“Sources describe her as a ‘formidable advocate and extraordinarily well respected.’”
Chambers USA

Overview

Nicole A. Saharsky is co-head of Mayer Brown's Supreme Court & Appellate Practice. She focuses her practice on briefing and arguing cases in the US Supreme Court and in the federal and state appellate courts and on developing legal strategy for the trial courts and agency proceedings. She has been identified by the Legal 500 as a “Leading Lawyer” in the Dispute Resolution (Appellate) practice area and ranked in Chambers USA for Appellate Law. She also has been recognized by Washingtonian as one of Washington DC’s best lawyers for Supreme Court practice and as one of Washington DC’s “most powerful women.”

In the US Supreme Court, Nicole has argued 30 cases, briefed 46 cases on the merits, and filed hundreds of certiorari-stage briefs and motions. Her cases involved a broad range of business issues, including securities fraud, intellectual property, labor and employment, bankruptcy, personal jurisdiction, and corporate criminal liability. Most recently, she argued Taggart v. Lorenzen, a bankruptcy case about contempt of court. Nicole frequently provides commentary on the Supreme Court for C-SPAN, Law360, Reuters, and other national media outlets. She recently was featured in a Law360 article and video series on the topic, “Will the Future of the Supreme Court Bar Be Female?”

Nicole also has briefed and argued federal and state appeals and trial-level motions for clients across a wide variety of industries. Her cases have involved administrative law, antitrust, banking, bankruptcy, constitutional law, environmental law, ERISA, intellectual property, labor and employment law, personal jurisdiction, and tax issues. She has an active pro bono practice and currently is serving as lead appellate counsel for the US Women’s National Soccer Team in their equal-pay lawsuit against the US Soccer Federation.

Nicole previously served for ten years as an Assistant to the Solicitor General in the United States Department of Justice, where she was responsible for briefing and arguing cases in the US Supreme Court. She also was responsible for advising government agencies about whether to appeal, seek rehearing, participate as amicus curiae or seek certiorari in various cases. In that role, she routinely provided strategic advice to attorneys in other parts of the federal government.

Nicole received her law degree summa cum laude from University of Minnesota Law School and clerked for Judge Carolyn Dineen King of the Fifth Circuit. Before law school, she worked at Andersen Consulting (now Accenture). She earned her undergraduate degree in chemical engineering from Northwestern University.
 

Areas of Focus

Practices
Industries
Key Issues

Experience

CASES BRIEFED & ARGUED IN THE US SUPREME COURT

Securities Fraud

  • Omnicare, Inc. v. Laborers District Council Construction Industry Pension Fund (2014)*
  • Halliburton Co. v. Erica P. John Fund, Inc. (2013)
  • Amgen Inc. v. Connecticut Retirement Plans and Trust Funds (2012)
  • Erica P. John Fund, Inc. v. Halliburton Co. (2010)*

Labor & Employment

  • Tibble v. Edison International (2014) (ERISA)*
  • Mach Mining, LLC v. EEOC (2014) (Title VII)*
  • Unite Here Local 355 v. Mulhall (2013) (Labor-Management Relations Act)
  • Lawson and Zang v. FMR, LLC (2013) (Sarbanes-Oxley Act)*
  • Metropolitan Life Ins. Co. v. Glenn (2007) (ERISA)*
  • Chamber of Commerce of the U.S. v. Brown (2007) (National Labor Relations Act)

Intellectual Property

  • Matal v. Tam (2016) (Trademark)
  • Petrella v. Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, Inc. (2013) (Copyright)*
  • Board of Trustees of the Leland Stanford Junior University v. Roche Molecular Systems, Inc. (2010) (Patent)

Bankruptcy

  • Taggart v. Lorenzen (2018)*
  • Ransom v. FIA Card Services, N.A. (2010)*

Personal Jurisdiction

  • BNSF Railway Co. v. Tyrrell (2016)*

Corporate Criminal and Civil Liability

  • Kellogg Brown & Root Services, Inc. v. United States ex rel. Carter (2014) (False Claims Act)
  • Southern Union Co. v. United States (2011) (Resource Conservation and Recovery Act)

Criminal Law and Procedure

  • County of Los Angeles v. Mendez (2016) (Fourth Amendment)*
  • Mathis v. United States (2015) (Federal Sentencing)*
  • Montgomery v. Louisiana (2015) (Eighth Amendment and Federal Habeas)
  • Kansas v. Cheever (2013) (Fifth Amendment Privilege Against Compelled Self-Incrimination)*
  • Florida v. Jardines (2012) (Fourth Amendment)*
  • Missouri v. McNeely (2012) (Fourth Amendment)*
  • Florence v. Board of Chosen Freeholders of the County of Burlington (2011) (Fourth Amendment)*
  • Perry v. New Hampshire (2011) (Due Process Clause)*
  • DePierre v. United States (2010) (Federal Drug Crimes)*
  • Berghuis v. Thompkins (2009) (Fifth Amendment Privilege Against Compelled Self-Incrimination)*
  • Montejo v. Louisiana (2008) (Sixth Amendment Right to Counsel)
  • Kansas v. Ventris (2008) (Sixth Amendment Right to Counsel)*
  • United States v. Hayes (2008) (Federal Firearms Prohibition)*
  • Burgess v. United States (2007) (Federal Sentencing)*

Constitutional Law

  • Puerto Rico v. Sanchez Valle (2015) (Territory Clause)*
  • NASA v. Nelson (2010) (Right to Privacy)
  • Stop the Beach Renourishment, Inc. v. Florida Department of Environmental Protection (2009) (Takings Clause)
  • Bond v. United States (2010) (Standing)
  • United States v. Stevens (2009) (First Amendment Speech Clause)

Civil Rights and Official Immunity

  • McCrory v. Harris (2016) (Voting Rights)*
  • Ivy v. Morath (2016) (Americans with Disabilities Act)
  • Filarsky v. Delia (2011) (Qualified Immunity)*
  • Horne v. Flores (2008) (Federal Education Standards)*

Other Statutory Interpretation

  • Bruce v. Samuels (2015) (Federal Prisons)*
  • Chafin v. Chafin (2012) (International Treaty on Child Abduction)*
  • Carachuri-Rosendo v. Holder (2009) (Immigration)*
  • Kucana v. Holder (2009) (Immigration)*
  • Kiyemba v. Obama (2009) (War on Terror)
  • Negusie v. Holder (2008) (Immigration)
  • Nken v. Holder (2008) (Immigration)

* Argued

Perspectives

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Events

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News

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Education

Northwestern University, BS, Chemical Engineering

University of Minnesota Law School, JD, summa cum laude
Lead Articles Editor, Minnesota Law Review

Admissions

  • District of Columbia
  • Virginia

Court

  • US Supreme Court
  • US Court of Appeals for the First Circuit
  • US Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit
  • US Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit
  • US Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit
  • US Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit
  • US Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit
  • US Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit
  • US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit
  • US Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit
  • US Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit
  • US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit
  • US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit
  • US District Court for the Northern District of Illinois