Solicitor General's office at Main Justice in Washington. (Photo: Mike Scarcella / ALM)

The U.S. Solicitor General's Office has increased the ranks of its assistants with the hiring of Masha Hansford, formerly counsel at Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison, and Nicole Frazer Reaves, an associate at the Washington litigation boutique Cooper & Kirk.

The dearth of female advocates within the solicitor general's office—and more broadly, the few women who argue at the Supreme Court, compared to males—has drawn widespread attention in recent years.

The hiring of Hansford, who starts Monday, and Reaves, who will join the office next month, brings the total female contingent of assistants to the solicitor general to six out of 16 assistant positions in the office. They join Erica Ross, Morgan Ratner, Colleen Sinzdak and Rebecca Taibleson.

While at Paul Weiss, Hansford was counsel in the litigation department and a member of the Supreme Court and appellate practice. She worked with Kannon Shanmugan, who leads the Supreme Court group, and before that, with Shanmugam when he was with Williams & Connolly. Shanmugam joined Paul Weiss last year, and quickly expanded the Supreme Court and appellate practice.

A graduate of Stanford Law School, where she was president of the law review, Hansford clerked for Judge David Tatel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit and U.S. District Judge John Bates in Washington.

Last year, Hansford was named a D.C. Rising Star by The National Law Journal. In an interview with The National Law Journal at the time, she was asked for a brief key to her success and she replied:

"Craft every argument to be response-proof: figure out a completely defensible rule and the winning theory that backs it up. It's not enough simply to engage in wishful thinking, especially at oral argument. And of course, shamelessly exploit it when opponents fail to do the same."

Kannon Shanmugam of Paul Weiss speaks last year at a Federalist Society event in D.C. (Photo: Diego M. Radzinschi/ALM)

Shanmugam, whom Hansford has called "an extraordinary mentor," said, "Masha is a superb lawyer and a very special human being. I think she is a generational talent and one day will be one of the great appellate litigators in the country."

Reaves has worked at the litigation boutique Cooper & Kirk since October 2018. She earlier was an associate at Sidley Austin, where her practice focused on civil litigation and appellate work. She is a former clerk to Justice Samuel Alito Jr. during the October 2016 term and Judge Jeffrey Sutton of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit.

She earned her law degree from the University of Virginia School of Law where she was a member of the Supreme Court litigation clinic and articles development editor for the law review.

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