Davis grew up in Jersey City, New Jersey. His father was a dentist in Jersey City and his mother worked as the office manager of his father's dental office. As an undergraduate at Yale, he was a member of the Delta Kappa Epsilon fraternity. According to an item in U.S. News & World Report, as part of his initiation into the fraternity, Davis underwent hazing by, among others, the future President of the United States George W. Bush. He also served as chairman of the campus newspaper, the Yale Daily News.Davis went on to receive his LL.B. from Yale Law School in 1970. It was there that he first met Hillary Rodham Clinton.
Davis now lives in Potomac, Maryland with his second wife, Carolyn Atwell-Davis, who is the legislative affairs director for the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children. They have four children. One of his sons, Seth, is a columnist for Sports Illustrated magazine and a college basketball commentator for CBS.
From 1970 to 1972, Davis was National Director of Youth Coalition for Muskie, the youth organization of Edmund S. Muskie's unsuccessful campaign for the 1972 Democratic Party Presidential nomination.
In 1976, Davis ran for Congress as a Democrat in Maryland's 8th congressional district and lost to Republican Newton Steers.
Davis served three terms (1980—1992) on the Democratic National Committee representing the State of Maryland. In 2005, President Bush appointed Davis to serve as the only Democrat on the Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board.
Lanny Davis is the Treasurer for Joe Lieberman's Reuniting Our Country PAC.[1]
Attorney
Davis started his legal career as an associate at Patton Boggs in 1975 and became a partner in 1978. He served as special counsel to the President from 1996 to 1998, during which time he also was the spokesman for Clinton in issues regarding campaign finance investigations and other legal issues, including President Clinton's impeachment trial.
After leaving the White House, Davis returned to Patton Boggs. As part of his work there, he worked as a lobbyist for the nation of Pakistan prior to the attacks of September 11, 2001. In 2003, Davis became a partner in Washington, D.C. office of the law firm Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe. There, he provides counseling to corporations and government contractors on crisis management. He left the firm in late 2009 to join McDermott Will & Emery, but has separated from the firm to open his own company.
Author and commentator
In 1999, Davis wrote a memoir of his work in the White House entitled Truth to Tell: Tell It Early, Tell It All, Tell It Yourself: Notes from My White House Education. His most recent book, which appeared in 2006, is entitled How "Gotcha" Politics Is Destroying America. The book received praise from politicians and commentators across party lines, including Senators Evan Bayh and Lindsey Graham.
Davis has also served as a frequent political commentator on television, radio, and newspapers. He currently writes for The Hill's online Pundits Blog.
In 2006, through opinions expressed in the Wall Street Journal (August 8, 2006) and on Fox News, Davis strongly supported longtime friend Joseph Lieberman in his losing bid against Ned Lamont for the Democratic Party nomination for the post of U.S. Senator from Connecticut. He then continued to support Lieberman when he ran and won the General Election as an Independent.
In 2008, Davis supported Senator Hillary Clinton in her race for the Democratic nomination for President of the United States, and has appeared on Fox News, CNN, and MSNBC as a surrogate for her. After Clinton conceded, Davis went on to support Barack Obama.
In 2008, Davis questioned the United States' response to the conflict between Russia and Georgia and advised present and future US leaders to consider the point of view of the Russian leaders before unilaterally supporting the government of Georgia in the conflict.
He is a senior advisor and spokesman for the Israel Project, and serves as a lobbyist for the Pakistani government.
Davis is currently engaged in lobbying efforts for the Latin American Business Council of Honduras (CEAL), defending the Honduran military authorities' removal of President Zelaya from power in the 2009 Honduran constitutional crisis, which Davis has argued was constitutional and proper.
Davis has appeared in San Jose, Costa Rica on Thursday, July 9, 2009 with interim president Roberto Micheletti for unsuccessful negotiations mediated by Costa Rican Preseident Oscar Arias.
Davis is also working with San Diego-based lobbyist Bennett Ratcliff of Vander Ark/Ratcliff, a public relations manager with a close relationship to Hillary Clinton.
Glenn Greenwald, a lawyer and columnist for Salon, has criticized Davis for Davis's perceived failure to disclose his clients, whom Greenwald claims include dictatorships and opponents of unions and health care reform.
