“Todd has been a valued partner at Reed Smith, providing exceptional legal advice and a breadth of litigation experience to our Appellate Practice and our clients,” said Sandy Thomas, Reed Smith’s Global Managing Partner. “Public service is a noble calling. We will miss Todd, but we are proud he leaves us to serve the nation at this pivotal time.”
Kim joined Reed Smith in February 2018, after serving as Washington, D.C.’s first solicitor general for nearly a dozen years. In that position, he supervised hundreds of cases in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit and the D.C. Court of Appeals spanning diverse areas of the law, including high-profile matters of national significance. He has won appeals in the U.S. Supreme Court, all 13 federal courts of appeals, and many state supreme courts.
“The Department of Energy is poised to have a significant impact on our future as it tackles the dual challenges of economic recovery and climate change, and I am eager to help advance the Biden administration’s energy agenda,” Kim said. “I am grateful to Reed Smith for three years of challenging and interesting work in support of the firm’s clients. I leave behind many friends at the firm, but look forward to this opportunity to return to public service.”
President Barack Obama twice nominated Kim for the D.C. Court of Appeals, but the Republican-controlled Senate failed to act on either nomination.
Before becoming D.C. Solicitor General, Kim served as an appellate lawyer for the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ), Environment and Natural Resources Division. A 1997 graduate of Harvard Law School, he clerked for the Honorable Judith Rogers, U.S. Court of Appeals - D.C. Circuit after graduation.
Kim is a two-time winner of the National Association of Attorneys General’s Supreme Court Best Brief Award; a three-time winner of both the D.C. Attorney General’s award for Outstanding Head of a Division, and DOJ’s Outstanding Performance Award; and he was awarded the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Gold Medal for Exceptional Service.
Kim is a member of Edward Coke Appellate Inn of Court, the Lawyers Club of Washington, D.C., the National Asian Pacific American Bar Association, and the Asian Pacific American Bar Association of Greater Washington, D.C. He is also a member of the D.C. Bar and a past instructor for the D.C. Bar in "Fundamentals of Practice Before the D.C. Court of Appeals."
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