Tell us about your top U.S. Supreme Court or federal appeals court victory over the past year and how you and your team achieved the win.

After the Court granted certiorari in Patchak v. Zinke, a long-running dispute over the Gun Lake Tribe's property, the Tribe retained our Supreme Court team to preserve its suddenly tenuous D.C. Circuit victory.  The case raised a difficult constitutional separation-of-powers question regarding Congress's authority to affect pending cases.  Because of our concern about getting five votes on that question, we developed an additional theory for affirming the judgment (not addressed by the D.C. Circuit on in the certiorari-stage papers) on other grounds.  That strategy paid off:  4 justices adopted our position on the separation-of-powers question, and 2 justices concurred in the judgment on our alternative legal theory – thereby providing a total victory for the Tribe.

How did your firm approach appellate success over the past year?

We focused on developing our appellate strength in specific areas, including Indian law, patents, labor, and bankruptcy.  That led to high-profile victories for Indian Tribes (Supreme Court and Ninth Circuit), the NFL (Fifth Circuit), Apollo (Second Circuit)—and to co-chair Rex Heinke's 150^th appellate argument.

What practice advice would you give your younger self?

Don't be afraid to think creatively.  Sometimes you need to take a different tack to win a challenging appeal, so have the confidence to rethink, revamp, and reframe arguments.

Responses submitted by Pratik Shah, a partner at Akin Gump.