Allyson N. Ho is a partner in the Dallas office of Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher LLP and co-chair of the Firm’s nationwide Appellate and Constitutional Law practice group.

Mrs. Ho is widely regarded as one of the nation’s most accomplished appellate litigators. She has presented over 65 oral arguments in federal and state courts nationwide, including multiple high-stakes cases on behalf of business before the U.S. Supreme Court.

Her most significant winning arguments include a U.S. Supreme Court reversal worth billions of dollars for unionized employers in the Sixth Circuit; a U.S. Supreme Court reversal limiting the power of federal regulators; a multi-billion dollar environmental win in the Fifth Circuit; a multi-billion dollar commercial victory for the founder of a technology company in the Appellate Division of the New York Supreme Court; a billion dollar environmental win in the Houston Court of Appeals; a nine-figure commercial victory in the Corpus Christi Court of Appeals; and a nine-figure arbitration win in the Fifth Circuit.

Among her numerous accolades, Chambers has named her one of the nation’s top appellate lawyers every year for the past nine consecutive years (2012-20)—a record unmatched by (and far exceeding) any other appellate litigator in Texas. She is also routinely named as a leading appellate lawyer by Benchmark, The Best Lawyers in America®, The Legal 500, Texas Super Lawyers, and D Magazine. In 2020, BTI Consulting named her to its BTI Client Service All-Stars List, recognizing lawyers “who stand above all the others in delivering the absolute best in client service.”

Mrs. Ho has also received the Gregory S. Coleman Outstanding Appellate Lawyer Award (Texas Bar Foundation, June 22, 2018), been named a “Distinguished Leader” (Texas Lawyer, Sep. 1, 2017) and “Appellate MVP” (Law360, Nov. 23, 2015), and been recognized on the “Appellate Hot List” (National Law Journal, Nov. 16, 2015). In addition, she has been profiled in (Texas Lawbook, January 7, 2021), “Litigators of the Week” (The American Lawyer, May 8, 2020), “Litigation Powerhouse” (Law360, Aug. 10, 2016), “Supreme Court Insider” (National Law Journal, July 21, 2016), “Supreme Court Specialists, Mostly Male, Dominated Arguments This Term” (National Law Journal, May 11, 2016), “Attorney of the Year Finalist” (Texas Lawyer, Nov. 2, 2015), “Litigation Department of the Year” (Texas Lawyer, June 1, 2015), “Employment Group of the Year” (Law360, Jan. 13, 2015), “A Supreme Month: Lawyer Credits Preparedness in Ability to Argue Two U.S. High Court Cases in Three Weeks” (Texas Lawyer, Dec. 8, 2014), “High Court Debuts for Two Lawyers” (National Law Journal, Nov. 3, 2014), “Women in Business Awards” (Dallas Business Journal, Aug 29, 2014), “Litigation Departments of the Year” (Texas Lawyer, June 2, 2014), “Winning Women” (Texas Lawyer, Aug. 22, 2011), and “High court practitioners: increasingly diverse” (National Law Journal, June 6, 2011).

U.S. Supreme Court Practice

Mrs. Ho has argued multiple times before the U.S. Supreme Court. National Law Journal called her a “Veteran SCOTUS Advocate” in the “upper echelons of Supreme Court practice.” Law360 named her a “Supreme Court Star” and “one of the nation’s preeminent appellate lawyers.” EmpiricalSCOTUS.com ranked her among “the most successful attorneys that currently practice before the Court.”

During October Term 2014, she argued two significant Supreme Court business cases in 21 days. Her win in M&G Polymers USA LLC v. Tackett was a “significant ruling for employers across the U.S.” (Law360, Aug. 10, 2016), overturning longstanding circuit precedent and “pav[ing] a new path for companies paying millions of dollars in retiree health care benefits” (Law360, Nov. 23, 2015). In Perez v. Mortgage Bankers Association, “several justices agreed with Ho’s contention that SCOTUS should revisit and overrule its own precedent” concerning deference to administrative interpretations of agency rules (Law360, Nov. 23, 2015).

In October Term 2016, Mrs. Ho argued another important business case before the U.S. Supreme Court. In McLane Company, Inc. v. EEOC, she convinced the Court to limit the EEOC’s subpoena power, a win that the employment defense bar has described as “good news for employers across the country.”

And in October Term 2017, she argued Oil States Energy Services LLC v. Greene’s Energy Group, LLC, a “colossus” that has “immense commercial implications” (National Law Journal, Nov. 22, 2017). Intellectual property experts have called it “the most important patent case in modern history,” and Supreme Court watchers credited her with “pick[ing] up two votes that pundits thought unreachable.”

Federal and State Appellate Court Practice

Mrs. Ho has appeared in every federal court of appeals in the country, including en banc arguments before the Fourth and Sixth Circuits. Her clients have prevailed in every circuit, including the First (Pruco Life Insurance Company), Second (Swiss Federation; Rite Aid), Third (Johnson & Johnson), Fourth (Genex Services), Fifth (United Space Alliance LLC; Elliott Co.; MERSCORP; 24 Hour Fitness USA, Inc.; Stream Energy; Health Management Systems), Sixth (Deutsche Bank; American Airlines; M&G Polymers), Seventh (Expedia), Eighth (Cotter), Ninth (Boeing; JP Morgan Chase Bank), Tenth (Mitchell International), Eleventh (AstraZeneca), D.C. (FedEx), and Federal (Repros Therapeutics) Circuits.

She has also argued numerous cases in the Texas Supreme Court, Texas appellate courts in Dallas, Houston, San Antonio, Corpus Christi, and Eastland, and state appellate courts in Arizona, Michigan, New York, Ohio, Oklahoma, and West Virginia.

Government and Public Service Experience

Mrs. Ho has a distinguished record of experience at the highest levels of the federal government. She served as Special Assistant to President George W. Bush, Counselor to Attorney General John Ashcroft, and law clerk to Justice Sandra Day O’Connor of the U.S. Supreme Court and Judge Jacques L. Wiener Jr. of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit.

Her record of public service also includes appointments to various boards and commissions.  Among the most notable:  She was recently elected to serve as a member of the Administrative Conference of the United States, and as a trustee of the Supreme Court Historical Society.  She is also vice chair of the Federal Judicial Evaluation Committee, appointed by U.S. Senators John Cornyn and Ted Cruz to evaluate potential appointments of all federal judges and U.S. Attorneys in Texas, and has previously served on the U.S. Magistrate Judge Merit Selection Panel for the Northern District of Texas.

Other Background Information

An active pro bono litigator, Mrs. Ho works most frequently with the First Liberty Institute and as amicus counsel for the State and Local Legal Center, the National Organization for Victim Assistance, and the National Crime Victim Law Institute. She is a frequent public speaker and active member of the Federalist Society, the American Law Institute, and the Washington Legal Foundation’s Legal Policy Advisory Board. She currently serves as chairman of the Board of Directors of The da Vinci School.

Mrs. Ho graduated from Duke University magna cum laude with a B.A. in English, Rice University with an M.A. and Ph.D. in English Literature, and the University of Chicago Law School with high honors. She was a member of the Law Review and Order of the Coif. She and her husband Jim, a federal judge, have a twin daughter and son.