Connor Sullivan is a partner in the New York office of Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher. He is a member of the Firm’s Media, Entertainment, and Technology; Appellate and Constitutional Law; Privacy, Cybersecurity and Data Innovation; and Intellectual Property Practice Groups.
His practice embraces a broad range of high-stakes complex litigation in state and federal court, especially on behalf of technology and media companies. He has significant experience at the fact development and trial stage of litigation representing both plaintiffs and defendants, including in jury trials involving billions of dollars in potential damages. Connor has conducted and defended witness examinations in depositions and at trial and has successfully argued dispositive and evidentiary motions in court. He has filed merits, amicus, and certiorari-stage briefs before the federal courts of appeals, state appellate and supreme courts, and the United States Supreme Court.
Connor has significant experience in First Amendment matters representing news media organizations and reporters, as well as litigating attempts to restrain speech prior to publication. He has been involved in some of the Firm’s major recent First Amendment victories, including successfully representing members of the White House press corps suing to secure the return of suspended press credentials and representing Mary Trump, the niece of President Donald Trump, in successfully opposing the Trump family’s attempt to enjoin the publication of her bestselling family memoir. Before joining the firm, he served as a member of the trial team in one of the largest defamation suits ever tried. He is a co-author of "Defamation and Reputation Management in the United States" for the global research platform Lexology. Connor has also worked on behalf of pro bono clients in connection with immigration and First Amendment rights.
Best Lawyers: Ones to Watch® in America has consistently recognized Connor since 2020, including in Entertainment and Sports Law and Appellate Practice. He has also consistently been recognized in the Super Lawyers New York Metro “Rising Stars” list in the area of litigation since 2020.
Significant representations include:*
- A group of the founders, early executives, and employees of the online dating application Tinder in a four-year multibillion-dollar litigation, including a month-long jury trial.
- An artificial intelligence software development company in connection with enforcing a non-competition agreement against a former employee.
- A national news network defending against multibillion-dollar defamation and product disparagement claims seeking billions of dollars in damages, including a month-long jury trial.
- A global news agency defending against defamation claims involving international financial fraud.
- White House reporters in successful First Amendment and Due Process Clause challenges to obtain the return of their press credentials after they were suspended by the White House Press Office.
- Mary Trump, the niece of President Donald Trump, in successfully defeating an attempt by the Trump family to prevent the publication of her bestselling family memoir Too Much and Never Enough.
Prior to joining Gibson Dunn, Connor was an associate at Williams & Connolly LLP in Washington, D.C., where he focused on defending news organizations in defamation actions. He was also involved in significant copyright, product liability, and breach of contract actions.
He clerked for the Honorable Thomas B. Griffith of the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit and the Honorable Katherine Polk Failla of the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York. In the summer after law school, he served as what is now called a Phillips Fellow in the Office of the Solicitor General at the Department of Justice.
Connor graduated from Yale Law School in 2013, where he was a director of the law school’s Supreme Court clinic, an editor of the Yale Law Journal, the Executive Editor of the Yale Journal on Regulation, and a winner of the Morris Tyler Moot Court competition. He published an academic comment entitled A First Amendment Approach to Generic Drug Manufacturer Tort Liability, 123 Yale L.J. 495 (2013). Prior to law school, Connor was a strategy and operations consultant for McKinsey & Company. He graduated with distinction from the University of Virginia in 2008, where he was elected to Phi Beta Kappa.
Connor is admitted to practice in New York and the District of Columbia, and before the United States Courts of Appeals for the Second, Third, Fourth, Sixth, Ninth, and District of Columbia Circuits and the United States District Courts for the Southern and Eastern Districts of New York and the District of Columbia.
* Includes matters Connor handled prior to joining Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher.
Capabilities
- Media, Entertainment, and Technology
- Appellate and Constitutional Law
- Intellectual Property
- Litigation
- Privacy, Cybersecurity, and Data Innovation
- Tech and Innovation
- Technology Litigation
- Trials
Credentials
Education:
- Yale University - 2013 Juris Doctor
- University of Virginia - 2008 Bachelor of Arts
Admissions:
- District of Columbia Bar
- New York Bar
Clerkships:
- US Court of Appeals, DC Circuit, Hon. Thomas B. Griffith, 2014 - 2015
- USDC, Southern District of New York, Hon. Katherine Polk Failla, 2013 - 2014