Lena Hughes is a senior counsel in the Litigation Department and a member of the Appellate group.
Lena is an experienced litigator with extensive experience handling complex commercial disputes and appeals in federal and state courts across the country. She has presented oral arguments before federal courts of appeals and state appellate courts and has drafted numerous appellate briefs, including in U.S. Supreme Court cases. Lena has particular experience in the Second Circuit, where she clerked on both the appellate and district courts.
Lena recently served as Associate Counsel in the White House Counsel’s Office where she provided legal guidance to White House policy councils on key Administration policies. She previously served as a Bristow Fellow in the Office of the U.S. Solicitor General at the Department of Justice, where she participated in litigation in the U.S. Supreme Court, advised on government appeals, and successfully argued a case before the D.C. Circuit. Before joining Proskauer, Lena clerked for the Hon. Justice Kagan on the U.S. Supreme Court, the Hon. Gerard Lynch on the Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, and the Hon. Denise Cote on the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York.
Lena earned her J.D. from Columbia Law School, where she received the Ruth Bader Ginsburg Prize for academic excellence and the Wilfred Feinberg Prize for her work in federal courts. She received her Bachelor of Arts from the University of Chicago.
Education
- University of Chicago, B.A.
- Columbia Law School, J.D.
Admissions & Qualifications
- District of Columbia
- New York
Clerkships
- U.S. Supreme Court - Hon. Elena Kagan
- U.S. Court of Appeals, Second Circuit - Hon. Gerard Lynch
- U.S. District Court, New York, Southern District - Hon. Denise Cote
Awards & Recognition
The Legal 500 United States, Rising Stars 2021-2023