Ambassador John J. Sullivan, former U.S. Deputy Secretary of State and former U.S. Ambassador to the Russian Federation, is a non-resident Distinguished Senior Fellow with the National Security Law Program as well as a partner in Mayer Brown’s Washington DC and New York offices. He co-leads the firm’s National Security practice.
Biography
Ambassador John J. Sullivan, former U.S. Deputy Secretary of State and former U.S. Ambassador to the Russian Federation, was recently named a Distinguished Senior Fellow in Columbia Law School's National Security Law Program. He is a partner in Mayer Brown’s Washington DC and New York offices and co-leads the firm’s National Security practice.
Ambassador Sullivan’s career spans four decades in public service in prominent diplomatic and legal positions under five U.S. presidents. His earlier positions included Deputy Secretary of Commerce under President George W. Bush, following his service from 2005 to 2007 as the general counsel of the department. In President Bush’s first term, he served as deputy general counsel of the Defense Department. In the George H.W. Bush Administration, Ambassador Sullivan was counselor to Assistant Attorney General J. Michael Luttig in the Justice Department’s Office of Legal Counsel.
In private practice at Mayer Brown, which he first joined in 1993, Ambassador Sullivan has been a member of the Supreme Court and Appellate practice and was a co-founder of the National Security practice.
Ambassador Sullivan received his bachelor’s degree from Brown University and his law degree from the Columbia University School of Law, where he was Book Reviews Editor of the Columbia Law Review. He was a law clerk for Associate Justice David H. Souter of the Supreme Court of the United States, and for Judge John Minor Wisdom of the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit. His many professional honors include the Distinguished Alumnus Award of Columbia Law School's DC Alumni Association.