Robert S. Bennett

Who is Robert S. Bennett?

Robert S. Bennett is an American attorney and partner at Hogan Lovells, best known for representing President Bill Clinton during the Lewinsky scandal. Bennett is also famous for representing Judith Miller in the Valerie Plame CIA leak grand jury investigation case, Caspar Weinberger, the U.S. Secretary of Defense, during the Iran-Contra scandal of the 1980s, Clark Clifford in the Bank of Credit and Commerce International scandal, and Paul Wolfowitz in the World Bank Scandal. He served as special counsel for the Senate Ethics Committee's 1989–1991 investigation of the Keating Five. In 2008, Bennett was hired by John McCain to defend allegations by The New York Times of an improper relationship with a Washington lobbyist.

Born in Brooklyn, New York, Bennett graduated from Brooklyn Prep in 1957. He received his B.A. from Georgetown University in 1961, his LL.B. from Georgetown in 1964, and his LL.M. from Harvard Law School in 1965. From 1965 to 1967, he served as a clerk for Howard F. Corcoran, a judge of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia.

After graduating from law school, Bennett served as assistant U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia. He then went on to Hogan & Hartson, where he worked in the litigation department. He then became a partner with the firm Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom in Washington, D.C. In September 2009, Bennett announced that he would be returning to Hogan & Hartson.