Robert Lighthizer | |
---|---|
18th United States Trade Representative | |
Assumed office May 15, 2017 |
|
President | Donald Trump |
Deputy |
Jeffrey Gerrish C.J. Mahoney Dennis Shea |
Preceded by | Michael Froman |
Deputy United States Trade Representative | |
In office 1983–1985 |
|
President | Ronald Reagan |
Preceded by | Position established |
Succeeded by | M. Alan Woods |
Personal details | |
Born |
Robert Emmet Lighthizer October 11, 1947 Ashtabula, Ohio, U.S. |
Political party | Republican |
Education | Georgetown University (BA, JD) |
Robert Emmet Lighthizer (/ˈlaɪthaɪzər/; born October 11, 1947) is an American attorney and government official who is the current United States Trade Representative. After he graduated from Georgetown University Law Center in 1973, Robert Lighthizer joined the firm of Covington and Burling in Washington, D.C. He left the firm in 1978 to serve as chief minority counsel and later staff director and chief of staff of the Senate Committee on Finance under Chairman Bob Dole. In 1983, Robert Lighthizer was unanimously confirmed by the U.S. Senate to serve as Deputy U.S. Trade Representative for President Ronald Reagan. In 1985, Lighthizer joined the Washington office of Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP as a partner and led the firm's international trade group. On January 3, 2017, President-elect Donald J. Trump announced that he intended to nominate Lighthizer as his U.S. Trade Representative. Lighthizer was confirmed by the Senate on May 11, 2017, by a vote of 82-14.
Lighthizer was born in 1947 in Ashtabula, Ohio, where he was raised, the son of Orville James and Michaelene Lighthizer. His father practiced medicine. He attended Gilmour Academy in Gates Mill, Ohio. He later graduated from Georgetown University with a B.A. in 1969 and a J.D. in 1973.
After graduating from law school, Lighthizer joined Covington & Burling in Washington D.C. as an associate attorney. In 1978, Lighthizer left Covington & Burling to work for Senator Bob Dole (R-Kan.), who at the time was the Ranking Member of the Senate Finance Committee. When Dole became Chairman of the Finance Committee in 1981, Lighthizer became the committee's staff director and chief of staff. In the 1980s, Lighthizer hired fellow Georgetown Hoya Patrick Ewing as an intern.