Sharon L Nelles

Litigation; Antitrust; Commodities, Futures & Derivatives; Congressional Investigations; Consumer Financial Services; Corporate Culture, Workplace Investigations & Whistleblower Litigation; Criminal Defense & Investigations; Crisis Management; Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG); Financial Services; Financial Services Investigations & Litigation; Products Liability & Mass Torts; Securities Litigation; Supreme Court and Appellate

Sharon Nelles is the Managing Partner of Sullivan & Cromwell’s Litigation Group and a member of the Firm’s Management Committee. One of the country’s leading litigators and corporate advisers, she works with multinational companies and financial institutions to navigate matters that implicate not only civil litigation, but also regulatory and criminal issues. Sharon has decades of experience representing companies and their officers and directors in courtrooms and before government agencies, including the DOJ, the SEC, the CFTC, and every state attorney general’s office. She also frequently conducts workplace investigations and reviews for corporate clients, special committees, and boards of directors. Sharon frequently is tapped to serve as settlement counsel for her ability to forge resolutions in unique circumstances, having served as a lead architect of, among others, Volkswagen’s resolution of high-profile government and consumer litigation brought in the wake of “dieselgate,” heralded by the court and the public for its speed, scope and practicality. Sharon has tried cases in state and federal court throughout the United States and conducted multiple arbitrations. She received the Scheindlin Award for Courtroom Excellence from the New York State Bar Association, and the Gould Award for Outstanding Oral Advocacy from the Office of the Appellate Defender.

President Emeritus, Federal Bar Council; Member, The American Law Institute; Trustee, Jewish Theological Seminary; Past President, Judges and Lawyers Breast Cancer Alert.

Boston College Law School (JD, 1993); New York University (MA, 1990); Mount Holyoke College (BA, 1987); Judicial clerkship for The Honorable Joseph A. DiClerico, Jr., United States District Court, District of New Hampshire, (1993-1995).