Indiana University School of Journalism

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Steve Sanders, BA’84, is only the second of his firm’s associate lawyers to argue a paid-client case at the Supreme Court.

Steve Sanders, BA’84, made his first argument at the U.S. Supreme Court in November 2009. Sanders, who has practiced law at Mayer Brown LLP in Chicago since 2006, became only the second lawyer in the firm’s history to argue a paid-client case at the Supreme Court as an associate.

The case, Pottawattamie County v. McGhee, involves the immunity of prosecutors from lawsuits for civil rights violations. The argument received extensive coverage in the mainstream and legal media, including The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal Law Blog.

Sanders said his journalism education, along with his time on the Indiana Daily Student, was good preparation for work as an appellate litigation attorney. That’s because although oral argument gets public attention, most cases are won or lost based on the quality of writing and argument in the briefs. (Sanders says editorials and opinion columns were his favorite form of journalism.)

Law is Sanders’ second career. From 1986 to 2002, he was an administrator on the IU Bloomington campus, serving as assistant to Chancellor Kenneth Gros Louis and an assistant dean in the College of Arts and Sciences. He received his law degree in 2005 from the University of Michigan Law School, graduating magna cum laude. He maintains his IU ties by serving on the IU Alumni Association executive council and the Journalism Alumni Board. He is also coaching a moot court team for IU’s Maurer School of Law.

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