Professional Profile
Jay Lefkowitz is a senior litigation partner in the New York City office of Kirkland & Ellis LLP and a member of the Firm's Worldwide Management Committee. He is also an adjunct professor of Administrative Law at Columbia Law School. Jay has acted as lead trial and appellate counsel on cases (both individual and class) in a wide variety of substantive areas, including securities, shareholder derivative, antitrust, intellectual property, and breach of contract, as well as in several white collar defense matters. He also has conducted numerous internal investigations for public companies and audit committees. He represents investment banks, hedge funds, pharmaceutical companies, and telecommunications companies in litigation and in proceedings before the DOJ, SEC, FINRA, FCC, FDA and various State Attorneys General.
Jay has had a distinguished career in public service. He served from 2005-2009 as the United States' Special Envoy on Human Rights in North Korea. From 2001-2003, Jay served in the White House as Deputy Assistant to President Bush for Domestic Policy and as General Counsel in the Office of Management and Budget. Earlier in his career, he served in the White House as Director of Cabinet Affairs and Deputy Executive Secretary to the Domestic Policy Council for President George H. W. Bush.
Jay's work as a lawyer and diplomat has been featured in many newspapers and magazines throughout the world. He has been profiled in The Washington Post, "A Hard-Nosed Litigator Becomes Bush's Policy Point Man;" Global Forensics, "Subprime Crisis Stirring Up New Wave of Litigation;" The Washington Post, "What Ever Happened to Jay Lefkowitz?;" The American Lawyer, "Blackboard Jungle;" The National Law Journal, "Republican Connected and Rising;" Columbia College Today, "Shuttle Diplomat;" Aish.com, "Kosher in the White House;" LawyersandSettlements.co m, "Star Litigator Jay Lefkowitz Goes Pro Bono in California School Reform Case;" and The New York Sun, "Heroic Lefkowitz’s Korea Mission."
Jay has served as lead counsel for Fannie Mae, General Motors, Loral Space & Communications, News Corporation, Northwest Airlines, Qwest Communications Corporation, Tenet Healthcare Corporation, Teva Pharmaceuticals, Time Warner, UBS Warburg, Verizon Wireless, and many hedge funds and private equity firms.