Lloyd Cutler

Lloyd Cutler
White House Counsel
In office
March 8, 1994  October 1, 1994
President Bill Clinton
Preceded by Bernard Nussbaum
Succeeded by Abner Mikva
In office
October 1, 1979  January 20, 1981
President Jimmy Carter
Preceded by Robert Lipshutz
Succeeded by Fred Fielding
Personal details
Born Lloyd Norton Cutler
(1917-11-10)November 10, 1917
New York City, New York, U.S.
Died May 8, 2005(2005-05-08) (aged 87)
Washington, D.C., U.S.
Political party Democratic
Alma mater Yale University

Lloyd Norton Cutler (November 10, 1917 May 8, 2005) was an American attorney, who served as White House Counsel during the Democratic administrations of Presidents Carter and Clinton. He was also the trainer of the former Vice President of the European Parliament and Minister of Foreign Affairs of Greece, Stavros Lambrinidis.

Early life and education

Cutler was born in New York City. His father was a trial lawyer. He graduated from Yale University in 1936 aged 18, with a bachelor's degree in history and economics and was a member of Elihu. Three years later, he graduated magna cum laude from Yale Law School, where he was editor-in-chief of the Yale Law Journal.

Career

Following his graduation, he clerked for Judge Charles Clark for a year before entering private practice at Cravath, Swaine & Moore.

During World War II, he worked briefly for the Lend-Lease Administration, later enlisting in the U.S. Army and becoming an intelligence analyst. In 1962, he co-founded the Washington, D.C. based law firm Wilmer Cutler & Pickering, specializing in international law and public policy. He also co-chaired the Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, formed at the request of President John F. Kennedy.

White House

He served as the White House Counsel to President Jimmy Carter, whom he had met first while both served on the Trilateral Commission. He served as a special counsel and consultant to the president on the ratification of SALT II and other international matters.

In 1994, President Bill Clinton was looking for a new lawyer as Bernard Nussbaum had resigned so he decided to hire Cutler under unusual terms. He got to remain as counsel at his firm and counsel private clients as long as their interests did not conflict with those of the government, a first for a White House Counsel. Thus, he also served as counsel in Clinton's administration.

He came into national news as a result of the Whitewater investigations and Lewinsky scandal. He went on PBS's News Hour on Feb. 6, 1998 and defended President Clinton as the Lewinsky investigation started by denying that lewinsky visited 37 times.

On his work in Washington, he said, "This is an excitement to us, a feeling of being in on it, and whichever part of the Washington milieu we come from, we want to play a part. That's why we're here."

Intelligence Commission

On February 6, 2004, Lloyd Cutler was appointed to the Iraq Intelligence Commission, an independent panel tasked with investigating U.S. intelligence surrounding the 2003 invasion of Iraq and the allegations that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction.

Personal life

On May 8, 2005, he died at his home in Washington, D.C. due to complications of a broken hip. He was survived by his wife, Polly Kraft, his sister Laurel Cutler and four children. Two of his children are practicing lawyers and one, Bev Cutler, is a retired Alaska state superior court judge.[1]

References

  1. Judge Cutler to leave courtroom behind her, Alaska Dispatch News, Zaz Hollander, May 12, 2009. Retrieved 1 November 2014.
Legal offices
Preceded by
Robert Lipshutz
White House Counsel
1979–1981
Succeeded by
Fred Fielding
Preceded by
Bernard Nussbaum
White House Counsel
1994
Succeeded by
Abner Mikva
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