By Mike Sacks, The National Law Journal

In a witty fictional twist, Hogan Lovells partner Neal Katyal battles an on-screen version of himself in an episode of the just-released third season of the popular Netflix series, House of Cards.

Katyal—the former acting U.S. Solicitor General in real life—plays a character arguing before the Supreme Court on behalf of Kaseem Mahmoud, a man left wheelchair-bound by an American drone strike in the Middle East.

His nemesis: an ambitious U.S. Solicitor General.

“Deference to the executive could not possibly justify the injuries to Mr. Mahmoud or the death of his family members,” Katyal’s character says in a politically charged case that challenges the state secrets doctrine. “If you do not say that this is wrong, that this is unconstitutional, there is nothing to prevent this sort of senseless tragedy from happening again.”

The episode is fourth of 13 in the show’s third season. When he was first approached about the episode last summer, Katyal said, the producers weren’t looking to put him on screen.

“They didn’t seek me out for an acting role initially,” he said Friday. “They had a bunch of questions about the Solicitor General and arguing at the Supreme Court, and from there it progressed into this.”

The producers had done their homework: Katyal clerked for Justice Stephen Breyer, made his name as a Supreme Court litigator by successfully representing Guantanamo detainee Salim Hamdan in a landmark 2006 decision, and served in the SG’s office from 2009 to 2011.

In a town where everything leaks—including, for a few minutes, House of Cards’ Season 3 itself several weeks ago—Katyal’s acting debut stayed under wraps until Friday morning, when Hogan Lovells tweeted the news.

“This filmed last summer and I had told them that I was going to keep it confidential, so the only person that knew was my wife,” Katyal said.

Katyal credited the show’s writers and crew for making the scene feel so true to life.

“The set was incredible. They got everything right, the carpeting, the chairs for the justices. But for me the most striking thing was the podium,” Katyal said, noting that it matched that of the real one along with the lights and style of microphones.

“It was so good that I asked [House of Cards’ creator and executive producer] Beau Willimon if I could buy it for my moots.” (Alas, he could not.)

The nine writers working on the scene would “want to know when they’re getting it right and want to know when they’re departing from reality,” Katyal said.

“They remind me of my nine associates and partners in my appellate group. They’re all history buffs, they’re all super interested in the law,” he said.

Katyal wasn’t the only lawyer on screen in his scenes. The actor playing the Chief Justice, Richard V. Licata, earned his J.D. from St. John’s University School of Law in 1973.

“I’m a real actor, too,” the New York-based Licata said. He spent the 1990s and 2000s appearing in various television shows and independent films in New York and then Los Angeles, where he lived from 2002-2009. But but he kept an active law practice along the way.

“I was working as a negotiator for two law firms and literally both of the guys (running the firms) retired. That was a big check of money that was helping me survive out there, so I came back to New York. The legal landscape had changed, so I started to act again, doing an episode of Law & Order: Criminal Intent. I’m currently a Judge for the New York City Taxi and Limousine Commission.”

As for Katyal, Licata said, “He was wonderful, he was amazing.”

With such praise coming from the fake Chief Justice, is Katyal in danger of going Hollywood?

“Are you kidding? I like my day job. But if the folks at (HBO’s) “Silicon Valley” want to give me a show, I’d show up.”

IMAGE: Neal Katyal, Hogan Lovells partner, appearing in the series House of Cards.

Credit: Netflix

For more on this story go to: http://www.nationallawjournal.com/id=1202719228774/House-of-Cards-Makes-Actor-of-Former-Acting-SG#ixzz3TF6tsJhg