Kannon Shanmugam to affix Harvard Company — Harvard Gazette
Kannon Ok. Shanmugam ’93, J.D. ’98, a outstanding and prolific appellate lawyer and alumnus of Harvard School and Harvard Regulation Faculty, will be part of the Harvard Company as its latest member, the College introduced on Thursday. Shanmugam will succeed Theodore V. Wells Jr., J.D. ’76, M.B.A. ’76, who departs the board after 12 years of service.
Citing his “deep devotion to Harvard and to the significance of educational values and tutorial freedom,” President Alan Garber and Senior Fellow Penny Pritzker introduced Shanmugam’s election in a message to the Harvard group on Thursday afternoon.
“Kannon Shanmugam is among the nation’s most achieved and admired appellate attorneys, who has additionally served an array of instructional establishments,” mentioned Garber and Pritzker. “Past his in depth expertise counseling and representing main organizations in complicated issues, he’s recognized for his mental acuity and curiosity, his exceptional work ethic, his heat and collegial method, his adroitness in partaking individuals with various factors of view, and his dedication to tutorial excellence.”
Shanmugam has argued 39 circumstances earlier than the U.S. Supreme Court docket and has argued greater than 150 different appeals in courts throughout the nation, together with all 13 federal courts of appeals and quite a few state courts. Previously a accomplice on the legislation agency Williams & Connolly and a member of the Workplace of the Solicitor Normal within the Division of Justice, Shanmugam is now a accomplice at Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison, the place he’s additionally the founding chair of the agency’s Supreme Court docket and Appellate Litigation Observe, chair of its workplace in Washington, D.C., and co-chair of the Litigation Division.
Shanmugam has additionally served quite a few instructional establishments in advisory and governance roles, together with as previous chair of the board of trustees of Thurgood Marshall Academy, a public constitution highschool in Washington, D.C.; present trustee of each the American Faculty of Classical Research at Athens and the College of Kansas Endowment; and previous trustee of the Affiliation of Marshall Students.
“It’s an honor to have been requested to serve on the Harvard Company, and I sit up for contributing my perspective to the Company’s deliberations within the coming years,” mentioned Shanmugam. “My purpose for agreeing to serve is easy: I owe the whole lot to Harvard. Harvard gave me alternatives I by no means would have had, and it uncovered me to completely different individuals and new concepts.
“Harvard has gone via tough instances and faces substantial challenges, nevertheless it does a lot good for the world,” he continued. “Harvard is certainly one of our nation’s most vital establishments, and when an establishment has issues, I imagine the answer is to work constructively to repair the issues, whereas holding true to its foundational dedication to tutorial excellence. I sit up for doing my half to assist Harvard meet these challenges and to make the College a greater, stronger place for the long run.”
A local of Kansas, Shanmugam’s father was a professor {of electrical} engineering on the College of Kansas after his mother and father emigrated from India. In 1993, Shanmugam graduated summa cum laude from Harvard School, the place he concentrated in classics and served as editor in chief of the Harvard Impartial. He studied as a Marshall Scholar at Oxford, the place he acquired a Grasp of Letters diploma in classical languages and literature. Shanmugam was govt editor of the Harvard Regulation Evaluation earlier than graduating magna cum laude from Harvard Regulation Faculty in 1998.
After legislation faculty, Shanmugam clerked for Decide J. Michael Luttig of the U.S. Court docket of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit and for Justice Antonin Scalia of the Supreme Court docket. He entered non-public follow as an affiliate at Kirkland & Ellis and later served as assistant to the solicitor normal within the Division of Justice from 2004 to 2008.
Shanmugam practiced as a accomplice at Williams & Connolly for greater than a decade after leaving the solicitor normal’s workplace, rising to turn out to be one of many nation’s most sought-after appellate legal professionals. He served as co-chair of the American Bar Affiliation’s Appellate Observe Committee and because the president of the Edward Coke Appellate Inn of Court docket — a corporation devoted to advancing the rule of legislation via instance, training, and mentoring. Shanmugam is the one working towards American lawyer who’s an honorary bencher of the Internal Temple, one of many 4 English Inns of Court docket. He has additionally taught Supreme Court docket advocacy at Georgetown College Regulation Middle and is an elected member of the American Regulation Institute and a Federalist Society contributor.
Certainly one of six appellate legal professionals ranked as a Star Particular person by Chambers USA, Shanmugam was a finalist for The American Lawyer’s Litigator of the 12 months in 2022 and 2024, and he was named Appellate Litigator of the 12 months by Benchmark Litigation in 2021.
In accordance with the College’s constitution, Shanmugam was elected by the members of the Company with the consent of the College’s Board of Overseers. He’ll start his service on July 1 as Wells departs the board. Garber and Pritzker thanked Wells and famous his service of their message to the group.
“We owe profound gratitude to our colleague Ted Wells, who since 2013 has served the Company and the College beautifully along with his highly effective thoughts, his formidable authorized experience, his robust dedication to tutorial beliefs and principled decision-making, and his humane concern for others,” mentioned Garber and Pritzker. “In Kannon Shanmugam, we’re lucky to have somebody effectively positioned to hold ahead and construct on Ted’s exceptional legacy, whereas bringing contemporary views and helpful insights to the onerous and vital work forward.”
The Harvard Company, formally the President and Fellows of Harvard School, was chartered in 1650 and workouts fiduciary accountability with regard to the College’s tutorial, monetary, and bodily sources and general well-being. Chaired by the president, the 13-member Company is certainly one of Harvard’s two governing boards. Members of Harvard’s different governing board, the Board of Overseers, are elected by holders of Harvard levels.