Lanny Davis

  • Special Counsel to President Bill Clinton (1996-1998)
  • Renowned Strategist and Crisis Manager

As former Special Counsel to President Clinton, Lanny Davis proved to be a superb crisis manager and savvy political strategist. As a successful lawyer; he counsels high-profile individuals, corporations, and government entities on a variety of legal matters including crisis management and business development.

Davis is a revolutionary TV commentator and is currently a regular contributor for Fox News. He is a columnist for The Hill and the author of several books: Scandal: How “Gotcha” Politics is Destroying America; Truth To Tell: Tell It Early, Tell It All, Tell It Yourself: Notes from My White House; and Crisis Tales. Five Rules for Coping with Crisis in Business, Politics and Life.

A veteran crisis manager that isn’t afraid to say it like it is, Lanny Davis gives an animated, insightful and sometimes comedic presentation that will leave your audience wanting more.

 


Lanny Davis headshot
Past Hosts Include:
  • President Bill Clinton, The Hill.com Briefing Room, April 19, 2010  
  • Senator Joe Lieberman
  • Alan M. Dershowitz  
Rave Reviews About Lanny Davis as a Speaker
Davis is that rare insider who is capable of being fair to all sides. He is willing to cast blame on his own party, his own candidates and even his own self, along with those on the other side who deserve blame. This perceptive look into the Washington world of equal opportunity scandal mongering must be read by Democrats and Republicans alike, and by all fair minded people who want to end the politics of mutually assured destruction.

Lanny Davis at the Nixon Foundation - Get Sharable Link
Talks & Conversations with Lanny Davis
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What to Do When the ?!#@ Hits the Fan: Crisis Management in the Age of the Internet: How to Fight the Misinformation 'Swarm of Bees'

Lanny Davis shares his stories working on several of the biggest issues and crises of our time. What keeps you up all night and what don’t you want the New York Times to write about? Davis reveals what individuals and companies must do to survive the inevitable crossfire. As President Bill Cli ...

Lanny Davis shares his stories working on several of the biggest issues and crises of our time. What keeps you up all night and what don’t you want the New York Times to write about? Davis reveals what individuals and companies must do to survive the inevitable crossfire. As President Bill Clinton's chief spokesman Davis was the White House's first line of defense against the press corps and the reporters' first point of contact. From rapid response to the war room, Lanny Davis gives an animated, insightful and sometimes comedic presentation that will leave your audience wanting more.

An Insider’s View on National Politics

Lanny Davis gives an insider’s view on what’s happening behind the scenes in Washington. As he frequently does during frequent appearances on Fox News and other cable news shows, Davis is not afraid to tell it like it is and debate other individuals. ...

Lanny Davis gives an insider’s view on what’s happening behind the scenes in Washington. As he frequently does during frequent appearances on Fox News and other cable news shows, Davis is not afraid to tell it like it is and debate other individuals.
 

Successful Governing Through Leadership, Strength, and Consensus

Lanny Davis provides his ideas for solutions-based governing in Washington. As one of President Clinton’s closest advisors; he knows first-hand what strategies are necessary to reach consensus and eliminate the gridlock in Washington. ...

Lanny Davis provides his ideas for solutions-based governing in Washington. As one of President Clinton’s closest advisors; he knows first-hand what strategies are necessary to reach consensus and eliminate the gridlock in Washington.
 

Crisis Tales: Five Rules for Coping with Crises in Business, Politics and Life

Drawn from Davis’s extensive background working on high-profile cases, including those of Clinton, Trent Lott, the late NFL Hall-of-Famer Gene Upshaw and Martha Stewart, CRISIS TALES will give readers an insider’s look at how an evolving crisis can be solved.” ...

Drawn from Davis’s extensive background working on high-profile cases, including those of Clinton, Trent Lott, the late NFL Hall-of-Famer Gene Upshaw and Martha Stewart, CRISIS TALES will give readers an insider’s look at how an evolving crisis can be solved.”

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Books by Lanny Davis
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Biography

Lanny J. Davis is a lawyer, crisis manager, consultant, author, and television commentator providing strategic counsel to clients under scrutiny on crisis management and legal issues by combining legal, media and political strategies. He develops and manages communications programs around litigation and crises to protect brand reputations. He is often called to serve as on camera spokesperson on behalf of an individual or corporation.

Lanny represents individuals, countries, and companies in high stakes global crises, litigation, government investigations and crisis management. He has conceived, created and led media strategies for clients that have included CEOs, sports celebrities, political leaders, world leaders, and both U.S. and international companies. He has handled the cases of public figures from Martha Stewart to Dan Snyder, companies from Whole Foods to Starbucks, and political figures from President Bill Clinton to Representative Charlie Rangel.

Lanny is principal in the Washington law firm of Lanny J. Davis & Associates, which specializes in legal crisis management, and Executive Vice President at the public relations firm LEVICK. Although a Democrat, Lanny has friends on both sides of the aisle. During the Clinton administration, Lanny served as special counsel to President Bill Clinton and was a spokesperson for the president and the White House on matters concerning campaign finance investigations and other legal issues. In 2005, President George W. Bush appointed Lanny to serve on the five-member Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board, created by the U.S. Congress as part of the 2005 Intelligence Reform Act. In that capacity, he received the highest level security clearances so that he could be fully briefed and “read in” to the various anti-terrorist surveillance and financial tracking programs at the highest classified level.

For 25 years prior to 1996, before his tenure as special counsel to President Clinton, Lanny was a commercial, antitrust, government contracts and False Claims Act litigator (both in defense as well as plaintiff). He has argued numerous appellate cases in the U.S. courts of appeals. He has experience in securities fraud and SEC investigations as well, and has found that utilizing such an integrated legal/media/lobbying approach can lead to quicker and less expensive settlements or even successfully litigated outcomes. Senior officials of public companies have also hired Lanny and his crisis group to defend themselves successfully against “short and distort” attacks and other market manipulations.

Lanny has participated in national, state and local politics for almost 30 years. He has served three terms (1980 to 1992) on the Democratic National Committee representing the state of Maryland, and during that period he served on the DNC Executive Committee and as chairman of the Eastern Region Caucus. In Montgomery County, Maryland, he served as chairman of the Washington Suburban Transit Commission.

Lanny has authored several books and lectured throughout the U.S. and Europe on various political issues: Scandal: How “Gotcha” Politics Is Destroying America, and Truth To Tell: Tell It Early, Tell It All, Tell It Yourself: Notes from My White House Education. His latest book, Crisis Tales – Five Rules for Handling Scandal in Business, Politics and Life, was published by Simon & Schuster in 2013.

Lanny graduated from Yale Law School, where he won the prestigious Thurman Arnold Moot Court prize and served on the Yale Law Journal. A graduate of Yale University, he served as chairman of the Yale Daily News. Lanny is admitted to practice in the District of Columbia and Connecticut and before the Supreme Court of the United States and the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit.

He has been a regular television commentator and has been a political and legal analyst for MSNBC, CNN, CNBC and network TV news programs and has published numerous op-ed/ analysis pieces in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post and other national publications. He is currently a contributor to Fox News, and has a “Purple Nation” column that appears regularly in The Hill, The Huffington Post, FoxNews.com, The Daily Caller, and Newsmax.