner in the same award and for a decade has been the nation’s most recognizable and high profile appellate lawyer. 

This recognition comes after a stellar year, which included several multi-billion dollar commercial dispute wins in lower courts. These included obtaining full reversals in both the widely-watched “Citibank miswire case” with US$1 billion at stake, and a US$834 million win for Bristol Myers Squibb at the Hawaii Supreme Court, traditionally a challenging court for commercial appellants. Among other cases, he also argued and won a major California appeal for Anthem Insurance, with over US$4 billion at stake.

However, it is at the United States Supreme Court that Katyal has truly earned this accolade. In the 2022-2023 term, Katyal gave 5 separate oral arguments, remarkably near 10% of the Court’s entire docket. This included his 50th oral argument, the first time in history a minority lawyer has reached this incredible milestone. 

Among his most notable cases at the nation’s highest court, he won a massive 6-3 decision in Moore v. Harper, a case  described by retired Fourth Circuit Judge Michael Luttig as “the single most important constitutional case for American Democracy since the Nation's Founding almost 250 years ago.” Luttig also said Katyal’s argument “was the single best oral argument I have ever heard made before the Supreme Court of the United States.”

The very same week as Moore, Katyal also won a 5-4 decision on behalf of crypto currency platform Coinbase, the very first time any crypto company has had a case heard by the Court.  Coinbase v. Bielski was a major victory for other parties that are seeking to compel arbitration. Such parties, depending on the jurisdiction, previously may have been compelled to move forward with litigation in the trial court, including costly discovery, while also appealing the right to arbitrate.

Katyal this week achieved another huge victory in defeating the Minnesota Supreme Court appeal of former Officer Derek Chauvin in the George Floyd murder. Katyal has been serving as Special Prosecutor in the murder for the last 3 years, and successfully argued the case earlier this year. All of this led former Attorney General Eric Holder to tweet: “Neal Katyal had a great year: from successfully navigating the murder of George Floyd litigation and giving a superb, consequential oral argument in the North Carolina case where Republicans were pushing the independent legislature lunacy that the Supreme Court slapped down.”

The Grand Prize winner will be announced at a ceremony in New York on the evening of 15 November.