Paul Clement

Paul Clement is a partner at the law firm of Kirkland & Ellis, an adjunct professor at New York University’s School of Law, and a Distinguished Lecturer in Law at Georgetown University. He earned a B.S. from Georgetown University’s Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service, an M.Phil from Darwin College at the University of Cambridge, and a J.D. from Harvard Law School.

President George W. Bush recommended him for the role of Solicitor General of the United States, a position he held from 2004 to 2008. Once he returned to the private sector, he was a highly-sought-after recruit and worked with King & Spalding to represent the National Rifle Association in the Supreme Court. He was later hired to represent the Republican majority in their negotiations over the Defense of Marriage Act. The case was lost when the Defense of Marriage Act was declared unconstitutional in 2013.

He has argued more cases in front of the U.S. Supreme Court than any other private lawyer. He represented a class of 26 states contesting the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, resulting in a partial victory in which the individual mandate was upheld, but the courts found that the states could not be forced to expand Medicaid programs within their jurisdictions.

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