Bloomberg Law: Dreeben Returns to High Court as Firm Lawyer for Argument 106

O’Melveny partner Michael Dreeben will make his 106th argument before the United States Supreme Court. However, this marks the first time Dreeben will be making an argument before the Court for a client and not for the federal government. Today he will represent the City of Austin, Texas in a case addressing First Amendment rights and billboard regulation. Dreeben joined the Solicitor General's office in 1988 and was named a deputy in 1994. Reflecting on the difference in appearing on the other side of the proceedings, Dreeben said, “You have a very different frame of reference representing the United States. Because in the government, the primary framework for thinking about arguments was the institutional interests of the United States and how whatever our office said to the Court, or I personally said to the Court, could have an effect on the government writ large.” Although he now works for a private law firm, Dreeben is still representing a government entity in City of Austin v. Reagan National Advertising of Austin. “I am representing a public institution which has a responsibility to vindicate its own rights and protect the rights of the citizens of Austin, and I like the balance of interests that that reflects,” Dreeben said. “The collaboration with the client, with co-counsel, integrating all the best ideas, and trying to craft the best possible brief is very much of a piece of the kind of work that I would do in the government.” O’Melveny’s Jeremy Girton, Rachel Chung, and Heather Welles will join Dreeben on the briefs.

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