Erica L. Reilley

As a 16-year veteran of Jones Day, the breadth of Reilley's work continues to expand as she takes on bigger cases in the firm's appellate division.

"There's certainly been a ton of diversity over the years, which is part of what I love about my practice," Reilley said. "As I've become more senior and was elevated into the partnership, my responsibilities have increased in terms of the type of cases."

In the last year, Reilley has handled "really interesting constitutional issue cases that I think some might find to be somewhat unusual for a big firm."

She's currently preparing for a June trial before the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on behalf of the Ventura County Superior Court, whose clerk has been sued by Courthouse News over a policy requiring journalists to wait until civil complaints are considered formally processed to see them, instead of seeing them the day they are filed. The litigation involves First Amendment issues "you don't see a lot of in a typical big firm practice," Reilley said. "That's consumed a lot of my time."

She's also representing Los Angeles County in the appellate case involving Harold Sturgeon and Judicial Watch, which is challenging judicial pay perks given to judges and paid for by individual counties.

Reilley continues to see more federal court appeals, which draws on the two years she spent as a clerk to U.S. District Judge William Rea in the Central District of California.

"It's nice to have part of my practice in federal court," she said, calling it "the forum that I really love in a lot of ways."

Meghann M. Cuniff