Jeff Bleich | |
|---|---|
 | |
| 24thUnited States Ambassador to Australia | |
| In office November 26, 2009 – September 12, 2013 | |
| President | Barack Obama |
| Preceded by | Robert McCallum Jr. |
| Succeeded by | John Berry |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Jeffrey Laurence Bleich 1961 (age 63–64) |
| Political party | Democratic |
| Spouse | Becky Pratt |
| Children | 3 |
| Education | Amherst College (BA) Harvard University (MPP) University of California, Berkeley (JD) |
Jeffrey Laurence Bleich (/blaɪʃ/; born 1961) is an American lawyer and diplomat fromCalifornia.
A longtime friend of PresidentBarack Obama, Bleich joined theWhite House staff in March 2009 as Special Counsel to the President and was nominated later that year to becomeUnited States Ambassador to Australia. Bleich served as ambassador from 2009 to 2013. After stepping down from his post, he returned to the United States and became a partner and group CEO at theDentonslaw firm inSan Francisco. He ran in the primary forLieutenant Governor of California in the2018 election, before being appointed as a special master for multi-district litigation for the U.S. District Court.
Jeffrey Laurence Bleich[1] was born in 1961[2] at theU.S. 98th Army Hospital in Germany and grew up in theU.S. state ofConnecticut.[3] He graduated fromHall High School inWest Hartford, Connecticut. Bleich graduated fromAmherst Collegemagna cum laude with aBachelor of Artsdegree inpolitical science in 1983. Bleich was admitted to study atHarvard University but deferred for a year to take a public policy fellowship atCoro inSt. Louis, where he became involved injuvenile justice issues. At Harvard, Bleich went to theJohn F. Kennedy School of Government as a 1986 John F. Kennedy Fellow, graduating with aMaster of Public Policy.[4][5] Bleich attended theUniversity of California, Berkeley School of Law and received hisJ.D. in 1989. He was editor-in-chief of theCalifornia Law Review andOrder of the Coif.[4] He received a Certificate of Study in Public and Private International Law from theHague Academy of International Law,Netherlands in 1993.
Bleich served as alaw clerk to JudgeAbner Mikva of theUnited States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit from 1989 to 1990 and toChief JusticeWilliam H. Rehnquist of theSupreme Court of the United States from 1990 to 1991. He was legal assistant to Judge Howard M. Holtzmann of theIran-United States Claims Tribunal atThe Hague from 1991 to 1992, and Special Rapporteur to the Permanent Court of Arbitration.[5]
Bleich joined theLos Angeles-headquartered firm Munger, Tolles & Olson LLP in 1992, and was made partner three years later, in December 1995.[6] His practice there was focused primarily on generalcivillitigation, with emphasis on complex litigation, appellate practice, media law, communications law, andintellectual property.[5]
From 1993-2006 Bleich served as anadjunct lecturer in law at Berkeley Law, teachingconstitutional law and upper-level seminar courses ininternational human rights,habeas corpus, and appellate advocacy.[5]
Bleich served as president of theState Bar of California from 2007 to 2008. He was also president of the San Francisco Bar Association in 2003,[5] and served as president of the Barristers Club of San Francisco,[7] Chair of Legal Services for Children, Co-Chair of the Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights for the SF Bay Area. Bleich was elected to theAmerican Law Institute in 2003 and served as chair of theAmerican Bar Association Amicus Curiae Committee from 2006-2009.[6] He also served on an ABA subcommittee oncorporate social responsibility and on the ABA Section on International Law.[1] in addition to the Edward J. McFetridge American Inn of Court. He has written over 100 articles and served on some 20 different boards, including the boards ofHuman Rights Watch and Legal Community Against Violence[4] as well as the Boalt Hall Alumni Association and the Legal Aid Society of San Francisco.[5]
In 2009, President Barack Obama appointed Bleich as Special Counsel to the President in the White House. Among his tasks was to address confirmation and personnel issues and to advise on other sensitive matters. He moderated a discussion on human rights in the new administration at the 2009American Bar Association's Section of International Law Spring Meeting in April 2009.[8]
Bleich returned to legal practice in 2014. Following the end of his diplomatic service, Bleich rejoined the partnership at the San Francisco office of Munger, Tolles & Olson.[6] In 2016, Bleich joined Dentons LLP.[9][10] Bleich's practice focused on cybersecurity,[11][citation needed] trade,[12] and international disputes, as well as on-pro bono work.,[13][14] He was selected in 2014, 2015, and 2016 as one of the leading 500 Lawyers in the U.S.[15][16] Serving pro bono, he obtained posthumous admission to the California Bar for a Chinese national, Hong Yen Chang, in a petition addressing the unlawful exclusion of Chinese in the 1890s, leading the Court to "right this historic wrong."[17] Bleich also successfully represented a victim of domestic violence in an action against her abuser in a second unanimous decision by the California Supreme Court.[18] In 2016, he was profiled by LawDragon as one of the "rock stars" of law.[19]
Bleich was appointed Special Master for the United States District Court in a multi-district litigation dispute involving international price fixing,[20] and also has served as a neutral in high-stakes technology disputes, including mediating a $650 million settlement theIn re Facebooks Biometrics case.[21]
Bleich joined Cruise LLC, the autonomous vehicle company backed by GM, Honda, Softbank, Microsoft, Walmart, and T. Rowe Price as Chief Legal Officer in 2020.[22]
Bleich served on the board of trustees ofCalifornia State University, from 2004 to 2009. He served as vice chair from 2006 to 2008 and as chair from 2008 to 2009.[5]
From 2014-2020, Bleich served as a member of the Fulbright Foreign Scholarship Board and as the Board Chair from 2016-2019.
Bleich served on the Board of Stanford's Center for the Advanced Study of Behavioral Sciences.[23]
He was elected to the board of hisalma mater Amherst College in 2017.[24]
Bleich served as an adjunct professor at the University of Sydney's United States Studies Centre.[25]
In 2018,Flinders University inAdelaide,South Australia, named Bleich aprofessorial fellow to its College of Business, Government and Law.[26]
Prior to being selected by President Obama to serve as U.S. Ambassador, Bleich had been a life member of theCouncil on Foreign Relations[5] thePacific Council on International Policy, theInternational Law Association, and a member of the advisory board of theAmerican Society of International Law,[1]
The Senate confirmed Bleich to beUnited States Ambassador to Australia in avoice vote on November 10, 2009. Hisdiplomatic credentials were accepted by theGovernor-General of Australia,Quentin Bryce, on November 24, 2009. Bleich's term in Australia was marked by the U.S. "rebalance" to the Asia-Pacific, with Australia being the focal point for that shift.[27]
Bleich joined President Obama at the announcement of the rebalance at a special sitting of Parliament in Canberra before traveling with Obama toDarwin, Northern Territory.[28] Other key achievements included overseeing record growth in trade between the U.S. and Australia, bringing the Defense Trade Cooperation Treaty into force, establishing new alliance agreements for satellites and cyber, executing a new space cooperation agreement that supported the Mars Curiosity rover landing, leadingjoint U.S.-Australia efforts in Afghanistan'sOruzgan province, and promoting regional efforts to reduce domestic violence.[3][29]
For his service, Bleich received numerous awards, including the highest civilian honors awarded by theU.S. Secretary of the Navy andDirector of National Intelligence. In 2013, he received the State Department's highest award for a non-career ambassador, theSue M. Cobb Prize for Exemplary Diplomatic Service. Former Prime MinisterPaul Keating called Bleich "the best U.S. Ambassador ever sent to Australia" at the John Curtin Lecture inPerth.[citation needed]The Australian newspaper called Bleich "Obama's Superman."[30]
During theClinton administration, Bleich served as director of the White House Council on Youth Violence, formed during the aftermath of theColumbine High School massacre.[4]
Bleich met Barack Obama almost 20 years before Bleich was nominated to become U.S. Ambassador to Australia, when Bleich tried to recruit Obama to become a law clerk to Abner Mikva. The two later became friends. Bleich was in attendance duringObama's keynote address at the2004 Democratic National Convention and shared breakfast with him two days later.[4]
DuringObama's 2008 presidential campaign, Bleich was a founding member and co-chair of Obama's national finance committee, co-chair of Obama'shigher education advisory board, and California co-chair. He donated toHillary Clinton and raised funds for her to retire her campaign's debt after theDemocratic primary.[4]
Bleich joined the White House team in March 2009, serving as Special Counsel to the President until his nomination as Ambassador.
Bleich served on the Asia Policy and Cybersecurity Policy teams for Secretary Hillary Clinton, and was a member of National Security Leaders for Biden in 2020 Presidential Campaign.[31] and his National Finance Committee.[32]
On May 30, 2017, Bleich formally launched his campaign to become the 50th lieutenant governor of the U.S. state of California.[33][20] He lost in the Democratic primary to Eleni Kounalakis, who went on to be elected lieutenant governor on November 6, 2018.[citation needed]
Bleich is the chair of the board ofNuix, a publicly traded company on the ASX.[34] Nuix produces forensics and information integrity software that was used in the Panama Papers investigation.[35] It was the largest tech IPO of any company on the ASX in 2020 and one of the largest tech IPOs ever on the ASX.[36][better source needed]
Bleich served as chair of the board of PG&E Company during its bankruptcy proceedings from April 2019 to May 2020.[37] Bleich joined PG&E as part of an interim Board to restructure the company following its liability exposure for fires associated with PG&E equipment in 2017 and 2018.[34] Bleich participated in PG&E's reparations to all wildfire victims, the company's acknowledgement of criminal wrong-doing, and its successful emergence from Bankruptcy.[38]
Bleich served on the Fulbright Foreign Scholarship Board after being appointed by President Obama in November 2014, and was later elected vice-chair and then chair for three successive terms.[39][40]
Bleich served by appointment of former secretary of state John Kerry on the board of the East West Center as a member of the executive committee from 2017 to 2021.
In California, Governor Jerry Brown appointed Bleich to the Governor's International Trade and Investment Advisory Council.,[41] and then-Attorney General Kamala Harris appointed Bleich to serve on her Blue Ribbon Cyber-Exploitation Panel. Bleich also Chaired Governor Brown's judicial selection advisory committee for the selection of judges from 2014-2018. Bleich was appointed by Chief Justice Tani Cantil-Sakauye to serve as Vice-Chair of the Rules Revision Commission for the State Bar.[42]
Bleich has served on a number of other private company and non-profit boards since 2014, including RAND Australia,[43] the Pratt Family Advisory Board,[44] Futures Without Violence,[45] the World Affairs Council,[46] the American Security Project,[47] Verified Voting,[48] the San Francisco Symphony, the Folger Shakespeare Library,[49] and the Sorensen Center for International Peace and Justice.[50]
Bleich was recognized as one of the Top 100 Lawyers in California by theDaily Journal, as California Attorney of the Year byCalifornia Lawyer, and as one of America's leading "Bet the Company" lawyers byBest Lawyers.[6]
Bleich has also been recognized for hispro bono service to immigrants, homeless and foster youth, veterans, victims of gun violence, survivors of domestic abuse, human rights organizations, religious and racial minorities, gay and lesbian service members, journalists, native Americans, detainees, and others victims of discrimination. These include the Peter Haas Public Service Medal from University of California, Berkeley,[51] the ABA Pro Bono Publico Award,[52] the Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights Robert Sproul Award,[53][citation needed] the American Jewish Committee Learned Hand Award,[54] and the One Justice Attorney of the Year Award.[55] In November 2017 he received the Ruth Bader Ginsburg Award for Excellence in the Legal Profession[56] from the Jewish Bar Association of San Francisco.[57]
Bleich also holds at least threehonorary degrees:
In 2018,Flinders University inAdelaide established the Jeff Bleich Centre for the U.S. Alliance in Digital Technology, Security, and Governance, in recognition of Bleich's work in this field.[62] Now called the Jeff Bleich Centre for Democracy and Disruptive Technologies (JBC), the centre is a research centre within the College of Business, Government and Law at Flinders.[63]
Bleich's wife is Rebecca Pratt "Becky" Bleich,[1] and they have three children. He collectsElvis Presleymemorabilia.[4]
Bleich was a longtime friend of Willie Mays, and serves as trustee of the Willie Mays and May Maes Trust and on the board of the Say Hey Foundation.[64] In Australia, he regularly attended home games of theCanberra CavalryAustralian Baseball League team, normally in association with theAmerican-Australian Association.
Media related toJeff Bleich at Wikimedia Commons
| Diplomatic posts | ||
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| Preceded by | United States Ambassador to Australia 2009–2013 | Succeeded by |
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