Cases Argued by Lawrence G. Wallace
Lawrence G. Wallace argued 157 times in the U.S. Supreme Court. On November 12, 2002, before Mr. Wallace began his final argument in Moseley v. V Secret Catalogue, Inc., Chief Justice William Rehnquist publicly acknowledged Mr. Wallace’s service:
Mr. Wallace, our records reflect that this is your 157th argument before the Court in the 34 years you have been an attorney in the Office of the Solicitor General.
Some years ago, you eclipsed the 20th Century record of 140 arguments.
I understand that you will soon retire from Government service, so on behalf of the Court I extend to you our appreciation for your many years of quality advocacy and dedicated service in the Solicitor’s Office… Solicitor General’s Office… on behalf of the United States.
That doesn’t mean we’re going to rule in your favor.
It took some effort to track down all 157 arguments, because the Oyez website is not comprehensive, it often files oral arguments by the same lawyer under different names (eg, Lawrence G. Wallace and Lawrence Gerald Wallace), and it has not yet identified the lawyers in many (usually older) cases, such as the case in which Mr. Wallace first argued on March 25, 1968: Joint Industry Board of the Electrical Industry v. United States.
As of March 2019, Oyez does not list Mr. Wallace in at least two cases:
- Phillips v. Martin Marietta Corporation, argued December 9, 1970
- Laborers Health & Welfare Trust Fund for Northern California v. Advanced Lightweight Concrete Company, Inc., argued November 10, 1987
It’s also important to note that the Court is counting individual appearances, not cases. For example, in Beer v. United States, Mr. Wallace argued on March 26, 1975 and then reargued the same case on November 12, 1975.
