Sidley Austin LLP

Supreme Court, Appellate, and Litigation Strategies

Partner

CARTER PHILLIPS is one of the most experienced Supreme Court and appellate lawyers in the country. As a partner at Sidley, Carter has argued 82 cases before the Supreme Court, more than any other lawyer in private practice. Prior to joining Sidley, Carter served as an Assistant to the Solicitor General and in that position he argued nine cases before the Supreme Court on behalf of the United States government. He thus currently has a total of 91 oral arguments before the Supreme Court. He also has argued more than 150 times before the United States Courts of Appeals, including at least two arguments in every circuit and 40 cases before the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit. He also has been a co-director of Northwestern University School of Law’s Supreme Court Clinic and an adjunct professor at the law school for almost 20 years. He has been a “Distinguished Practitioner in Residence” at the Moritz College of Law at OSU in the Fall of 2023 and 2024, and will be one again in 2025. At the outset of his career, Carter clerked for Judge Robert Sprecher on the United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit and for Chief Justice Warren E. Burger on the United States Supreme Court.

Carter’s advocacy on behalf of clients has earned him acknowledgement in numerous publications. An academic study of Supreme Court briefs from 1946 to 2013 found Carter to be one of the most successful lawyers to argue in front of the Supreme Court. The analysis, “Who Wins in the Supreme Court? An Examination of Attorney and Law Firm Influence,” led the author to conclude that “not only is Phillips a seasoned Supreme Court litigator, but he is also one of the most successful Supreme Court brief-writers.”