Robert Barnett

Robert B. Barnett has a diverse practice representing national and international corporations and individuals on a wide variety of matters.

Mr. Barnett represents major corporations in litigation matters, corporate work, contracts, crisis management, transactions, government relations, and media relations. During his thirty years of practice, he has represented clients before almost every executive department and administrative agency in Washington. His clients have included McDonald's Corporation, General Electric, Comcast, Newsweek/Daily Beast, JM Family Enterprises, Sunbeam, Toyota, Deutsche Bank, MacAndrews & Forbes, Revlon, First Alert, Southeast Toyota, ChoicePoint, and Toll Brothers, among others.

Mr. Barnett is one of the premier authors' representatives in the world. His clients have included Barack Obama, Bill Clinton, George W. Bush, Hillary Rodham Clinton, Laura Bush, Bob Woodward, Sarah Palin, Dick Cheney, Shania Twain, Jill Biden, Lynne Cheney, Alan Greenspan, James Patterson, Katharine Graham, Daniel Silva, Tim Russert, Stephen White, Barbra Streisand, George Will, Art Buchwald, James Carville, Mary Matalin, William Bennett, Mary Higgins Clark, Cokie Roberts, several former U.S. Secretaries of State, numerous U.S. Senators, Tony Blair of the United Kingdom, Queen Noor of Jordan, The Prince of Wales, Benazir Bhutto of Pakistan, and many others, including journalists, novelists, business leaders, sports stars, politicians, and others.

He is also one of the leading representatives of television news correspondents and producers. His clients include Brian Williams, Lesley Stahl, Ann Curry, Sam Donaldson, Dr. Sanjay Gupta, Steve Doocy, Christiane Amanpour, Brit Hume, Andrea Mitchell, Rita Braver, Susan Spencer, Brian Kilmeade, Gwen Ifill, David Gergen, Bill Plante, Judy Woodruff, Neil Cavuto, anchors in many major television markets, and producers on virtually every major broadcast on network and cable television.

Mr. Barnett also represents former government officials in conjunction with their transitions to the private sector. His clients have included Bill Clinton, George W. Bush, Madeleine Albright, Alan Greenspan, Andrew Card, Karl Rove, Norman Mineta, Dan Quayle, Bill Richardson, James Baker, Larry Summers, Donna Shalala, and many former Senators and Congressmen.

He also represents many corporate and trade association executives and corporations in conjunction with executive compensation agreements. He has represented senior officers of AT&T, The Carlyle Group, Fannie Mae, McDonald's Corporation, the Recording Industry Association of America, the Air Transport Association, the Motion Picture Association of America, and Deutsche Bank. He also represents several university presidents, deans, and professors.

Mr. Barnett was ranked Number One on Washingtonian magazine's list of "Washington's Best Lawyers" and as one of "The 100 Most Influential Lawyers in America" by The National Law Journal. He was also named one of the one hundred most powerful people in the entertainment industry by Entertainment Weekly Magazine.

Mr. Barnett has worked on eight national presidential campaigns, focusing on debate preparation. In addition to playing a major role on the debate preparation teams in 1976, 1980, 1984, 1988, 1992, 2000, 2004 and 2008, he played the role of George Bush in practice debates with Geraldine Ferraro in 1984, with Michael Dukakis in 1988, and practice debated Bill Clinton more than twenty times during the 1992 campaign. In 2000, he played the role of Dick Cheney in practices with Joe Lieberman. In 2004, he played the role of Dick Cheney in practices with John Edwards. In 2000 and 2006, he assisted Hillary Rodham Clinton with her Senate debate preparations and helped prepare her for 23 presidential primary debates in 2008.

Mr. Barnett is a member of the firm's Executive Committee. He joined Williams & Connolly LLP in 1975 and has been a partner since 1978. He was a presidentially-appointed member of the Board of Trustees of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts from 1994 to 2004 and currently serves as Senior Counsel.