SCOTUS Review: Salman v. United States

KWAKU AKOWUAH is a partner in Sidley’s Supreme Court and Appellate group.

Kwaku’s recent matters include:

• Authoring an amicus brief in the Second Circuit that presented the views of a foreign sovereign on the meaning of that sovereign’s economic regulations, in relation to antitrust claims premised on conduct that occurred within the sovereign’s borders. The Second Circuit overturned a nine-figure jury verdict, holding that the district court should have deferred to the foreign sovereign’s interpretation of its own regulations.
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• Representing a leading telecommunications company before the D.C. Circuit in a challenge to a ruling issued by the Federal Communications Commission. The D.C. Circuit overturned the Commission’s ruling.
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• Representing a professional sports franchise in an action to vacate an arbitration award entered by a league panel. A New York trial court vacated the award on grounds of evident partiality.
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• Representing a corporate executive before the U.S. Supreme Court, arguing that the executive’s three-month sentence of incarceration under the “responsible corporate officer” doctrine, as derived from the Food Drug and Cosmetics Act, violates the Due Process Clause.
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• Representing a major consumer goods manufacturer before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit in a constitutional challenge to a state’s effort to regulate the manufacturer’s nationwide pricing practices.
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• Representing a pharmaceutical distributor in a nine-figure breach of contract dispute pending in Kentucky state court.
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• Preparing an amicus brief in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, challenging federal search warrants seeking disclosure of electronic information stored on overseas servers.

Kwaku was named one of 2016’s top 40 under 40 business leaders by the Washington Business Journal. In recognition of his litigation success, he was also named a “D.C. Rising Star” by the National Law Journal 2015.

Prior to joining the firm, Kwaku served as a law clerk to Justice Stephen Breyer of the U.S. Supreme Court. From 2009 to 2012, Kwaku was an Attorney-Adviser in the Office of Legal Counsel at the U.S. Department of Justice. In that role, he provided legal advice to departments and agencies of the executive branch on a variety of matters, including questions relating to the constitutional separation of powers, the interpretation of federal statutes, and international law principles. Prior to his time at the Justice Department, Kwaku was an associate in the appellate litigation practice of a global law firm in New York, where he also gained trial court experience representing clients in commercial, products-liability and securities cases.