Barry Sullivan

Who is Barry Sullivan?

Barry Sullivan is a Chicago lawyer and, as of July 1, 2009, the Cooney & Conway Chair in Advocacy at Loyola University Chicago School of Law. He is a former litigation partner at Jenner & Block LLP, where he was also a member of the Appellate and Supreme Court and the Labor and Employment Practices.

Sullivan has litigated cases at all levels of the state and federal courts. He also has counseled clients, including governmental agencies, colleges and universities, and other not-for-profit organizations, as well as corporations, on a wide variety of constitutional, administrative and private law issues. Appellate and Supreme Court practice has been a special focus of Mr. Sullivan’s practice throughout his career. He has briefed and argued cases in the United States Supreme Court and in state and federal appellate courts throughout the United States. His cases have involved a wide range of areas, including labor, corporate and education law.

Sullivan has had a varied legal career. In addition to private practice, he has worked in the government and has been involved in university teaching and administration. During 1980 and 1981, Sullivan served as an assistant to the solicitor general of the United States, in which capacity he argued several cases in the United States Supreme Court. Beginning in 1994, Sullivan served for five years as dean of the Washington and Lee University School of Law. In 1998-99, he also served as vice president of the university. He has been a visiting professor of law at Northwestern University School of Law, a Fulbright professor of law at the University of Warsaw and a visiting law fellow of the University of London. Most recently, he has taught part-time at the University of Warsaw and at the University of Chicago, where he is currently Senior Lecturer in the Irving B. Harris Graduate School of Public Policy Studies. He has given the Jessica Swift Lecture in Constitutional Law at Middlebury College, the Rufus Monroe and Sophie Payne Lecture at the University of Missouri, and the Charles L. Ihlenfeld Lecture on Public Policy and Ethics at West Virginia University.