Ian Heath Gershengorn

Ian Heath Gershengorn is Chair of the Appellate and Supreme Court Practice at Jenner & Block and is one of the premier Supreme Court and appellate advocates, having argued before the Supreme Court 17 times.  Before rejoining Jenner in 2017, Ian served for eight years at the Department of Justice in the Obama Administration.  He served in the Office of the Solicitor General from 2013-2017, first as Principal Deputy Solicitor General and then as Acting Solicitor General. There, he supervised the government’s briefing in a range of high-profile cases involving the Affordable Care Act, election law and redistricting, immigration reform, Title VII and same-sex marriage.  From 2009-2013, Ian headed the Federal Programs Branch of the Civil Division.  There, he led the government's defense of litigation challenging federal statutes and agency actions, including the Affordable Care Act; national security activities (involving FSIA issues, drone strikes on citizens abroad, and habeas petitions from Guantanamo Bay); DACA and DAPA; and Dodd-Frank. 

Since returning to Jenner & Block in 2017, he has appeared regularly in the state and federal appellate courts, arguing on behalf of major corporations, Native American tribes, and trade associations in industries such as national defense, healthcare, telecommunications, media and entertainment and banking.

Ian has a particular expertise in Native American issues, and he successfully argued in the Supreme Court both McGirt v. Oklahoma (involving the status of Indian reservations in eastern Oklahoma) and Haaland v. Brackeen (defending the constitutionality of the Indian Child Welfare Act).

Ian is a  magna cum laude graduate of Harvard College and Harvard Law School.  He served as a law clerk for Judge Amalya Kearse on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit and for Justice John Paul Stevens on the U.S. Supreme Court.

Ian currently teaches a course on the Roberts Court at Harvard Law School.