Biography

Born in a small village, Psov, in 1956 in  the former Soviet Union, attorney David B. Rivkin, Jr., has studied the U.S. Constitution and related historical documents with scholarly rigor, and has authored critical commentary on critical constitutional issues of our day.  In private practice and partner at Baker Hostetler in Washington, D.C., Mr. Rivkin has had a lengthy career distinguished by service under Presidents Ronald Reagan and George H. W. Bush, in the U.S. Department of Justice, and in the U.S. Department of Energy.  He is a well-known writer and media commentator on matters of constitutional and international law, as well as foreign and defense policy.  He is a Visiting Fellow at the Nixon Center, Contributing Editor at the National Review, and a member of the Advisory Council at The National Interest magazine.

David Rivkin currently serves as Co-Chairman of the Center for Law and Counterterrorism at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies.  He previously served on the United Nations Commission on Human Rights.  A trusted representative of conservative viewpoints, he frequently testifies before the Senate Judiciary Committee and other Congressional committees.  On July 30, 2009, Mr. Rivkin testified as a minority party witness in the confirmation hearings of Supreme Court Justice nominee Sonia Sotomayor.  He had previously testified on June 9, 2009, before the Senate Judiciary Committee's Subcommittee on the Constitution regarding "The Legal, Moral, and National Security Consequences of 'Prolonged Detention.'"

David Rivkin's extensive legal opinion articles and commentary include more than 350 articles and numerous guest appearances on radio, and network and cable televisions programs, such as CNN, NPR, BBC, Fox News, NBC, ABC, CBS, Al Jazeera, and The Laura Ingraham Show.  Mr. Rivkin's editorial contributions include constitutional law, international law, defense and national security, intelligence, foreign policy, energy policy, and healthcare reform.  He develops his positions on critical public and legal matters not from political ideology, but from a reasoned interpretation of the U.S. constitution, legislation, judicial rulings, and legal opinions.

David Rivkin currently represents foreign governments and corporate entities on legal, political, economic, defense, and public relations matters.  He contributes to bilateral and multilateral foreign policy issues with Congress and various Executive Branch entities.  He is a member of the District of Columbia Bar and the Council on Foreign Relations.

Education

• J.D., Columbia Law School, May 1985
• M.A., Georgetown University (Soviet Affairs) with Highest Distinction, 1984
• B.S.F.S, Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service at Georgetown University School, Cum Laude, 1980

Professional

After serving as a legal clerk and associate for several law firms, David Rivkin joined the firm of Hunton & Williams and was promoted to partner.  His practice concentrated on environmental and energy law, as well as international public law and litigation before the International Court of Justice and the International Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia.  His practice also included policy advocacy on a wide range of international and domestic issues, including treaty implementation, multilateral and unilateral sanctions, and corporate law.  David Rivkin left the firm in December 1999 to join Baker Hostetler, where he is a partner in the Washington, D.C. office.  Mr. Rivkin's practice involves the Alien Tort Reform Claims Act, Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, export controls, and environmental law, with the particular focus on complex appellate litigation and constitutional issues.  He has written briefs and was involved in several of the key post-September 11 appellate and Supreme Court cases addressing national security matters.

David Rivkin served in a variety of legal and policy positions during the administrations of Ronald Reagan and George H. W. Bush. Rivkin served as Legal Advisor to the Counsel to then Vice President George H. W. Bush, in the White House Counsel's Office, and as Deputy Director of the Office of Policy Development (OPD) for the United States Department of Justice.  While at OPD, he worked on a wide variety of constitutional, domestic, and international issues, including judicial selection, legal policy, immigration and asylum matters, and intelligence oversight.  He also handled the development and implementation of President H.W. Bush's de-regulatory initiatives, carried out from 1991 to 1992, which focused on carrying out a review of existing federal structures in an attempt to make them more cost-effective.

From 1990 to 1991, David Rivkin served as the Associate General Counsel of the United States Department of Energy.  In this post he was responsible for developing and implementing national and international environmental and energy strategies.  He also assisted in the passing of the Clean Air Act (1990) and FERC Order 636, known as the Restructuring Rule, designed to allow more efficient use of the interstate natural gas transmission system by fundamentally changing the way pipeline companies conduct business.  During his term, national energy markets were deregulated.  In 1992, Mr. Rivkin returned to the White House and served as a senior advisor to Vice President Dan Quayle.

David Rivkin has published more than 360 papers, articles, op-eds, book reviews, and book chapters on a variety of legal and defense-related issues, such as international relations, foreign policy, national defense, constitutional debates, and environmental and energy policy.  His articles in The Wall Street Journal exceed 75 articles and reviews.  In addition, he contributes regularly to The National Review, The Washington Post, The New York Times, The Washington Times, the Heritage Foundation, and the Harvard Journal of Law & Policy.

During the War on Terrorism, which began after September 11, 2001, Mr. Rivkin began authoring articles on the international law of armed conflict, warrantless surveillance, and constitutional issues arising from various policies adopted by the United States since that time.  Recently, Mr. Rivkin's commentary has addressed the constitutionality of pending healthcare reform, and national security issues arising from the United States foreign policy on climate change.

Professional Affiliations:

• Council on Foreign Relations (Member)
• National Center for Therapeutic Riding (Director)
• Sovereignty, Inc. (Director)
• Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation (Director)
• U.S. Department of Energy's Electricity Advisory Board (Member)
• The Nixon Center (Adjunct Fellow)
• Contributing Editor, National Review magazine
• Advisory Council, National Interest magazine

Other Professional Activities:

• Frequent public lecturing and appearance on radio and television shows (e.g., Canadian Broadcasting, KIRO-Seattle, BBC, National Public Radio, USIA-Worldnet, NET, WHUR, FOX Television, CBS, CNBC, CNN, NBC and MSNBC, PBS, ABC.)

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Note: Confirmed with David B. Rivkin on October 31, 2009.