About Helgi C.
Helgi C. Walker studied history and government as an undergraduate at the University of Virginia and then returned to Charlottesville for law school, earning his J.D. from the University of Virginia School of Law. He moved quickly from the classroom to the courthouse. His early training included two federal clerkships that placed him at the center of appellate and constitutional litigation.
In 1994 Walker served as a law clerk to Judge J. Harvie Wilkinson III on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit. The following year he clerked at the U.S. Supreme Court for Justice Clarence Thomas, a year that exposed him to high-stakes briefing and oral argument preparation. Several years later, in 2001, he joined the White House Counsel's Office as Associate Counsel to President George W. Bush, handling legal matters that crossed between the executive branch and the federal courts.
Walker moved into private practice after his government service. He is a partner at Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher LLP in Washington, D.C. At the firm he has worked on appeals and administrative litigation, drawing on his appellate clerkships and his time in the executive branch. Colleagues describe him as methodical in preparing briefs and attentive in oral argument, and his background lends itself to complex federal litigation and regulatory disputes.
He has maintained an active role in professional organizations related to administrative law and the federal courts. He holds membership on the U.S. Chamber of Commerce's Administrative Law & Government Litigation Advisory Committee. From 2015 to 2021 he served on the Board of Directors of the Historical Society of the D.C. Circuit, and from 2010 to 2015 he was a public member of the Council of the Administrative Conference of the United States. Those roles have kept him engaged with the practical and institutional questions that shape administrative procedure and appellate practice.
Walker's career traces a consistent path through appellate chambers, the White House, and a major law firm. His public service years inform his work in private practice, particularly in matters that involve federal agencies or complex questions of administrative law. He is admitted to practice in the District of Columbia. He currently practices in Washington, D.C., handling appellate and administrative litigation matters.
