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Kathleen Sullivan, former dean of Stanford Law School, is a partner in the firm's New York office and the chair of its national appellate practice.  Widely recognized as one of the nation’s preeminent appellate litigators, she has been named by The National Law Journal as one of  the 100 Most Influential Lawyers in America, by the Daily Journal as one of the 100 Most Influential Lawyers in California, by The American Lawyer Litigation Daily as Litigator of the Week, and by California Lawyer as Appellate Lawyer of the Year.  A recent New York Times editorial called her “a formidable advocate” and a recent National Law Journal article called her a Supreme Court “superstar.”

Sullivan has practiced law since 1982 in New York, Massachusetts and California alongside her prominent career as a leading scholar and teacher of constitutional law at Harvard and Stanford Law Schools. Since joining Quinn Emanuel in 2005, Sullivan has represented a wide range of clients, including Shell Oil, Morgan Stanley, General Electric, Samsung, Pfizer, Motorola, Coca-Cola, Siebel Systems, Oracle, Intuit, Hearst News, the Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers, Allegheny Energy, PG&E, AIG, and CNA.  And she has won numerous significant cases, including merits victories in the US Supreme Court for Shell Oil, “K Line,” and California wineries and a ruling by the New York Court of Appeals that the The New York Times called “stunning,” upholding the power of New York’s Governor to appoint a lieutenant governor.

Ms. Sullivan has argued six cases before the United States Supreme Court; numerous cases in the US Courts of Appeals, including the First, Second, Third, Fifth, Ninth and Federal Circuits; and various cases in state high courts including three cases before the New York Court of Appeals.  In addition to her appeals practice, she plays an active role in the firm’s trial practice and has briefed and argued numerous significant motions in various federal district courts and state trial courts including the New York Supreme Court and the Delaware Chancery Court.

Obtained 6-2 win in the US Supreme Court for Wyeth, a division of Pfizer, in Bruesewitz v. Wyeth (No. 09-152), a decision holding that the Vaccine Act expressly preempts state-law design-defect claims against manufacturers of childhood vaccines.

Obtained a victory for a Japanese ocean carrier in the US Supreme Court in Kawasaki Kisen Kaisha Ltd. v. Regal-Beloit Corp., 130 S. Ct. 2433 (2010), which held unanimously that the restrictive provisions of the Carmack Amendment do not apply to an ocean carrier making an intermodal shipments of containerized cargo.

Obtained an 8-1 win for Shell Oil Company in the US Supreme Court in Burlington Northern & Santa Fe Railway v. United States; Shell Oil Co. v. United States, 127 S.Ct. 1870 (2009), which held that a shipper of useful products may not be held liable under CERCLA as an "arranger" for the disposal of hazardous waste.

Obtained a 5-4 win in the US Supreme Court for California wineries and Michigan wine consumers who successfully challenged discriminatory state bans on the interstate direct shipment of wine in Granholm v. Heald, 544 U.S. 460 (2005).

Obtained a 4-3 win in the New York Court of Appeals, in Skelos v. Paterson, 13 N.Y.3d 141; 915 N.E.2d 1141 (2009), a constitutional case of first impression upholding New York Governor David Paterson authority to appoint Richard Ravitch lieutenant governor.

Obtained a unanimous win for PG&E in the US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit in a decision upholding the Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s environmental assessment of a nuclear spent fuel storage facility.

Obtained a unanimous win for a Johnson & Johnson subsidiary in the US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit in a decision affirming dismissal of a case claiming interference with patent rights and making new law about the removability to federal court of cases related to foreign arbitral proceedings.

Obtained a unanimous win for Oracle in the US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit in a decision affirming a summary judgment for Oracle in a securities class action dating back to 2Q 2001.

Obtained a unanimous win for a major chemical manufacturer in the US Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit in a decision dismissing an appeal from a decision declining to stay US litigation in favor of a foreign arbitral proceeding involving related parties.

Obtained a unanimous win for AIG subsidiaries in the US Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit in a decision rejecting a jury verdict on when the statute of limitations on a fraud claim began to run and reversing a $34 million judgment against AIG.

Obtained a unanimous victory for an agency of the Russian Federation in the US Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit in a decision clarifying the ability to contest the assignment of trademarks and reinstating the agency’s claims to recover the famous trademarks to Stolichnaya vodka.

Obtained a unanimous win for Allegheny Energy, Inc. in the US Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit in Merrill Lynch & Co. Inc. v. Allegheny Energy, Inc., 500 F.3d 171 (2d Cir. 2007), which  overturned a $188 million contract judgment and reinstated all counterclaims in a dispute over a complex contract to sell an energy trading desk.

Obtained an 8-7 victory from an en banc panel of the US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit in Doe v. Kamehameha Schools/Bishop Estate, 470 F.3d 827 (2006) (en banc), which upheld a Native Hawaiian admissions policy against challenge under 42 U.S.C. § 1981.

Obtained a victory for Samsung in the US Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, which held that an arbitrator must decide the arbitrability of a patent royalty dispute.

Obtained a victory for a global telecommunications company in the US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, upholding an arbitrator’s jurisdiction to decide the arbitrability of claims.

Obtained a unanimous victory for Intuit in the New York Court of Appeals in a decision upholding attorneys’ latitude to interview a litigation opponent’s former employees.

Obtained dismissal of an SEC complaint against Siebel Systems in the US District Court for the Southern District of New York in the first litigated challenge to the SEC's enforcement of Regulation FD.

Represent the Italian bankruptcy commissioner for Parmalat in the US Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit and the New Jersey appellate courts in appeals involving claims against third parties for assisting corrupt insiders.

Represented the Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers in the US Courts of Appeals for the Second and Ninth Circuits in federal preemption challenges to state greenhouse gas regulations.

Represented Hearst News and The San Francisco Chronicle in the US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, defending press rights to shield confidential sources in the steroids in baseball story.

Represented a class of mothers and children receiving AFDC in the US Supreme Court in Anderson v. Green, 513 U.S. 557(1995) (per curiam), an ultimately successful constitutional challenge to multi-tier welfare systems based on length of residency.

Represented taxpayers in the US Supreme Court in Freytag v. Commissioner, 501 U.S. 868 (1991), a constitutional challenge under the Appointments Clause to the use of special trial judges by the Tax Court.

Represented the State of Hawaii, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, the City of Honolulu and the City of Berkeley in miscellaneous constitutional cases in the US Supreme Court and U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit.

Represented numerous pro bono clients in a variety of civil rights and civil liberties cases involving free speech, privacy and equal protection.