US Ambassador David Pressman to Join Boies, Schiller

New York, November 3, 2016 - Boies, Schiller & Flexner is pleased to announce that United States Ambassador to the United Nations for Special Political Affairs David Pressman will join the firm’s New York City Office as a partner. Ambassador Pressman’s practice will focus on complex international  disputes, litigation and arbitration, white collar defense, and crisis management.

Ambassador Pressman brings to the firm a distinguished record as a litigator, policymaker, and international negotiator.  He was appointed by President Barack Obama and confirmed by the Senate to represent the United States on the United Nations Security Council. On the Security Council, Ambassador Pressman has been the senior U.S. negotiator on international disputes around the world, from Europe to East Asia, sub-Saharan Africa to the Middle East.

Commenting on his “strategic counsel, intellectual rigor, and lawyerly powers of persuasion,” U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Samantha Power said in a statement about Ambassador Pressman that “he has spearheaded negotiations [for the United States] on some of the toughest international disputes that exist and has done so with great success.”

Boies, Schiller & Flexner Chairman David Boies added: “Ambassador Pressman is an extraordinary lawyer and a formidable advocate.  His counsel has been sought out by some of the most influential people in the world because of his distinguished record of delivering practical and meaningful results, both inside and outside the courtroom.  For clients navigating sensitive global disputes, Ambassador Pressman brings invaluable and unique perspective and a proven record of solving very hard problems. I am delighted to welcome him to the firm.”

Ambassador Pressman previously served on the senior leadership team of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), one of the largest law enforcement agencies in the United States.  As Assistant Secretary of Homeland Security, Pressman led the Department’s Office of Policy Development responsible for formulating and advancing policy and regulations on complex legal and security issues including matters related to sanctions, export controls, customs, foreign investment in the United States, transnational criminal investigations, cybersecurity, immigration, and related homeland security challenges. Ambassador Pressman also served on the National Security Council at the White House working on matters related to international criminal law.

For clients seeking to resolve disputes with foreign governments or mitigate risks related to international trade, sanctions, corruption, and transnational investigations; or for sovereign clients seeking to navigate international litigation or related international entities, Ambassador Pressman offers a unique set of experiences and record of achievement.

As a litigator in private practice, Ambassador Pressman has represented clients in challenging, high-profile, and complex criminal and civil litigation while affiliated with a well-known civil rights and criminal defense boutique in New York City.  He also served as staff counsel with the American Civil Liberties Union in Chicago.  He has overturned multiple murder convictions of wrongfully convicted clients who had served decades in prison for crimes they did not commit.

“I am thrilled to join a team of enormously talented and innovative global litigators who are outcome-oriented in their approach to resolving clients’ increasingly transnational problems,” Ambassador Pressman said.

Ambassador Pressman will also be serving as the Executive Director of the recently established Clooney Foundation for Justice.  Pressman has advised a diverse set of highly-visible and prominent individuals on international strategy.  With George Clooney, Brad Pitt, Matt Damon, Don Cheadle, and producer Jerry Weintraub, Pressman co-founded Not On Our Watch —an international advocacy and grant-making organization designed to focus global  attention and resources on mass atrocities and gross violations of international human rights.

Ambassador Pressman received his B.A. from Brown University and graduated magna cum laude and Order of the Coif from New York University School of Law.

About Boies, Schiller & Flexner LLP

Boies, Schiller & Flexner (www.bsfllp.com) is one of the premier law firms based in the United States, regularly serving as lead counsel in the biggest, highest-profile disputes and representing some of the world’s largest and most sophisticated organizations when the results matter most. Follow the firm on LinkedIn.