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Carter Phillips (JD ’77) Named One of the Most Influential Members of the Supreme Court Bar

August 26, 2015

A close analysis of Supreme Court briefs from 1946-2013 found Carter Phillips (JD ’77) to be one of the most successful lawyers who have argued in front of the Supreme Court. The study, “Who Wins in the Supreme Court? An Examination of Attorney and Law Firm Influence,” authored by Adam Feldman, analyzes “…the amount of language shared between over 9,400 Supreme Court merits briefs and their respective Supreme Court opinions from 1946 through 2013.”

Phillips has argued 80 cases before the nation’s highest court. Feldman’s analysis leads him to conclude that he “…is also one of the most successful Supreme Court brief-writers.”

Bloomberg BNA reported, “Individually, Feldman named Carter Phillips of Sidley Austin and Chief Justice John Roberts, who once practiced at Hogan & Hartson, as the most successful lawyers because they were the most experienced before the Supreme Court and because the Court consistently adopted portions of the language in their briefs.”

The study echoes a Reuters report from 2014, which identified Phillips, along with Sarah O’Rourke Schrup and Jeffrey T. Green, all co-directors of Northwestern Law’s Supreme Court Clinic, as some of the most influential attorneys at the United States Supreme Court.