Warren Neil Eggleston (born July 5, 1953) is an American lawyer who served as the
White House Counsel
The White House counsel is a senior staff appointee of the president of the United States whose role is to advise the president on all legal issues concerning the president and their administration. The White House counsel also oversees the Of ...
under President
Barack Obama
Barack Hussein Obama II ( ; born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who served as the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, Obama was the first African-American president of the U ...
. Eggleston was the fourth person to hold this post during the Obama administration.
Early life and education
A native of
West Lafayette, Indiana
West Lafayette () is a city in Wabash Township, Tippecanoe County, Indiana, United States, about northwest of the state capital of Indianapolis and southeast of Chicago. West Lafayette is directly across the Wabash River from its sister city ...
, Eggleston graduated in 1971 from
West Lafayette Junior-Senior High School
West Lafayette Junior-Senior High School (also informally known as West Side High School or simply West Side) is the only high school within the West Lafayette city limits, and is administered by the West Lafayette Community School Corporation.
W ...
.
Eggleston earned a bachelor's degree from
Duke University
Duke University is a private research university in Durham, North Carolina. Founded by Methodists and Quakers in the present-day city of Trinity in 1838, the school moved to Durham in 1892. In 1924, tobacco and electric power industrialist Jame ...
in 1975 and then a
Juris Doctor
The Juris Doctor (J.D. or JD), also known as Doctor of Jurisprudence (J.D., JD, D.Jur., or DJur), is a graduate-entry professional degree in law
and one of several Doctor of Law degrees. The J.D. is the standard degree obtained to practice law ...
degree in 1978 from the
Northwestern University School of Law
Northwestern University Pritzker School of Law is the law school of Northwestern University, a Private university, private research university. It is located on the university's Chicago campus. Northwestern Law has been ranked among the top 14, ...
.
From 1978 until 1979, Eggleston served as a law clerk for Judge
James Hunter III on the
United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit
The United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit (in case citations, 3d Cir.) is a federal court with appellate jurisdiction over the district courts for the following districts:
* District of Delaware
* District of New Jersey
* E ...
. From 1979 until 1980, he was a law clerk for Chief Justice
Warren E. Burger
Warren Earl Burger (September 17, 1907 – June 25, 1995) was an American attorney and jurist who served as the 15th chief justice of the United States from 1969 to 1986. Born in Saint Paul, Minnesota, Burger graduated from the St. Paul Colleg ...
.
Professional career
From 1981 until 1987, Eggleston was an Assistant U.S. Attorney and the chief appellate attorney for the
Southern District of New York
The United States District Court for the Southern District of New York (in case citations, S.D.N.Y.) is a federal trial court whose geographic jurisdiction encompasses eight counties of New York State. Two of these are in New York City: New ...
. From 1987 until 1988, Eggleston served as deputy chief counsel for the U.S. House of Representatives Select Committee to Investigate Covert Arms Transactions with Iran, which investigated the
Iran-Contra Affair.
From 1993 until 1994, he served in the White House as associate counsel to the president.
Eggleston's work in the Clinton administration took place during congressional investigations into Clinton's Whitewater real estate transactions.
After leaving the White House, Eggleston represented former colleagues during corruption investigations, including Clinton's transportation secretary,
Federico Peña
Federico Fabian Peña (born March 15, 1947) is an American politician and attorney who served as the 12th United States secretary of transportation from 1993 to 1997 and the 8th United States secretary of energy from 1997 to 1998, during the pres ...
, and his labor secretary,
Alexis Herman
Alexis Margaret Herman (born July 16, 1947) is an American politician who served as the 23rd U.S. Secretary of Labor under President Bill Clinton. Herman was the first African-American to hold the position. Prior to serving as Secretary, she was ...
.
In both cases, no charges were ever filed.
In 2001, Eggleston represented
Cheryl Mills, who was a board member of the
William J. Clinton Presidential Library foundation, during a congressional investigation into President Clinton's last-minute pardon of fugitive financier
Marc Rich
Marc Rich (born Marcell David Reich; December 18, 1934 – June 26, 2013) was an international commodities trader, hedge fund manager, financier, businessman, and financial criminal. He founded the commodities company Glencore, and was later ind ...
, whose wife had been a foundation donor.
In 2005, Eggleston left the law firm of
Howrey and joined the law firm of
Debevoise & Plimpton
Debevoise & Plimpton LLP (often shortened to Debevoise) is an international law firm headquartered in New York City. Founded in 1931 by Harvard Law School alumnus Eli Whitney Debevoise and Oxford-trained William Stevenson, the firm was origina ...
as a partner, where he remained until 2012.
In 2007, Eggleston represented
Sara Taylor, who was a White House political affairs director in the George W. Bush administration, during an inquiry from a congressional oversight committee into the
Dismissal of U.S. attorneys controversy
On December 7, 2006, the George W. Bush Administration's Department of Justice ordered the unprecedented midterm dismissal of seven United States attorneys. Congressional investigations focused on whether the Department of Justice and the Whit ...
and other Bush policies that Democrats believed had politicized the work of federal agencies.
In 2009, Eggleston represented then-Obama chief of staff
Rahm Emanuel
Rahm Israel Emanuel (; born November 29, 1959) is an American politician and diplomat who is the current United States Ambassador to Japan. A member of the Democratic Party, he previously served two terms as the 55th Mayor of Chicago from 2011 ...
during the prosecution of Illinois Gov.
Rod Blagojevich
Rod Blagojevich ( , born December 10, 1956), often referred to by his nicknames "Blago" or "B-Rod", is an American former politician, political commentator, and convicted felon who served as the 40th governor of Illinois from 2003 to 2009, when ...
.
Around that same time, he also represented then-Sen.
Kent Conrad
Gaylord Kent Conrad (born March 12, 1948) is a former American politician who was a United States Senator from North Dakota. He is a member of the North Dakota Democratic-NPL Party, the North Dakota affiliate of the Democratic Party. First elec ...
during a congressional ethics inquiry into a mortgage he had received from
Countrywide Financial
Countrywide is one of the UK's largest integrated property services group including residential property surveying, a collaboration of estate agents, and corporate services. It employs circa 8,500 personnel nationwide, working across 650+ estate ...
.
From 2012 until 2014, Eggleston was a litigation partner at the law firm
Kirkland & Ellis
Kirkland & Ellis LLP is an American multinational law firm headquartered in Chicago, Illinois. Founded in 1909, Kirkland & Ellis is the largest law firm in the world by revenue and the seventh-largest by number of attorneys, and was the first la ...
, based in Washington.
Eggleston's private sector work included helping corporations navigate regulations imposed by the Obama administration.
White House Counsel
On April 21, 2014, the White House announced that Eggleston would become White House counsel, replacing
Kathryn Ruemmler upon her departure in May 2014.
Personal
Eggleston lives in
Chevy Chase, Maryland
Chevy Chase () is the name of both a town and an unincorporated census-designated place ( Chevy Chase (CDP), Maryland) that straddle the northwest border of Washington, D.C. and Montgomery County, Maryland, United States. Several settlements in ...
with his spouse
Penda Hair, who co-founded and co-directs the civil rights organization
Advancement Project
The Advancement Project is a politically liberal American nonprofit organization that focuses on racial justice issues. The organization has a national office in Washington, D.C., as well as a California-specific office based in Los Angeles.
Org ...
. His daughter Rachel graduated from
Dartmouth College
Dartmouth College (; ) is a private research university in Hanover, New Hampshire. Established in 1769 by Eleazar Wheelock, it is one of the nine colonial colleges chartered before the American Revolution. Although founded to educate Native A ...
in 2012 and is currently a
Teach For America corps member in
Rhode Island. His son Nathaniel graduated from
Duke University
Duke University is a private research university in Durham, North Carolina. Founded by Methodists and Quakers in the present-day city of Trinity in 1838, the school moved to Durham in 1892. In 1924, tobacco and electric power industrialist Jame ...
in 2015 where he played soccer.
See also
*
References
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Eggleston, Neil
1953 births
20th-century American lawyers
21st-century American lawyers
Duke University alumni
Indiana lawyers
Law clerks of the Supreme Court of the United States
Living people
Obama administration personnel
People from West Lafayette, Indiana
University of Pennsylvania Law School alumni
White House Counsels
People associated with Kirkland & Ellis
People associated with Debevoise & Plimpton