Former State Department Legal Adviser John B. Bellinger III Joins Arnold & Porter's International and National Security Practices
Washington, DC, April 7, 2009 -- Arnold & Porter LLP announced today that John B. Bellinger, III, who served as Legal Adviser for the Department of State under former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice from April 2005 to January 2009, will join the firm as a partner on April 13, 2009. Mr. Bellinger previously served as Senior Associate Counsel to the President and Legal Adviser to the National Security Council from 2001 to 2005, and as Counsel for National Security Matters in the Criminal Division of the Department of Justice from 1997 to 2001.
"John is in the first rank of the world's international lawyers," said Arnold & Porter Chair Thomas Milch. "His high-level experience, both inside the US government and with foreign governments and organizations, regarding a wide range of complex legal and policy issues will be of immense value to our clients on matters that reach across borders, raise national security issues, or involve major public policy concerns."
"John is one of the most knowledgeable and highly regarded lawyers in the US national security and intelligence communities today," said Jeffrey Smith, head of the National and Homeland Security Practice at Arnold & Porter and former General Counsel of the Central Intelligence Agency. "During 16 years in senior legal positions at the State Department, the National Security Council, the Justice Department, the CIA, and the Senate Intelligence Committee, he gained broad-based and bipartisan respect among national security lawyers and policy officials. He established a sterling reputation for his legal counsel and sound judgment at the White House and the State Department, and is as respected in this Administration as in the last Administration."
Mr. Bellinger will join a distinguished group of lawyers with prior government experience in international law and national security issues, including Mr. Smith; Ronald Lee, the former General Counsel of the National Security Agency; former Congressman Jim Turner, who was the ranking member of the House Select Committee on Homeland Security; and John Barker, former Deputy Assistant Secretary for Export Controls at the State Department. Additionally, Mr. Bellinger will work closely with Arnold & Porter's highly regarded international arbitration group, as well as with prominent lawyers in the international practice and antitrust group. He continues a tradition of excellence in the firm's international practice that for many years was led by the late William D. Rogers.
Commenting on his arrival at the firm, Mr. Bellinger said, "Arnold & Porter has long had one of the best international and national security practices in the country, and I am very excited to be joining them. I like to solve international legal problems, and I look forward to helping Arnold & Porter's clients resolve international disputes and comply with the maze of national security laws governing their activities in the United States."
In his role as Legal Adviser at the Department of State, Mr. Bellinger supervised a legal office of more than 170 lawyers. He advised the Secretary of State and State Department officials, as well as the White House and other US departments and agencies, on domestic and international law matters affecting US foreign relations, including negotiation and interpretation of treaties; international arbitration and dispute settlement; US and UN financial sanctions, including foreign asset controls; foreign investment in the United States; munitions and export controls; international criminal and law enforcement matters; trade, investment, aviation, and telecommunications agreements; nuclear cooperation and sanctions; terrorism-related litigation; foreign sovereign and official immunities; and maritime and international environmental matters, including issues relating to shipping and the Arctic. Mr. Bellinger has personally argued cases before the International Court of Justice and the Iran-US Claims Tribunal and has appeared on numerous briefs in US federal courts, including the Supreme Court, in litigation involving international and foreign relations law issues, including the Alien Tort Statute and the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act.
As Legal Adviser, Mr. Bellinger led numerous US delegations in treaty negotiations and meetings with foreign heads of state and senior government officials in Europe, Asia, and the Middle East. He negotiated the Third Additional Protocol to the Geneva Conventions, the treaty that allowed the Israeli and Palestinian national humanitarian societies to join the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement as well as the Montreux Document, which lists best practices for private military contractors and security firms. He conducted hundreds of briefings for the press and foreign audiences on international law issues and has appeared regularly on US and foreign radio and television, including US networks, the Lehrer Newshour, the BBC, and National Public Radio. He has lectured at dozens of US and foreign universities and law schools and is the author of numerous articles and op-eds on international law issues.
As Senior Associate Counsel to the President and NSC Legal Adviser, Mr. Bellinger advised the President, Cabinet officials, the National Security Adviser, and NSC staff on a wide variety of national security law issues. He was one of the principal drafters of the legislation that created the Director of National Intelligence. He managed Secretary Rice's Senate confirmation in 2005 and has extensive experience in congressional investigations and hearings as well as federal ethics issues.
As Counsel for National Security Matters at the Department of Justice, Mr. Bellinger helped to manage sensitive criminal investigations with international and national security aspects, including export control violations and Foreign Corrupt Practices Act investigations.
Mr. Bellinger also has served as Of Counsel to the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence (1996); General Counsel of the Commission on the Roles and Capabilities of the US Intelligence Community (1995-1996); and Special Assistant to Director of Central Intelligence William Webster (1988-1991). He is a 1982 graduate of Princeton University's Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs, and he holds an MA Foreign Affairs from the University of Virginia and a JD from Harvard Law School, where he was an editor of the Harvard International Law Journal.
While a partner at Arnold & Porter, Mr. Bellinger will also serve as an Adjunct Senior Fellow in International and National Security Law at the Council on Foreign Relations.
Arnold & Porter's National and Homeland Security practice advises clients on a variety of law and policy issues that have become critical to the success of both international and US domestic commercial transactions. The firm counsels government contractors and their commercial clients, sovereign governments, and individuals, offering extensive legal experience on matters with a national and homeland security dimension, coupled with a knowledge of the business environment, technologies, and public policies that affect them. Arnold & Porter's scope of international experience ranges from handling a variety of cross-border transactions to the full spectrum of international and national legal issues arising from the increasing global trade in goods and services. The firm also has a prominent international arbitration group that represents clients in arbitration proceedings around the world.
Arnold & Porter LLP, an international law firm of 700 attorneys, has offices in Brussels, Denver, London, Los Angeles, New York, Northern Virginia, San Francisco, and Washington, DC. The firm, founded in 1946, maintains more than 25 practice areas spanning a broad spectrum of the law, with a primary focus on litigation, transactional matters, and regulatory issues.