Andrew Wright is a partner at the firm’s Washington, D.C. office and is a member of the public policy and law practice group. He guides clients through congressional oversight and investigations-related matters, executive branch compliance, and government enforcement actions.
Mr. Wright previously served as Associate Counsel to United States President Barack Obama and Assistant Counsel to Vice President Al Gore. In those roles, he represented and advised the White House on a variety of legal matters, with an emphasis on litigation, congressional oversight, investigations, compliance, and national security. In White House Counsel’s Office, he was the primary legal liaison to the departments of Defense, Justice (DOJ), and State; Central Intelligence Agency (CIA); Office of the Director of National Intelligence; and U.S. Agency for International Development on government investigations, congressional oversight, and Freedom of Information Act matters for the Obama Administration.
In Congress, Mr. Wright served as majority staff director of the Subcommittee on National Security and Foreign Affairs of the U.S. House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform. There, he led oversight investigations of national security and foreign affairs, designed subcommittee hearings, and managed staff under former committee chairman Henry Waxman (D-CA) and subcommittee chairman John Tierney (D-MA).
In addition to his time in public service, Mr. Wright is a trainer for the Carl Levin Center at Wayne State University, educating lawyers, business leaders, legislators, and public servants on oversight. Over the past four years, he has led courses for current House and Senate oversight staff from both political parties.
Prior to joining K&L Gates, Mr. Wright was a senior fellow at New York University School of Law. He also taught constitutional law, criminal law, criminal procedure, presidential powers, and federal criminal law at Savannah Law School.
He is a founding editor of the online national security forum Just Security, featured regularly in leading political and business news outlets, and he has previous private practice experience as a litigator and white collar criminal defense lawyer. Additionally, he has experience working on numerous presidential and congressional election campaigns.
