Fred F. Fielding is Of Counsel at Torridon Law PLLC. Mr. Fielding is an internationally known litigator, mediator, counselor, and strategic adviser who provides general counseling to corporate and individual clients on a broad array of legal and policy issues. A litigator by training and experience, he has also served as an arbitrator in international and domestic disputes.
Mr. Fielding has spent his distinguished legal career in both the public and private sectors. Prior to joining Torridon Law PLLC, Mr. Fielding was a Partner in the Litigation Practice at a prominent international firm. He served as White House Counsel to President George W. Bush from 2007 to 2009. Mr. Fielding also served as White House Counsel to President Ronald Reagan from 1981 to 1986, and served in the Nixon White House as Deputy Counsel from 1972 to 1974 and as Associate Counsel from 1970 to 1972.
Mr. Fielding’s long record of leadership in public service includes serving as a member of the National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States (commonly referred to as the 9/11 Commission), Clearance Counsel for the highest officials across multiple Republican Administration Transitions, a member of the Secretary of Transportation’s Task Force on Aviation Disasters (1997-1998), the U.S. member of the Arbitration Tribunal on the U.S.-U.K. Air Treaty Dispute (1989-1994), and a member of the President’s Commission on Federal Ethics Law Reform (1989).
Mr. Fielding brings a unique background and experience to the representation of his clients. As Counsel to Presidents Reagan and Bush, he gained the reputation as a skilled negotiator and handler of very complex and difficult situations, bringing to bear not only his broad legal experience but also his ability to understand and resolve the political, public relations and practical dimensions of a problem as well.
In his private sector experience, Mr. Fielding has represented many individual and public officials, as well as large business and corporate entities and associations, in a variety of situations which required not only the resolution of a legal issue, but a long-term, global resolution of larger issues. Many of these have included matters of public sensitivity and visibility. He also has extensively counseled chief executives and boards of directors on complex domestic and international problems and in long-ranging public policy planning. Additionally, he has served as arbitrator on several significant international arbitrations, and numerous other private arbitrations and court-appointed mediations. Washingtonian Magazine, in picking the top lawyers to whom other lawyers and judges would turn to if they were in trouble, named Mr. Fielding and characterized him as “very shrewd, smart and discreet . . . an attorney with a reputation for keeping people from getting into trouble in the first place.” When Mr. Fielding was appointed White House Counsel in 2007, TIME Magazine described him as “the ultimate Washington lawyer-insider . . . he’s the guy who helps you defend your position, stick to your principles, but tries to work out a reasonable compromise . . . he is highly regarded by everyone.” The New York Times noted that he “has an independence of judgment and independence of stature.”
His numerous professional honors include being named a “Legend in the Law” by the Washington Lawyer magazine, a “Legal Visionary” by the Legal Times, DC Bar’s “Lawyer of the Year 2004,” and as one of the “Best Lawyers in America” for business litigation. He has been awarded honorary degrees from Michigan State, Detroit College of Law, Pepperdine University and Gettysburg College. Other honors have included Gettysburg College’s Medal of Honor (2005), The Atlantic Legal Foundation Annual Award (2008), PBA President’s Award for Public Service (2009), and the Bipartisan Policy Center’s Distinguished Public Service Award (2011). Most recently UVA Law Magazine named him one of the “100 Change Agents” in the law school’s two hundred years.
Mr. Fielding also has been active and a director of numerous other civic and charitable organizations, including service as Chairman of the Center for Democracy, Chairman of the National Legal Center, and Vice Chair of the Ethic Resource Center. He was a long-standing Trustee of Gettysburg College, now Emeritus. Mr. Fielding has also served as a Director of several private and listed corporations.
Prior to his appointment to the Bush White House, Mr. Fielding previously served as a senior partner and a leader of the government affairs, business and finance, and litigation practices of a national law firm. Mr. Fielding received his J.D. from the University of Virginia School of Law in 1964, where he served on the editorial board of the Virginia Law Review and was a member of the National Moot Court Team. He received his A.B., cum laude, in political science from Gettysburg College in 1961. Mr. Fielding is honored by Gettysburg College in the creation of its Fred F. Fielding Center for Presidential Leadership Studies and the Fielding Fellowship program.
Education
• University of Virginia School of Law, J.D.
Editorial Board, Virginia Law Review
• Gettysburg College, A.B., cum laude.
Bar Admissions
• District of Columbia
Court Admissions
• United States Supreme Court
• U.S. Court of Claims
• U.S. Court of Military Appeals
• U.S. Courts of Appeals for the D.C., Federal, 1st, 3d, 4th, 7th, and 9th Circuits
• District of Columbia Court of Appeals
• U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia
• Supreme Court of Pennsylvania
• U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania
Contact information
T: 202.249.6900
ffielding@torridonlaw.com