Jay Lefkowitz is a senior litigation partner at Kirkland & Ellis LLP, specializing in shareholder disputes, antitrust, product liability, FDA litigation, and False Claims Act cases, and serves as a member of the firm's Global Executive Management Committee. He is also an adjunct professor at Columbia Law School, teaching a seminar on Supreme Court advocacy. Lefkowitz previously served as U.S. Special Envoy for Human Rights in North Korea from 2005 to 2009 under President George W. Bush, where he criticized the regime's oppression and exploitative labor practices. His career includes key roles in the George H.W. Bush administration as Director of Cabinet Affairs and Deputy Executive Secretary to the Domestic Policy Council (1991–1993), and in the George W. Bush administration as General Counsel of the Office of Management and Budget (2001), Deputy Assistant to the President for Domestic Policy (until 2003), and advisor on policies including stem cell research, regulatory rollbacks, PEPFAR AIDS relief, the 9/11 Victim Compensation Fund, and affirmative action. Earlier, he interned as administrative assistant to the Chief Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court, worked as an associate at Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison, and contributed to George H.W. Bush's 1988 presidential campaign. He has notable Supreme Court victories in Pliva Inc. v. Mensing (2011) and Mutual Pharmaceutical Co. v. Bartlett (2013), along with pro bono work challenging New York teacher tenure laws (2018) and defending Hassidic storekeepers against NYC dress code enforcement (2013–2014). Lefkowitz is an observant Orthodox Jew from an Albany, New York, family background emphasizing public service, Zionist values, and Soviet Jewry activism; his father was a lawyer in the Nelson Rockefeller administration who shifted to neoconservatism. He holds a B.A. in History (1984) and J.D. (1987) from Columbia University, where he was a Harlan Fiske Stone Scholar. Married with at least three children since circa 2001, including daughter Tali, he has published on modern Orthodox communities and AIDS policy, and served on the U.S. Presidential Delegation for Israel's 60th anniversary (2008). Controversially, he represented Jeffrey Epstein in 2007–2008, negotiating a lenient plea deal criticized for minimizing charges and excluding victims.