Akin Appellate Team Earns ‘Litigator of the Week’ Shout-Out
Akin is pleased to share that a team led by Supreme Court and appellate partners James Tysse and Aileen McGrath earned a Litigator of the Week “shout-out” from The American Lawyer Litigation Daily.
The team was recognized for an appellate win that allowed firm client the Seneca Nation to proceed in a lawsuit that challenges New York state officials’ ongoing operation of the NYS Thruway across the Seneca Nation’s Cattaraugus Reservation.
The Second Circuit, in its decision, noted that the Seneca Nation had sued, among others, New York’s governor and attorney general to seek relief from the state’s ongoing use of “an invalid easement over its tribal land.” The appellate court noted that defendants’ challenges to the suit “lack merit” and affirmed a lower court decision.
Aside from Mr. Tysse and Ms. McGrath, the Akin lawyers who worked on the matter included American Indian law and policy practice head Donald Pongrace, partner Allison Binney, senior counsel Merrill Godfrey and counsel Jenny Patten Magallanes and Brette Peña.
Akin's appellate and American Indian practitioners closely collaborated over a period of years in preparing the Seneca Nation’s case. This victory is an important step forward in our client’s decades-long effort to obtain relief from New York state officials regarding the state’s unlawful use of its historic reservation land.
People Recognized
