Principal Deputy Associate Attorney General For DOJ Rejoins Sidley Austin

WASHINGTON, D.C. - Sidley Austin LLP has announced that Joseph R. Guerra has rejoined the firm in Washington, D.C., as a partner in the firm's appellate practice. He recently completed approximately two years of service as the principal deputy associate attorney general in the U.S. Department of Justice. Guerra will also serve as one of the global coordinators of Sidley's appellate practice.

Guerra has argued a wide range of federal constitutional, statutory and administrative law matters in federal and state courts throughout the country, including the U.S. Supreme Court and most of the federal courts of appeals. Before leaving Sidley, he argued and won Gomez-Perez v. Potter, a case in which the Supreme Court held that the Age Discrimination in Employment Act prohibits retaliation against covered federal employees who complain about age discrimination.

In prior years, he argued and won appeals for AT&T in the Third Circuit in cases that raised issues under ERISA and questions of preemption and other issues under the Communications Act and the federal antitrust laws. Guerra also briefed and argued the bulk of a successful motion to dismiss a suit in which eight states sued electric utility companies to abate global climate change as an alleged public nuisance under federal common law. He then briefed and argued the appeal of this dismissal in the Second Circuit. He also briefed and argued similar issues in the Fifth Circuit.

From July 1999 until January 2001, Guerra served as a deputy assistant attorney general in the Office of Legal Counsel, U.S. Department of Justice, where he worked on a broad range of constitutional, statutory, administrative law and ethics matters. Guerra also served as a law clerk to U.S. Supreme Court Associate Justice William J. Brennan Jr. and to U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia Judge Joyce Hens Green. While in law school, he served as an intern to Judge Harry T. Edwards of the D.C. Circuit.

Guerra earned a B.A. with distinction from the University of Virginia and a J.D. from Georgetown University Law Center, where he graduated summa cum laude.

One of the first law firms to have a dedicated appellate group, Sidley's appellate practice is national in scope, consisting of more than 100 lawyers representing clients before the U.S. States Supreme Court, state supreme courts, federal courts of appeals and other appellate forums.

Sidley Austin LLP is one of the world's largest full-service law firms, with approximately 1,600 lawyers practicing in 17 U.S. and international cities, including Beijing, Brussels, Frankfurt, Geneva, Hong Kong, London, Shanghai, Singapore, Sydney and Tokyo.