Am Law Profiles Aileen McGrath; Discusses Career Path, Debut SCOTUS Argument and Advancing Women Advocates

The Am Law Litigation Daily has profiled Akin Supreme Court & appellate practice partner Aileen McGrath in its article “Discussing The Uptick in Women Arguing at SCOTUS With Akin’s Aileen McGrath.” In the article, Aileen discusses her career journey, her first Supreme Court argument and her insights on the representation of women in legal professions.

Among the topics covered, Aileen discussed:

How a chance encounter with District Judge Vince Chhabria led her to work in the San Francisco City Attorney’s Office – “When I was a law clerk, I had no idea what I wanted to do. I knew generally that I wanted to do appellate work. I didn’t really know where I would do it—whether it would be in a firm or whether it would be in government.” Aileen shared how meeting Chhabria and hearing about his work at the City Attorney’s Office inspired her to reach out to him later in her career. He connected her with the City Attorney, and from that point on, her career took off.

The transition from public to private practice requires adaptability and a broad set of skills – Aileen’s transition from the City Attorney’s Office to private practice allowed her to draw on her extensive experience dealing with a variety of legal issues. She argued high-profile cases, worked closely with legislators and board members, and even did plaintiffs’-side work. Reflecting on her transition to private practice, she noted, “Joining Akin’s Supreme Court and appellate practice seemed like a natural fit for me in the sense that appellate work—ending up in court, writing briefs, thinking through strategy—those are all the things that I enjoy the most and where I feel like my skills really come to the fore.”

The opportunity to argue at the Supreme Court can arise unexpectedly, and local government cases can have significant implications – Aileen’s opportunity to argue at the Supreme Court came when she noticed a local government case on the court’s grant list. She represented El Dorado County, a local government in California, in a case that could have had significant implications for counties across the country. “The concern was that each and every development impact fee—meaning every time that the county or another local government imposes a fee on a particular property—would be subject to an individualized constitutional test,” explained Aileen. Her argument helped the court understand what was at stake for local governments, resulting in a narrow decision that avoided opening a Pandora’s box of issues for local governments.

Women advocates are making strides in the Supreme Court, but there’s still work to be done – Despite the increase in women advocates presenting arguments at the Supreme Court this term, Aileen still sees room for improvement. “I do think this year has been a great example of strides being made. I also think that one year is not enough to say that there has been a complete sea change,” she said. Aileen stressed the importance of sponsorship in increasing representation at the court, explaining, “If you have that kind of sponsorship at the firm, the client is going to see that and the client is going to have complete confidence in whoever the more experienced advocate has said is the right person to argue that case.”

The full article is available here.