Aaron C. Cummings

Partner

Overview

Aaron serves as the co-chair of the Government Affairs Group and provides counsel and advocacy to clients on legislative and policy matters in a range of areas including antitrust, financial services, health care, energy, intellectual property, artificial intelligence, technology, agriculture, and national security. All too often in Washington if you’re not at the table, you’re on the menu. Aaron helps clients make sure their views are represented in policy discussions in Capitol Hill, the White House, and throughout the federal government.

Aaron has years of high-level experience on Capitol Hill. He’s the former Chief of Staff to U.S. Senator Chuck Grassley (R-IA), the longest serving Republican Senator in history, and current President Pro Tempore-emeritus of the Senate. As Senator Grassley’s Chief of Staff, Aaron worked closely with other members of Republican Senate Leadership and their senior staff to advance the priorities of the Republican Caucus and to set the agenda for the Senate. Aaron also advised Senator Grassley during his tenure as the Chairman of the powerful Judiciary and Finance Committees, the top Republican of the Committee on Budget, and as a senior member of the Senate Committee on Agriculture. During his tenure as a Chief Counsel on the Senate Judiciary committee, Aaron advised Senator Grassley on a host of policy and constitutional issues, including Supreme Court nominations, and was the lead Republican negotiator of the First Step Act—the biggest criminal justice reform effort in a generation and a signature bipartisan accomplishment of the Trump Administration. Aaron also played key roles in the passage of the United States-Mexico-Canada Trade Agreement and the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act. Earlier in his career, he worked as an Associate Director of Presidential Speechwriting in the George W. Bush White House.  

Drawing on his years of experience in litigation, leading congressional investigations, and high-profile hearings on Capitol Hill, Aaron also counsels clients responding to government investigations.

Career & Education

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    • U.S. Senate
      Chief of Staff for Senator Chuck Grassley, 2019–2023
    • U.S. Senate Committee on the Judiciary
      Chief Constitution Counsel and Crime Counsel, 2017–2019
    • U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit
      Judicial Intern, 2009
    • U.S. Senate
      Chief of Staff for Senator Chuck Grassley, 2019–2023
    • U.S. Senate Committee on the Judiciary
      Chief Constitution Counsel and Crime Counsel, 2017–2019
    • U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit
      Judicial Intern, 2009
    • Brigham Young University, B.A., Comparative Literature
    • University of Virginia School of Law, J.D., Law, 2009
    • Brigham Young University, B.A., Comparative Literature
    • University of Virginia School of Law, J.D., Law, 2009
    • District of Columbia
    • Virginia
    • District of Columbia
    • Virginia

Representative Matters

  • Represented 38 members of the 2006 Duke Lacrosse Team and their families in a suit against Duke University and the City of Durham, negotiating a favorable settlement
  • Successfully represented a major nonprofit in a litigation matter in which hundreds of millions of dollars were at stake and negotiated a significant, favorable settlement
  • Represented a medical technology company in a breach of contract and misappropriation of trade secrets case, resulting in a favorable settlement
  • Represented corporate, financial services, government, and nonprofit clients in litigation involving claims based on complex issues in contracts, tax, antitrust, regulatory compliance, government conservatorship, constitutional law, and intellectual property.
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