Leading Conservative Lawyer, Touted by Trump, David Rivkin Has Died

David Rivkin, 68, leading conservative thinker and longtime BakerHostetler attorney, has passed away, the firm’s chairman Paul Schmidt announced Friday.

“We mourn the passing of our longtime partner and friend David Rivkin, Jr.,” Schmidt said in a statement.

“He was one of the nation’s foremost appellate lawyers and constitutional scholars. His contributions to the firm’s litigation and appellate practices were significant and valued by our clients,” he said.

President-elect Donald Trump posted on Truth Social announcing Rivkin’s passing on Friday. “He was a great lawyer, scholar, and defender of mine,” Trump wrote. “He will be greatly missed!”

Rivkin held several positions in the Reagan and George H.W. Bush administrations, including posts in the White House Counsel’s office and Office of the Vice President. He served as legal advisor to President Reagan and deputy director of the Office of Policy Development for the Justice Department. From 1990 to 1991 he was the associate general counsel of the US Department of Energy and helped pass the Clean Air Act.

He also spent many years in Big Law. In 1993 he joined Hunton & Williams where he concentrated on international public law and litigation before the International Court of Justice. He left the firm in 1999 to join BakerHostetler as a partner in the firm’s litigation, international and environmental groups. He also served as the firm’s appellate and major motions team co-leader.

“David devoted his life to the rule of law, because he knew it was the cornerstone of American liberty,” said Andrew Grossman, who co-led BakerHostetler’s appellate and major motions team with Rivkin, in a statement to Bloomberg Law.

Rivkin, who was born in St. Petersburg in 1956, also led on several high-profile cases. Rivkin was lead outside counsel in a lawsuit filed 26 state attorneys general challenging the constitutionality of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act first filed in 2010. The case was heard by the Supreme Court in 2012 which upheld the ACA. He also represented the Republic of Croatia before the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia and the ICJ for several years on a wide variety of issues.

Rivkin was also a frequent writer and commentator, publishing papers, op-eds and articles on international law, defense, foreign policy, environment and energy issues. From 2004 until 2007 he served as an expert member of the United Nations Subcommission on the Promotion and Protection of Human Rights. He was also co-chairman of the Center for Law and Counterterrorism at Foundation for Defense of Democracies.

“Growing up in the Soviet Union made David an American patriot and gave him a special appreciation for the genius of the Constitution’s separation of powers,” Grossman said. “We are all freer because of David and what he achieved,” he said.