Nicole Saharsky, who has argued 29 cases before the U.S. Supreme Court as an assistant to the U.S. solicitor general, is joining Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher as a partner and co-chair of the firm's appellate and constitutional law practice group.

Among women in current practice at the high court, other than Saharsky: Lisa Blatt of Arnold & Porter Kaye Scholer, who has argued 35 times.

“This is a great move for Gibson Dunn,” said former Solicitor General Donald Verrilli Jr., who worked with Saharsky for five years in the SG's Office. “She is a brilliant lawyer, a superb and experienced oral advocate, and, most importantly, a person of great character and integrity.” Verrilli is now a partner at Munger, Tolles & Olson.

Saharsky's move follows in the footsteps of other former SG assistants who have walked into leadership positions at top Supreme Court firms. Think Blatt, Pratik Shah of Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld, Kannon Shanmugam of Williams & Connolly, Deanne Maynard of Morrison Foerster, William Jay of Goodwin & Procter, and Douglas Hallward-Driemeier of Ropes & Gray, among others.

Other co-chairs of Gibson Dunn's appellate practice are James Ho, Mark Perry and Caitlin Halligan. Ho's nomination to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit is pending.

“Nicole is an experienced Supreme Court advocate of the first order,” Perry said in a press release. “The demand for the group's services continues to grow, and we are looking forward to working with Nicole to meet that demand.”

Ken Doran, the firm's chairman and managing partner, also said, “Nicole is a very experienced and extraordinarily talented appellate litigator who enjoys a well-deserved reputation before the Supreme Court as an extremely effective advocate.”

In an interview, Saharsky said she left the Solicitor General's Office on Sept. 15 and her first day at Gibson was Tuesday. In the interim, she took a trip to Bhutan in South Asia, “about as far away as you can get.”

She said her 10 years at the SG's Office is “a long time by standards of the office,” and she felt it was time to look for other opportunities. She sought a firm that provided the combination of “great people and great work,” and found it at Gibson, she said.

In the press release she also stated, “The firm is home to one of the country's premier appellate groups, and I am thrilled to become a part of such a talented group.” Saharsky declined to discuss financial arrangements.

Before joining the SG's Office 10 years ago—she was hired by former SG Paul Clement— Saharsky was an associate at O'Melveny & Myers. She also served as a Bristow fellow in the Solicitor General's Office and clerked for Fifth Circuit Judge Carolyn Dineen King.

She argued in a wide range of cases, from last term's jurisdiction case BNSF Railway v. Tyrrell to the 2012 Fourth Amendment “dog sniff case,” Florida v. Jardines.

 

♦ READ MORE: Why Are There So Few Women SCOTUS Advocates? 

 

As devotees of Supreme Court trivia will remember, Saharsky gained early notoriety in 2008 when she added a new word to Chief Justice John Roberts Jr.'s vocabulary.

During oral arguments in United States v. Hayes, involving a federal firearms statute, the justices were discussing different parts of the statute 18 U.S.C. 922 (a)(33)(A)(i) and (ii), referring to the sections awkwardly as “little eye” and “little eye eye.”

But Saharsky, representing the government, used a different approach. She called them “Romanette one and two,” using an obscure but self-explaining and almost whimsical term for a lower-case Roman numeral.

“Romanette?” Roberts asked quizzically.

“Oh, little Roman numeral,” Saharsky replied offhandedly.

“I've never heard that before!” Roberts said.

The word, fairly obscure until then, became a thing in legal circles.

Roberts used it again in an oral argument, and Kirkland & Ellis' legal trivia team called itself “The Romanettes,” attributing the name to Saharsky's mention of the word in the high court.

Nicole Saharsky, who has argued 29 cases before the U.S. Supreme Court as an assistant to the U.S. solicitor general, is joining Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher as a partner and co-chair of the firm's appellate and constitutional law practice group.

Among women in current practice at the high court, other than Saharsky: Lisa Blatt of Arnold & Porter Kaye Scholer, who has argued 35 times.

“This is a great move for Gibson Dunn,” said former Solicitor General Donald Verrilli Jr., who worked with Saharsky for five years in the SG's Office. “She is a brilliant lawyer, a superb and experienced oral advocate, and, most importantly, a person of great character and integrity.” Verrilli is now a partner at Munger, Tolles & Olson.

Saharsky's move follows in the footsteps of other former SG assistants who have walked into leadership positions at top Supreme Court firms. Think Blatt, Pratik Shah of Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld, Kannon Shanmugam of Williams & Connolly, Deanne Maynard of Morrison Foerster, William Jay of Goodwin & Procter, and Douglas Hallward-Driemeier of Ropes & Gray, among others.

Other co-chairs of Gibson Dunn's appellate practice are James Ho, Mark Perry and Caitlin Halligan. Ho's nomination to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit is pending.

“Nicole is an experienced Supreme Court advocate of the first order,” Perry said in a press release. “The demand for the group's services continues to grow, and we are looking forward to working with Nicole to meet that demand.”

Ken Doran, the firm's chairman and managing partner, also said, “Nicole is a very experienced and extraordinarily talented appellate litigator who enjoys a well-deserved reputation before the Supreme Court as an extremely effective advocate.”

In an interview, Saharsky said she left the Solicitor General's Office on Sept. 15 and her first day at Gibson was Tuesday. In the interim, she took a trip to Bhutan in South Asia, “about as far away as you can get.”

She said her 10 years at the SG's Office is “a long time by standards of the office,” and she felt it was time to look for other opportunities. She sought a firm that provided the combination of “great people and great work,” and found it at Gibson, she said.

In the press release she also stated, “The firm is home to one of the country's premier appellate groups, and I am thrilled to become a part of such a talented group.” Saharsky declined to discuss financial arrangements.

Before joining the SG's Office 10 years ago—she was hired by former SG Paul Clement— Saharsky was an associate at O'Melveny & Myers. She also served as a Bristow fellow in the Solicitor General's Office and clerked for Fifth Circuit Judge Carolyn Dineen King.

She argued in a wide range of cases, from last term's jurisdiction case BNSF Railway v. Tyrrell to the 2012 Fourth Amendment “dog sniff case,” Florida v. Jardines.

 

♦ READ MORE: Why Are There So Few Women SCOTUS Advocates? 

 

As devotees of Supreme Court trivia will remember, Saharsky gained early notoriety in 2008 when she added a new word to Chief Justice John Roberts Jr.'s vocabulary.

During oral arguments in United States v. Hayes, involving a federal firearms statute, the justices were discussing different parts of the statute 18 U.S.C. 922 (a)(33)(A)(i) and (ii), referring to the sections awkwardly as “little eye” and “little eye eye.”

But Saharsky, representing the government, used a different approach. She called them “Romanette one and two,” using an obscure but self-explaining and almost whimsical term for a lower-case Roman numeral.

“Romanette?” Roberts asked quizzically.

“Oh, little Roman numeral,” Saharsky replied offhandedly.

“I've never heard that before!” Roberts said.

The word, fairly obscure until then, became a thing in legal circles.

Roberts used it again in an oral argument, and Kirkland & Ellis' legal trivia team called itself “The Romanettes,” attributing the name to Saharsky's mention of the word in the high court.