Irish Legal 100

ROBERT C. O’BRIEN

ROBERTC.O’BrienisaformerU.S.ambassador and the 27th United States National Security Advisor. O’Brien previously co-founded the nationally recognized litigation firm Larson LLP in Los Angeles in January 2016.

In his commercial litigation practice as partner emeritus at Larson LLP, O’Brien handles class action, entertainment, intellectual property, environmental, business torts, and complex contractual matters in state and federal courts.

He is also a member of Signature Resolution, a leader in alternative dispute resolution. In that capacity, O’Brien is regularly appointed as a mediator, arbitrator, and discovery referee, having served as the Special Master in several of the largest cases in the Central District of California, including MGA v. Mattel (“Barbie v. Bratz”), United States v. Standard & Poors and In re Allergan Securities Litigation.

In May of 2018, O’Brien was appointed as the special presidential envoy for hostage affairs at the State Department. He previously served as co-chairman of the U.S. Department of State Public-Private Partnership for Justice Reform in Afghanistan (PPJRA) under Secretaries of State Condoleezza Rice and Hillary Rodham Clinton.

O’Brienwasanofficialobserveratthepre-trialproceedingforthe9/11defendants in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba in 2014. He was a member of the International Republican Institute delegations that observed the presidential election in the Republic of Georgia in October 2013 and parliamentary election in Ukraine in October 2014.

In 2005, O’Brien was nominated by President George W. Bush and confirmed by the U.S. Senate to serve as a U.S. representative to the 60th session of the UnitedNationsGeneralAssembly.Earlierinhiscareer,O’Brienservedasasenior legal officer for the UN Security Council commission that decided claims against Iraq arising out of the first Gulf War. O’Brien was a major in the U.S. Army Reserve.

O’Brien has received national recognition for his public service, including the National Security Medal, the National Intelligence Distinguished Service Medal, the Department of Defense Medal for Distinguished Public Service, the NationalDefenseServiceMedal,theLegiond’honneur(chevalier),andtheKosovo Presidential Medal of Merits.

In September 2016, Encounter Books published While America Slept – Restoring American Leadership to a World in Crisis, a collection of essays addressing national security and foreign policy by O’Brien with a forward by Hugh Hewitt.

O’Brien earned a BA, cum laude, from the University of California, Los Angeles, and a JD from the University of California, Berkeley School of Law.

O’Brien’smaternalandpaternalgreat-grandparentsemigratedfromCo.Cork. His brother is fellow Irish Legal 100 member Patrick K. O’Brien. He is an executivememberoftheFriendlySonsofSt.PatrickandamemberoftheIrishAmerican Bar Association in Los Angeles.

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2022-10-19T07:00:00.0000000Z

2022-10-19T07:00:00.0000000Z

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