WASHINGTON, D.C. – December 23, 2014 – Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP announced today that Clifford M. Sloan, Special Envoy for Guantanamo closure, will rejoin the firm's Washington, D.C. office as a partner in the Litigation Group on January 1, 2015. Mr. Sloan’s practice will focus on complex litigation, intellectual property, appellate and constitutional law issues, as well as global strategy and risk management.
Mr. Sloan left Skadden in July 2013 when he was appointed by President Barack Obama to the special envoy position. In that role, he has been responsible for negotiating with countries to accept the transfer of detainees, and for navigating the various international relations, national security and human rights issues involved in the administration's actions to close the detention facility. Prior to his 2013 appointment, Mr. Sloan litigated cases at all levels of federal and state courts, including the U.S. Supreme Court. Earlier in his career, Mr. Sloan held other government positions, including associate counsel to President Bill Clinton and assistant to the solicitor general at the U.S. Department of Justice.
From 2000 to 2008, Mr. Sloan was general counsel of Washingtonpost.Newsweek Interactive, The Washington Post Company’s online subsidiary. He was active in the in-house bar, serving on the board of directors of the Association of Corporate Counsel and on the Advisory Board of Corporate Pro Bono. From 2005 to 2008, he was publisher of Slate Magazine, which was acquired by The Washington Post Company in 2005. Mr. Sloan clerked for U.S. Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens and U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit Judge J. Skelly Wright.
"Few lawyers combine Cliff Sloan's outstanding record in private practice, as a general counsel and in public service" said David M. Zornow, global head of Skadden's litigation/controversy practice. "Skadden is thrilled that he is returning to the firm."
A former adjunct law professor at Georgetown University Law Center, George Washington University Law School and American University’s Washington College of Law, Mr. Sloan is a co-author of The Great Decision, a book about the historic Supreme Court case Marbury v. Madison (Public Affairs, 2009), and a former member of the Legal Services Corporation’s Pro Bono Task Force. He received his B.A. from Harvard College, and his J.D. from Harvard Law School, both magna cum laude.