Martine E. Cicconi

Martine Cicconi focuses her practice on high‑stakes investigations and litigation led by state attorneys general. She advises clients on navigating enforcement actions and complex regulatory challenges, drawing on extensive experience across U.S. state and federal executive and judicial bodies. Praised by clients as “extremely smart” and “a sophisticated strategist, a responsive counselor and consummate diplomat” in Chambers USA, Martine advises clients through matters that often carry significant legal, political and reputational considerations.

Before joining the Firm, Martine served as Special Assistant to the President and Senior Counsel in the Office of White House Counsel, where she handled sensitive matters involving congressional oversight, executive privilege and inquiries by inspectors general. In that role, she worked closely with senior leadership across the Executive Branch on issues at the intersection of law, governance and public policy.

Martine also served as Deputy Solicitor General for Virginia, where she briefed and argued major cases at all levels of the federal and state judiciary. Her government experience further includes service in the U.S. Department of Justice’s Office of Legal Counsel, advising on constitutional and statutory questions affecting all three branches of government, and as a Bristow Fellow in the Office of the Solicitor General.

She served as a law clerk for Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg on the U.S. Supreme Court and Chief Judge Merrick B. Garland on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit.

Prior to attending law school, Martine was a dancer with the New York City Ballet.

Martine’s experience prior to joining Simpson Thacher includes representing:

• A leading financial institution in a class action focused on consumer privacy issues
• A major asset manager in a first-of-its-kind enforcement action brought by a State Attorney General and follow-on actions by other state regulators
• A cryptocurrency company in a securities-related enforcement action by a State Attorney General
• A children’s hospital in a groundbreaking challenge to a subpoena issued by the Department of Justice
• A climate-change-focused charitable organization in an investigation by two State Attorneys General, as well as state-court challenges to the Attorney General’s jurisdiction
• A veteran-focused consulting company in affirmative litigation challenging multiple state laws on constitutional grounds, as well as in class-action litigation raising related issues
• An electric vehicle manufacturer in connection with state laws related to emissions credits
• A sovereign wealth fund in connection with an investigation by a congressional committee