C. Harker Rhodes, IV

Harker Rhodes is a litigation partner in the Washington, D.C., office of Kirkland & Ellis LLP. His practice focuses on Supreme Court and appellate litigation, as well as regulatory matters and strategic counseling. Harker has obtained success for clients in multiple cases before the Supreme Court, both at the certiorari stage and on the merits; has authored successful briefs before numerous federal and state appellate courts; and has argued in federal court at both the appellate and the trial level. His matters have involved both civil and criminal cases, and have addressed a wide range of subjects, including constitutional litigation, administrative law, antitrust, bankruptcy, CERCLA, corporate veil-piercing, criminal procedure, ERISA, federal preemption, labor law, personal jurisdiction, sovereign immunity, and white-collar crime. Harker has represented plaintiffs and defendants in multiple complex cases involving claims in the hundreds of millions of dollars, as well as representing clients in out-of-court mediation proceedings and counseling clients affected by litigation risks. Representative clients include General Motors, IBM, Blue Cross Blue Shield, BP, Sanofi, Regeneron, Moda Health, FirstEnergy, Ultra Petroleum, and other major corporations. In addition, Harker has maintained an active pro bono practice, including successful appeals on behalf of indigent and incarcerated clients in cases involving inadequate prison medical care and denial of the Sixth Amendment right to self-representation.

Before joining Kirkland, Harker served as a law clerk to Associate Justice Anthony M. Kennedy of the Supreme Court of the United States, Chief Judge Robert A. Katzmann of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, and Judge Rya W. Zobel of the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts. He is a graduate of Harvard College and Stanford Law School, where he served as Managing Editor of the Stanford Law Review. He is also a member of the Edward Coke Appellate Inn of Court.