WilmerHale is pleased to announce that former Virginia Solicitor General Kevin Gallagher has rejoined the firm as a partner. His work will primarily span three of the firm’s industry-leading practices: State Attorneys General, Government and Regulatory Litigation, and Appellate Litigation.
After leaving WilmerHale in 2022 to serve as a deputy solicitor general, Gallagher was promoted each year he served in the Virginia Office of Attorney General, culminating in his appointment as the tenth Solicitor General of Virginia by Attorney General Jason Miyares in 2025. As Solicitor General, Kevin served as chief appellate litigator for the Commonwealth of Virginia, the Attorney General, and Governor of Virginia Glenn Youngkin. He crafted Virginia’s litigation strategy in sensitive and high-profile cases throughout federal and state courts and directed Virginia’s multistate litigation and amicus practice across the country.
Based in Washington DC, Gallagher will play a key role in the work of the firm’s bipartisan State Attorneys General practice and will bring his insights to a wide range of government and regulatory litigation matters and appeals.
“Kevin is an exceptional appellate advocate and well known in state attorneys general offices across the country,” said Anjan Sahni, WilmerHale’s managing partner. “As state attorneys general take an increasingly assertive role in regulating corporations, Kevin offers clients valuable firsthand perspectives on enforcement priorities and government decision-making. We are delighted to welcome him back to the firm.”
“After having the honor of serving the people of Virginia for four years, I am excited to rejoin my exceptional colleagues at WilmerHale,” Gallagher said. “I am looking forward to leveraging my prior experience both at the firm and in government to help clients successfully navigate complex and consequential disputes at the federal and state levels.”
In state government, Gallagher briefed over a hundred cases and argued more than a dozen appeals and dispositive motions in federal and state courts, achieving significant victories at each level. Among his victories was a unanimous Supreme Court of Virginia decision that stabilized toll prices on the Dulles Greenway in Northern Virginia. He also obtained numerous favorable rulings in Administrative Procedure Act challenges to federal regulations, defended Virginia’s election laws, and helped procure a 7-2 victory in the Supreme Court of the United States merits case Lackey v. Stinnie. He further recruited all 50 States to join two amici curiae briefs on veterans’ benefits issues.
Prior to serving in state government, Gallagher spent over six years at WilmerHale, most recently as a Counsel in the firm’s Government and Regulatory Litigation practice group. He represented clients in a wide variety of litigation and regulatory matters, including antitrust, securities, False Claims Act, congressional investigation, and Administrative Procedure Act matters. He maintained an active pro bono practice, most notably representing five religious institutions in constitutional challenges to COVID-19 restrictions in Kentucky, Mississippi, and the District of Columbia.
With insights drawn from his government experience as well as his prior private practice, Gallagher will advise clients facing scrutiny from state attorneys general, complex regulatory issues that involve litigating against government entities, and appeals in state and federal courts.
Gallagher earned his JD from the University of Virginia School of Law and his BA from Grove City College. He clerked for the Honorable Alice M. Batchelder of the US Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit.