Sean McClelland, an associate in the firm’s Antitrust, Trade & Commercial Litigation Department in Washington, D.C., will join the Office of the Federal Public Defender for the District of Nevada. His last day at McGuireWoods is Jan. 20, 2023.
On Feb. 13, McClelland will join the Federal Public Defender’s appellate unit, though his role also will include district court work. He will be based in the Reno office. The new position marks a homecoming for McClelland, who grew up in northern Nevada, not far from Reno.
McClelland started at McGuireWoods as a summer associate in 2016. After law school and a two-year federal clerkship with Judge Rebecca Goodgame Ebinger on the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Iowa, he worked as a McGuireWoods associate for a year before completing another clerkship with Judge Catharina Haynes on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit. He rejoined the firm as an associate in 2021, focusing on antitrust litigation and other complex commercial litigation matters.
McClelland earned his J.D., cum laude, from Duke University School of Law, where he was executive editor of Law and Contemporary Problems and managing editor of the Duke Forum for Law & Social Change. He earned his undergraduate degree, with general and special honors, from the University of Chicago.
“I’ve absolutely loved my time at McGuireWoods,” McClelland said. “It has been an honor working with such extraordinary and dedicated attorneys. It will be bittersweet departing, but I have made lifelong friends and colleagues. It has been a great experience.”
Charlotte partner Mark Kinghorn, chair of McGuireWoods’ Antitrust, Trade & Commercial Litigation Department, congratulated McClelland on the new opportunity. “Sean has been a valuable member of our team, and we wish him great success in the Federal Public Defender’s Office. I know he will do tremendous work on behalf of the people of Nevada.”