Stuart F. Delery is a partner in the Washington, D.C. office of Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher, where he is a member of the firm’s Litigation Department and Co-Chair of the Crisis Management Practice Group and Administrative Law and Regulatory Practice Group. He is an experienced appellate and district court litigator who brings 30 years of experience at the highest levels of government and the private sector to help clients navigate major matters that present complex legal and reputational risks, particularly matters involving difficult statutory, regulatory and constitutional issues. His practice focuses on representing corporations and individuals in high-stake litigation and investigations that involve the federal government across the spectrum of regulatory litigation and enforcement.
Prior to re-joining the firm in 2024, Stuart served as White House Counsel for President Biden from 2022-2023. As Counsel to the President, he advised the President on the full range of constitutional, statutory, and regulatory legal issues, including on questions of presidential authority, domestic policy, and national security and foreign affairs. He managed responses to high-profile congressional and other investigations, and he assisted the President in nominating and confirming federal judges. Stuart also served as Deputy Counsel to the President from 2021-2022. Throughout his time in the White House, he was deeply embedded in the administrative law and regulatory process, working closely with Cabinet secretaries, agency general counsel, and the Department of Justice on policy development and defending litigation challenging Administration actions.
Stuart also was previously the Acting Associate Attorney General of the United States, the third-ranking position at the U.S. Department of Justice. In that position from 2014-2016, Stuart oversaw the civil and criminal work of five of DOJ’s litigating divisions -- Antitrust, Civil, Civil Rights, Environment and Natural Resources, and Tax -- as well as components supporting state and local law enforcement, among others. As a member of DOJ’s senior management team, he assisted the Attorney General and Deputy Attorney General in formulating and implementing DOJ policies. Stuart also served as the Senate-confirmed Assistant Attorney General of the Civil Division, DOJ’s largest litigating division, where among other things he supervised the government’s enforcement efforts under the False Claims Act and litigation defending Congressional statutes, Administration policies, and federal agency actions. In recognition of his service, Stuart received the Edmund J. Randolph award, considered the Department of Justice’s highest award.
In 2016, Stuart returned to private practice, joining Gibson Dunn as a litigation partner.
Stuart has extensive experience working for audit committees and special committees of the boards of public companies in a range of industries to conduct investigations of alleged wrongdoing and to counsel clients on compliance and other legal issues. He provides practical advice for responding to an immediate crisis and handling matters at the intersection of civil litigation, government investigations, congressional oversight, and public messaging.
Stuart is a Visiting Lecturer at Yale Law School, where he has taught seminars on The Department of Justice (2024) and Constitutional Practice: Structure and Norms (2020). He will be a Visiting Fellow at All Souls College, Oxford University, in Spring 2025.
Stuart received his law degree in 1993 from Yale Law School, where he served as an Articles Editor of the Yale Law Journal. He graduated with Highest Distinction from the University of Virginia in 1990. Following law school, Stuart clerked for U.S. Supreme Court Justices Sandra Day O’Connor and Byron White and for Judge Gerald Bard Tjoflat of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit.
Capabilities
- Administrative Law and Regulatory Practice
- Appellate and Constitutional Law
- Crisis Management
- False Claims Act / Qui Tam Defense
- Litigation
- National Security
- White Collar Defense and Investigations
Credentials
Education:
- Yale University - 1993 Juris Doctor
- University of Virginia - 1990 Bachelor of Arts
Admissions:
- District of Columbia Bar
Clerkships:
- US Supreme Court, Hon. Sandra Day O'Connor, 1994 - 1995
- US Supreme Court, Hon. Byron White, 1994 - 1995
- US Court of Appeals, 11th Circuit, Hon. Gerald B. Tjoflat, 1993 - 1994