Sally Pei | People | Arnold & Porter

Sally Pei's practice spans a broad range of subject areas, with a particular focus on transnational disputes and foreign sovereign immunity. Sally has been the principal brief-writer in numerous cases in federal and state courts on behalf of foreign sovereigns, international entities, businesses, and individuals, including before the U.S. Supreme Court. She has argued before the Sixth and Ninth Circuits. In addition to her U.S. litigation practice, Sally advises clients in international arbitration proceedings.

Sally also maintains an active pro bono practice, with an emphasis on matters relating to immigrants' rights.

Before joining Arnold & Porter, Sally was a law clerk to the Honorable William A. Fletcher of the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. She also served as a Legal Adviser to Judge O. Thomas Johnson at the Iran-United States Claims Tribunal, where she assisted the Tribunal in its consideration of a complex and high-profile dispute between the United States and Iran.

Sally graduated from Yale Law School, where she served as Articles Editor for the Yale Law Journal and Yale Journal of International Law, and received the Jerome Sayles Hess Fund Prize for excellence in the area of International Law. She was also a member of the Allard K. Lowenstein International Human Rights Clinic and the Iraqi Refugee Assistance Project.

Focus Areas

Experience

Sharp v. Murphy (U.S. Supreme Court); McGirt v. Oklahoma (U.S. Supreme Court). Represented the State of Oklahoma in litigation regarding whether Congress disestablished tribal boundaries in the former Indian Territory upon statehood in 1907.
Schermerhorn v. Israel, 876 F.3d 351 (D.C. Cir. 2017). Secured and defended dismissal of claims against the State of Israel arising out of the interception of the "Gaza flotilla" in May 2010.
Cooper v. TEPCO, 960 F.3d 549 (9th Cir. 2020). Secured and defended dismissal of claims brought by former U.S. Navy sailors against General Electric arising from the 2011 accident at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant.
Imamura v. General Electric Co., 957 F.3d 98 (1st Cir. 2020). Secured and defended dismissal of claims brought by Japanese residents and businesses against General Electric arising from the 2011 accident at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant.
MacLloyd v. United States, 684 F. App'x 555 (6th Cir. 2020). Successfully represented prisoner in appeal of district court's denial of an evidentiary hearing on a motion to vacate, correct, or set aside his conviction under 28 U.S.C. § 2255.

Scalin v. SNCF (7th Cir.). Representing French state-owned railway company in appeal involving World War II expropriations claims.
Bristol Myers-Squibb v. Connors (9th Cir.). Representing pharmaceutical companies in First Amendment challenge to civil enforcement action brought by Hawai`i Attorney General.
Rueda Vidal v. Bolton (9th Cir.). Representing immigrant rights activist in damages action against U.S. Customs and Border Patrol officers for violations of her Fourth Amendment rights.
Representing the European Commission as amicus curiae in proceedings in U.S. courts in cases involving the attempted enforcement of intra-EU arbitral awards.
Representing the Czech Republic in ongoing ad hoc arbitration under the Switzerland-Czech Republic Bilateral Investment Treaty.