Illustration by Jaya Nicely for Forbes
Stacey Grigsby
Firm: Covington & Burling LLP
Forbes Ranking: America’s Best-in-State Lawyers 2025
Being a litigator has been a throughline of Stacey Grigsby’s career, a skill set she’s leveraged in high-profile government work, pro bono service, and a thriving private practice.
Drawn to the pace of litigation early on, Grigsby says she relishes writing briefs and advocating for clients. After Yale Law School Grigsby served as a law clerk, worked at the DOJ, and was a partner at Boise, Schiller, Flexner before landing at Washington, DC-based Covington & Burling, where she currently co-chairs the Government Regulation practice—a position tailored to her unique expertise. In 2022, Grigsby left Covington to work as Deputy Counsel to President Biden in the White House Counsel’s Office. In that role she advised the president and senior White House officials on civil rights and interagency consideration of regulatory, legislative and litigation issues, and was central to formulating the administration’s strategies after the U.S. Supreme Court’s Dobbs ruling on reproductive rights and the Students for Fair Admissions decision on affirmative action in higher education.
“The White House was a unique opportunity,” Grigsby says. “I wasn’t necessarily looking to leave Covington, but to have a portfolio dealing with some of the most interesting issues going on at that time was an opportunity I couldn’t pass up.”
Today, in her busy litigation practice, Grigsby utilizes that experience to represent clients across industries, often in government-facing litigation proceedings at the trial and appellate levels. She has delivered oral arguments in trial and appellate courts across the country, and is well-practiced at litigating cases involving the False Claims Act, the Contract Disputes Act, and matters involving unfair competition laws. Her background puts her in a unique position to understand client challenges during sensitive investigations.
Grigsby says the keys to her approach are to keep the client front of mind and “look around the corners” even when not in an active engagement, adding that relationship building is at the core of her work—whether with colleagues or clients—to provide the best legal services and achieve the best result. “Show you understand their business and not just what’s put in front of you,” Grigsby advises. “That you’re fully invested in the job and really care.”
For the full list of America’s Best-In-State Lawyers, click here.
As with all Forbes lists, candidates do not pay any fee to be considered. For questions about this list, please contact lawyerlist [at] Forbes.com.
Forbes