1900s: Expansion and consolidation
In 1963, former postmaster general J. Edward Day left the administration of President John F. Kennedy to establish the firm's Washington, D.C. office.[14] Initial clients included the Advertising Mail Marketing Association.[15]
In 1972, Sidley & Austin, with 100 lawyers, merged with the 50 lawyers of Chicago firm Leibman, Williams, Bennett, Baird & Minow.[16] Additional offices were then established in London in 1974 and in Singapore and New York in 1982.[17] Day, a chair of the firm's Washington, D.C., office prior to the merger, sued Sidley & Austin in response to the relocation of the merged firm's Washington office and being asked to share chairmanship of the office, although Day had approved and signed the merger agreement and amended partner agreement. A U.S. District Court judge dismissed the suit, and all appeals were denied.[18] The case is sometimes cited in discussions of partnership law.[19][20]
In 1975, Charles E. Lomax joined the firm, later becoming its first black partner. His clients included Don King and Muhammad Ali,[21] for whom the firm arranged fights.[10] In the late 1970s and early 1980s, Sidley & Austin represented AT&T in the time leading up to and during United States v. AT&T.[22]
In 1985, Sidley & Austin became the first law firm to establish a standalone appellate practice for U.S. Supreme Court cases,[23] recruiting Benjamin W. Heineman Jr. to lead it, as well as former U.S. Solicitor General Rex E. Lee.[24] By 2012, the firm had argued 106 Supreme Court cases and was involved in approximately 40% of the cases the Court heard each year. The head of Sidley's D.C. office, Carter Phillips,[23] had argued 76 cases before the Supreme Court by June 2012, more than any other active lawyer.[25]
Sidley & Austin was among several law firms involved in the Savings & Loan Crisis; the firm paid $7.5 million in 1991 to settle legal malpractice claims stemming from its representation of the Lincoln Savings and Loan Association.[26]
Michelle Obama (formerly Robinson) met her future husband and future President Barack Obama in 1989 while both worked at Sidley, when Michelle was in her first year as an associate and Barack was a summer associate.[27] In 1995, a group of women lawyers at Sidley co-founded the firm's Women in Leadership program.[28]
