NWSA News Corporation

Law firm Kirkland & Ellis LLP picked up two of country's top conservative lawyers and their elite 17-lawyer Washington, D.C., legal boutique, a move that adds further heft to Kirkland's well-regarded appellate practice.

Kirkland announced Monday that it will absorb Paul Clement, Viet Dinh and their team at Bancroft PLLC.

Mr. Clement, 50 years old, is the former solicitor general under President George W. Bush and among the most experienced U.S. Supreme Court advocates, with more than 80 arguments before the justices. He joined Bancroft in 2011.

Mr. Dinh, 48, an assistant attorney general under President George W. Bush, helped develop the thicket of national security laws passed in the wake of Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, known as the Patriot Act. He founded Bancroft after leaving government in 2003. Mr. Dinh, who mostly advises corporate boards and executives, sits on the boards of directors of 21st Century Fox Inc., Revlon Inc. and LPL Financial Holdings Inc.

News Corp., owner of The Wall Street Journal, and 21st Century Fox, were part of the same company until mid-2013.

Considered one of the nation's sharpest legal minds, Mr. Dinh attracted top legal prospects to Bancroft. During its 13 years of existence, Bancroft recorded 120 Supreme Court arguments and sent nine of its lawyers to the high court for clerkships, coveted positions that often translate into government positions and large bonuses.

"We see immense opportunity in combining forces," said Eugene Assaf, a litigation partner and member of Kirkland's executive committee, citing Bancroft's achievements in a news release.

Mr. Dinh said in the news release that the "fit is perfect."

Kirkland, a firm of about 1,700 attorneys, traces its roots to Chicago, but now has 12 offices throughout the U.S., Europe and China. It boasted a decorated Supreme Court practice before the infusion from Bancroft.

But together they would have accounted for 15% of the Supreme Court's docket last term, with clients including DirecTV, Talen Energy Corp. and Little Sisters of the Poor, an order of Catholic nuns, the firm said.

"We are building strength on strength," Mr. Clement said in the news release. "Kirkland has an unrivaled litigation practice and adding our appellate group will provide a remarkable team for our clients."

Shortly after leaving the government in 2008, Mr. Clement joined King & Spalding LLP.

Three years later, he made a high-profile exit. King & Spalding had been under scrutiny for representing Republicans in the U.S. House of Representatives in their defense of a law defining marriage as between a man and a woman, and opted to step away from the case.

Mr. Clement, saying at the time that lawyers shouldn't abandon clients with unpopular positions, resigned from King & Spalding and took the case to Bancroft. The U.S. Supreme Court struck down the Defense of Marriage Act in 2013.

Write to Joe Palazzolo at joe.palazzolo@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

September 12, 2016 16:55 ET (20:55 GMT)

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