Eric Oliver "Nick" Bravin (born May 28, 1971) is an American fencer and lawyer.Bob Wechsler
''Day by Day in Jewish Sports History''
/ref> He was a four-time U.S. National Champion, a three-time

NCAA The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, Canada, and Puerto Rico. It also organizes the athletic programs of colleges an ...

National Champion, and a two-time Olympian.

Early life

Bravin is Jewish, and was born in Los Angeles, California."Bravin, Eric Nick,"
US Fencing Hall of Fame. His mother is Shawn Bravin. His older brother fenced, and his grandfather had been a top fencer in

Lithuania Lithuania (; lt, Lietuva ), officially the Republic of Lithuania ( lt, Lietuvos Respublika, links=no ), is a country in the Baltic region of Europe. It is one of three Baltic states and lies on the eastern shore of the Baltic Sea. Lithuania ...

. His maternal grandfather was murdered by the Nazis in the

Vilna ghetto The Vilna Ghetto was a World War II Jewish ghetto established and operated by Nazi Germany in the city of Vilnius in the modern country of Lithuania, at the time part of the Nazi-administered Reichskommissariat Ostland. During the approximatel ...

or the killing fields of the Ponari forest just outside

Vilnius, Lithuania Vilnius ( , ; see also #Etymology and other names, other names) is the capital and List of cities in Lithuania#Cities, largest city of Lithuania, with a population of 592,389 (according to the state register) or 625,107 (according to the munic ...

. Bravin began fencing at the age of 12 at the Westside Fencing Center in

Culver City, California Culver City is a city in Los Angeles County, California, United States. As of the 2020 census, the population was 40,779. Founded in 1917 as a "whites only" sundown town, it is now an ethnically diverse city with what was called the "third-most d ...

.">"Bravin, Nick": Jews In Sports
/ref> He graduated in 1988 from Hamilton High School, where he played for the football team. In the late 1980s, he moved to

Palo Alto Palo Alto (; Spanish for "tall stick") is a charter city in the northwestern corner of Santa Clara County, California, United States, in the San Francisco Bay Area, named after a coastal redwood tree known as El Palo Alto. The city was estab ...

, California.

Fencing career

He competed in the

foil Foil may refer to: Materials * Foil (metal), a quite thin sheet of metal, usually manufactured with a rolling mill machine * Metal leaf, a very thin sheet of decorative metal * Aluminium foil, a type of wrapping for food * Tin foil, metal foil ...

events at the 1992 Olympics in Barcelona, and the

1996 Summer Olympics The 1996 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXVI Olympiad, also known as Atlanta 1996 and commonly referred to as the Centennial Olympic Games) were an international multi-sport event held from July 19 to August 4, 1996, in Atlanta, ...

in Atlanta. At

Stanford University Stanford University, officially Leland Stanford Junior University, is a private research university in Stanford, California. The campus occupies , among the largest in the United States, and enrolls over 17,000 students. Stanford is consider ...

, where he majored in human biology and from which he graduated in 1993, Bravin was three-time NCAA foil champion (1990, ’92, and ’93), as he had a college record of 208 victories and 5 defeats, and won four All-America awards. Bravin won four US National foil championships: in 1991 (at age 20, the youngest to win the championship), 1992 (beating three-time Olympian

Michael Marx Michael Marx (born July 7, 1958) is an American foil and epee fencer and fencing master. He is the brother of Robert Marx, who has also represented the U.S. in multiple Olympic fencing events. Michael and his brother were taught to fence by ...

, 5-3, 2-5, 6-4), 1994, and 1996 (defeating

Cliff Bayer Cliff Bayer (born June 24, 1977, in New York City) is an American two-time Olympian foil fencer. Early and personal life Bayer was born in New York City, and is Jewish. College In 1996, he was the NCAA Foil Champion while at the University of ...

), while coming in 2nd in 1995 and 1999 (losing the title by one touch). He was on the US Pan American Teams in 1991 and ’95, and won two team silver medals as well as two individual bronze medals. He was the Pan-American Fencing Champion as both a junior and a senior. Bravin was elected to the US Fencing Hall of Fame. He was featured in the cover story of the May 1996 issue of '' Vanity Fair'' magazine. In 2006 he was inducted into the

Southern California Jewish Sports Hall of Fame The Southern California Jewish Sports Hall of Fame, in Beverly Hills, California, is a hall of fame dedicated to honoring American Jewish athletes, other sports personalities, and teams from Southern California who have distinguished themselves ...

. In 2010 he was inducted into the Stanford Athletics Hall of Fame.

Legal career

Bravin continued on to a legal career, graduating from

Columbia Law School Columbia Law School (Columbia Law or CLS) is the law school of Columbia University, a private Ivy League university in New York City. Columbia Law is widely regarded as one of the most prestigious law schools in the world and has always ranked i ...

, where he was a member of the ''

Columbia Law Review The ''Columbia Law Review'' is a law review edited and published by students at Columbia Law School. The journal publishes scholarly articles, essays, and student notes. It was established in 1901 by Joseph E. Corrigan and John M. Woolsey, who se ...

'', with a JD in 1998. Bravin was a law clerk for Judge David M. Ebel of the

United States Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit The United States Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit (in case citations, 10th Cir.) is a federal court with appellate jurisdiction over the district courts in the following districts: * District of Colorado * District of Kansas * Dist ...

, and for Justice

Ruth Bader Ginsburg Joan Ruth Bader Ginsburg ( ; ; March 15, 1933September 18, 2020) was an American lawyer and jurist who served as an associate justice of the Supreme Court of the United States from 1993 until her death in 2020. She was nominated by President ...

of the

United States Supreme Court The Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) is the highest court in the federal judiciary of the United States. It has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all U.S. federal court cases, and over state court cases that involve a point o ...

. He was an Acting Assistant Professor of Lawyering for four years at

New York University School of Law New York University School of Law (NYU Law) is the law school of New York University, a private research university in New York City. Established in 1835, it is the oldest law school in New York City and the oldest surviving law school in New ...

. He has practiced in every level of federal and state court, as well as in mediations, arbitrations, and internal investigations. His work has focused on criminal matters, including representation of the individual initially named as "a person of interest" in the anthrax mailings of 2001. Bravin is of counsel to the Ellsworth Law Firm, where he works primarily on criminal and appellate cases. Bravin has also taught Separation of Powers Law at U.C. Berkeley's School of Law, and Constitutional Law at the

University of California The University of California (UC) is a public land-grant research university system in the U.S. state of California. The system is composed of the campuses at Berkeley, Davis, Irvine, Los Angeles, Merced, Riverside, San Diego, San Francisco, ...

's Washington Program. He writes on legal and non-legal issues, and his work has appeared in ''Foreign Policy'' magazine, ''Slate'', and the ''

Huffington Post ''HuffPost'' (formerly ''The Huffington Post'' until 2017 and sometimes abbreviated ''HuffPo'') is an American progressive news website, with localized and international editions. The site offers news, satire, blogs, and original content, and ...

''.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Bravin, Nick 1971 births Living people American lawyers American male foil fencers Fencers at the 1992 Summer Olympics Fencers at the 1996 Summer Olympics Law clerks of the Supreme Court of the United States Olympic fencers of the United States Sportspeople from New York City Sportspeople from Los Angeles Sportspeople from Palo Alto, California Columbia Law School alumni Pan American Games medalists in fencing Pan American Games silver medalists for the United States Pan American Games bronze medalists for the United States Jewish American sportspeople Jewish male foil fencers Stanford Cardinal fencers New York University School of Law faculty UC Berkeley School of Law faculty American people of Lithuanian-Jewish descent Fencers at the 1991 Pan American Games Fencers at the 1995 Pan American Games 21st-century American Jews Medalists at the 1991 Pan American Games Medalists at the 1995 Pan American Games

Early life

Fencing career

Legal career

See also

References

External links