Department of Justice, Solicitor General's Office, Supreme Court

An Exciting New Entrant In The Solicitor General Sweepstakes

This job would represent a multimillion-dollar pay cut for him, but the allure is undeniable.

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George T. Conway III

George T. Conway III

When we took a detailed look at the competition for U.S. Solicitor General back in December, it seemed like the honor of representing the federal government before the Supreme Court would go to a Jones Day partner, either Noel Francisco or Greg Katsas. This made sense: both Francisco and Katsas are highly regarded litigators, with experience before SCOTUS under their belts, and Jones Day lawyers are playing a leading role in the Trump transition, both at the Department of Justice and in the White House counsel’s office.

But as we mentioned the other day, the race for SG has just gotten a lot more interesting. George T. Conway III — a longtime litigation partner at the powerhouse firm of Wachtell Lipton, and the husband of Trump senior adviser Kellyanne Conway — has made the Solicitor General shortlist. He reportedly interviewed with incoming attorney general Jeff Sessions earlier this week.

Disclosure: I’ve known George for more than 15 years, going back to when I worked at Wachtell Lipton as a litigation associate, and I consider him a friend. We email from time to time, have lunch maybe every few years, and sometimes see each other at the annual Federalist Society National Lawyers Convention in November. (I reached out to George by email for this piece; he confirmed receipt of my email, but declined to comment on his SG consideration.)

I first got to know George when we worked together on my first matter at Wachtell (litigation over a newspaper merger, if I recall correctly; this was the year 2000, and there were these things called “newspapers” back then). I had to draft a short section of a brief, maybe a page or two, which I submitted to George after completing it. George was a young partner at the time; he joined Wachtell in 1988, after Yale Law School and a Second Circuit clerkship (with the distinguished Judge Ralph Winter), and became a partner in 1994. George had a reputation even then as a great litigator — as well as a certain mystique, based on his behind-the-scenes work on Paula Jones’s sexual harassment case against Bill Clinton, which eventually turned into the SCOTUS case of Clinton v. Jones.

Full of the (over)confidence of youth, I fancied myself a strong legal writer — I won a brief writing prize in law school! I just completed a Ninth Circuit clerkship! — but when I got my draft back from George, it was covered in red ink. After overcoming my initial dismay, I took a closer look at his edits. It turned out that they were fantastic, giving me my first glimpse at the brilliant lawyering I would see from George in future matters.

But here’s what stuck with me more, something I still remember today: George sat down with me later and took half an hour of his time to explain each and every edit. It was a master class in legal writing, but more importantly, it was an act of kindness and generosity, as well as training and mentorship — things that are sadly in short supply in Biglaw today. (This type of deliberate training was also, truth be told, somewhat unusual for Wachtell Lipton; it’s a place where you learn mainly by having huge amounts of work and responsibility given to you, and the partners and senior associates are often too busy billing to explain things to younger colleagues.)

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Bloomberg, which broke the news of Conway’s consideration, noted that he “would represent an unusual choice for solicitor general,” since he has argued just a single case before SCOTUS, the 2010 securities case of Morrison v. National Australia Bank. But I would note a few other facts in response.

First, George did a superb job in Morrison, prevailing 8-0 before the Court. Second, one SCOTUS argument doesn’t put him too far behind Noel Francisco and Greg Katsas, with their three arguments apiece. Third, as pointed out by Tony Mauro:

The fact that Conway has only argued once at the Supreme Court is not rare or disqualifying, according to Yale Law School scholar Lincoln Caplan, author of “The Tenth Justice,” a 1997 book about the solicitor general’s office. The newest justice, Elena Kagan, had never appeared in an appellate court before, and other 20th century SGs, including Robert Bork and Archibald Cox, had limited prior Supreme Court litigation experience.

What’s most important is George’s talent as a lawyer (and secondarily as an administrator — but the Office of the Solicitor General is small, with around 20 lawyers). On that topic, here’s what veteran SCOTUS litigator and OSG alumna Lisa Blatt, with a 32-2 record before the Court, told LawNewz:

He would be an exceptional choice. I’ve worked extensively with him and his depth of knowledge of the Supreme Court and its precedents, his temperament, judgment, collegiality and writing are all outstanding. He is a very experienced and talented appellate lawyer and his is experience with oral arguments before the Supreme Court is on par with other Solicitor Generals.

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It’s worth noting that Blatt’s praise for Conway comes from across the aisle. I wasn’t sure of her political views — I had the pleasure of participating in a SCOTUS event with her, but we didn’t talk politics — but I suspected Blatt to be a progressive (based on her having clerked for Ruth Bader Ginsburg and her “maxing out” to Hillary Clinton in the recent election). Blatt confirmed my suspicions via email: “I am a registered Democrat and I voted for and gave the maximum to HRC during the general and primary and am a devout liberal feminist! George is just an exceptionally gifted lawyer.”

Lisa’s not the only lefty with warm words for George. See also Bernie Nussbaum, former White House counsel to Bill Clinton, who told the National Law Journal that Conway is “a superb lawyer, and appellate advocacy is his forte. We worked together on numerous major matters, so I have first-hand knowledge of how talented he is.”[1]

Here’s another reason I support George for SG: he’s my fellow Filipino-American! Although funnily enough, as I recently told Cristina D.C. Pastor of The FilAm, I learned of this only after CNN reported that George is “of Filipino descent” and would be the first Asian-American solicitor general if nominated and confirmed.

How could I know George for 15 years and not know about yet another commonality (besides our undergraduate and law school alma maters, our ties to Wachtell Lipton, and our Federalist Society leanings)? It just never came up. The sense I had was that George prefers to see people as individuals, not members of racial or ethnic groups, and he’s not particularly active in the Asian-American or Filipino bar associations (at least I’ve not seen him at any AABANY or FALANY events over the years).

That said, the Filipino-American community is embracing this accomplished kababayan with pride. He’s been covered in many Filipino and Filipino-American news outlets, including the Manila Bulletin and ABS-CBN, and word on the street is that the Philippine Consul General is reaching out to schedule a meeting with him.

(I did a little digging into George’s Filipino background — the Fil-Am community is pretty small — and found out a little bit more. He’s Filipino on his mother’s side — shocking, I know, given that he’s “George T. Conway III” — and his mother came to the U.S. in the 1950s. He still has relatives in the Philippines, although it’s not clear how often he visits them, or whether he has been to the country at all.)

UPDATE (1/6/2017, 1:45 p.m.): Here’s another fun Fil-Am fact: one of the other SG finalists, Noel Francisco, is also of Filipino heritage! (He’s Filipino on his father’s side, while his mother is Italian-American.) How neat is that? With Francisco and Conway both in the finals, there is a decent chance that we will soon have our first Asian-American — and Filipino-American — solicitor general!

Kellyanne Conway, George Conway, and their twins (via Kellyanne Conway's Twitter feed)

Kellyanne Conway, George Conway, and their twins (via Kellyanne Conway’s Twitter feed)

In closing, George Conway makes perfect sense as SG in a Trump Administration. First, he’s rich — not a billionaire like some of the incoming Cabinet members, but as a partner of more than two decades at America’s most profitable law firm, a millionaire many times over. Second, he’s smart — and whether you agree with their politics or not, most of Trump’s picks are no dummies.

Third — like incoming Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, or Secretary of State Rex Tillerson — George is a D.C. outsider (#draintheswamp), but still possesses more than enough relevant experience. Fourth — and perhaps most importantly for Trumpworld — he has close ties to someone Trump trusts, as the husband of Kellyanne Conway (with whom he has four kids; one would expect the family to want to stick together geographically if possible). Finally — and here’s a fun fact — he and Kellyanne used to live in a Trump building (Trump World Tower, before they moved out to their $6 million lawyerly lair in tony Alpine, New Jersey).

Good luck to George Conway — and to all the other SG contenders — in what should be a most interesting selection process. Becoming the Solicitor General of the United States will probably involve a seven-figure pay cut for whoever takes the post, but it’s hard to put a price tag on what might be the best legal job in America.

P.S. Of course, an outgoing SG can walk through the revolving door at the end of her service and collect a paycheck that more than makes up for a few years of a government salary. See, e.g., Paul Clement and his $5 million a year from King & Spalding.

P.P.S. Speaking of money and of Wachtell Lipton, this reminds me — what’s going on with compensation at the firm? Have base salaries been raised post-Cravath, and how have bonuses been the past few years? Please drop me a line (subject line: “Wachtell Lipton”) if you have info to share.

[1] With respect to George’s litigation prowess, you don’t have to take my word — or Lisa Blatt’s word, or Bernie Nussbaum’s word — for it. As lawyers and law students, you can review his work product for yourself; it’s not hard to find examples online. His argument before the Supreme Court in Morrison v. National Australia Bank can be found over at the invaluable Oyez. Briefs he has written can be found here, here, here, here, here, here, here, and here.

SCOTUS Bar Warms Up to Wachtell Lawyer as Possible Trump SG [National Law Journal]
Kellyanne Conway’s Husband Met with Jeff Sessions About Top Legal Job at DOJ [LawNews]
Wachtell’s George Conway a Potential Trump Pick for Solicitor General [New York Law Journal]
Trump Said to Weigh Aide Conway’s Husband for Top Legal Job [Bloomberg via Morning Docket]
FilAm George Conway III a ‘brilliant lawyer’ known for representing Big Business [The Fil-Am]
Fil-Am on shortlist for Trump’s SolGen post [ABS-CBN]
Trump seen likely to tap Fil-Am lawyer to be next SolGen [Manila Bulletin]
Morrison v. National Australia Bank [Oyez]

Earlier: Who Will Be The Next U.S. Solicitor General?

DBL square headshotDavid Lat is the founder and managing editor of Above the Law and the author of Supreme Ambitions: A Novel. He previously worked as a federal prosecutor in Newark, New Jersey; a litigation associate at Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz; and a law clerk to Judge Diarmuid F. O’Scannlain of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. You can connect with David on Twitter (@DavidLat), LinkedIn, and Facebook, and you can reach him by email at dlat@abovethelaw.com.

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