Aaron Lindstrom

Aaron D. Lindstrom

Partner, Appeals and Critical Motions Co-Chair
As a former Michigan Solicitor General, Aaron Lindstrom is an experienced appellate attorney whose strength and skills in the courtroom are a result of his years as chief appellate lawyer for the state of Michigan, as an attorney in private practice, and as an officer serving in the U.S. Army.

Aaron has successfully represented a wide range of clients—states, countries, Fortune 100 companies, law firms, and individuals — in cases of great significance, spanning numerous areas of law, including administrative, constitutional, contract, criminal, environmental, and tax.

Specifically, he has represented clients in complex litigation at all levels of the state and federal courts, including in 13 cases on the merits at the U.S. Supreme Court, twice presenting oral argument. He has been counsel of record on over 90 U.S. Supreme Court briefs. He has also argued 16 times before the Michigan Supreme Court, argued en banc three times before the Sixth Circuit, and represented clients before the Second, Third, Fifth, Seventh, Ninth, Tenth, and D.C. Circuits, the Michigan Court of Appeals, and various state and federal trial courts.

Aaron’s writing has also garnered three Best Brief Awards from the National Association of Attorneys General (for U.S. Supreme Court briefs) and three Distinguished Brief Awards from the Western Michigan University-Cooley Law Review (for Michigan Supreme Court briefs). And he has been invited to speak at various law schools, including Stanford, the University of Chicago, and the University of Michigan, at the Sixth Circuit’s Appellate Practice Institute, and to various public-interest organizations.

Before joining Barnes & Thornburg, Aaron served as Michigan’s Solicitor General for five years; as the state’s chief appellate lawyer, he represented the State of Michigan and its agencies and oversaw appellate matters for the Michigan Department of Attorney General. During his time as Solicitor General, empirical studies recognized his work before the U.S. Supreme Court for his successes and writing (see here, here, and here). Before that, he practiced law in the Grand Rapids office of a Michigan law firm and in the Washington, D.C. office of a global AmLaw 20 firm.

Before law school, Aaron attained the rank of captain in the U.S. Army while assigned to the Second Squadron, Third Armored Cavalry Regiment, in Fort Carson, Colorado. He held a top-secret clearance and served in the regiment as an armor officer for five years.

Credentials

Education

  • University of Chicago Law School, J.D., 2004, articles editor of Chicago Journal of International Law, national symposium board editor of Harvard Journal of Law & Public Policy
  • United States Military Academy at West Point, B.S., computer science, 1996, Superintendent’s Award, Phi Kappa Phi, one semester at the U.S. Air Force Academy on the Service Academy Exchange Program

Bar Admissions

  • Michigan

Court Admissions

  • U.S. Supreme Court
  • U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit
  • U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit
  • U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit
  • U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit
  • U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit
  • U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit
  • U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit
  • U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit
  • U.S. District Court for the Western District of Michigan
  • U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan

Clerkships

  • HonorableJeffrey S. Sutton, U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit
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