Kannon Shanmugam, Supreme Court Lawyer at Paul Weiss

Brian Roberts (  / beeberts  ) talks to Kannon Shanmugam (  / kannon  . Kannon is widely recognized as one of the nation's top appellate lawyers, having argued 36 cases before the Supreme Court of the United States and over 100 appeals in courts across the country, including all thirteen federal courts of appeals.

Kannon and Brian both grew up at the same time in Lawrence, Kansas, both attending Lawrence High School and sharing a love for the Royals, Chiefs, and University of Kansas athletics. At the beginning of the show, Brian and Kannon take a trip down memory lane sharing their favorite stories of Kansas athletics, including personal anecdotes from KU's amazing run in 1988 when they won the NCAA national championship with Danny Manning, affectionately referred to as Danny and the Miracles. They also both share memories of fellow Lawrence High grad Sri Srinivasan, who now serves as Chief Judge of the U.S. Court of Appeals and is regularly mentioned as a potential candidate to serve as a Justice on the United States Supreme Court.

Kannon shares what it was like attending Harvard as an undergrad, graduating summa cum laude, and then attending the University of Oxford as a Marshall Scholar, before ultimately graduating from Harvard University Law School, magna cum laude. After law school, Kannon served as a law clerk to Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia and he describes what it was like meeting him for the first time, being invited to clerk, and the feeling of working in the Supreme Court and getting to know the other justices. Kannon also shares some poignant thoughts on Justice Sandra Day O'Connor.

Kannon talks about his practice as an appellate lawyer, where he currently serves as Chair of the Supreme Court and Appellate Litigation Practice at Paul Weiss. He shares a first hand account of what it's like to argue a case before the Supreme Court, including a funny anecdote from his first oral argument (which he won) while serving as Assistant to the Solicitor General of the U.S. Department of Justice. Kannon also offers some tips for anyone considering becoming an appellate lawyer.

Links:

Kannon Shanmugam:   / kannon  

Paul Weiss: https://www.paulweiss.com

Brian Roberts:   / beeberts  

Array: https://www.trustarray.com