Jay Lefkowitz

Background

Jay Philip Lefkowitz was born in 1963 and grew up in New York. He attended Columbia College and Harvard Law School, then clerked for a federal judge. He joined the law firm Kirkland & Ellis, becoming a partner. He served in senior roles in the George H.W. Bush and George W. Bush administrations, including as Deputy Assistant to the President for Domestic Policy and later as Special Envoy for Human Rights in North Korea under President George W. Bush.

Lefkowitz has been recognized as one of the leading appellate and Supreme Court litigators in the United States, with an extensive record of arguing significant cases. He returned to Kirkland & Ellis and private practice around the time he took on Epstein’s representation.

Connection to Epstein

Lefkowitz served as one of Epstein’s lead defense attorneys during the Southern District of Florida federal investigation that began in 2006. He worked alongside Ken Starr, Alan Dershowitz, Roy Black, and Gerald Lefcourt. Within the defense team, Lefkowitz was primarily responsible for the direct negotiations with the federal prosecutors and with Main Justice in Washington that produced the June 2008 non-prosecution agreement.

Detailed accounts of the negotiations, including those in Julie K. Brown’s reporting and subsequent legal proceedings, indicate Lefkowitz was the principal defense attorney communicating with U.S. Attorney Alexander Acosta’s office. He successfully argued for the extraordinary terms that resulted in Epstein pleading to state rather than federal charges and receiving the minimal sentence he received.

After Epstein’s 2019 arrest, questions arose about the role Lefkowitz played in negotiating the victim notification provisions — or lack thereof — in the NPA. Judge Marra’s 2019 ruling that the NPA violated the CVRA was partly connected to the failure of the NPA agreement to notify victims.

Aftermath

Lefkowitz remained a partner at Kirkland & Ellis and continued his appellate and commercial litigation practice. He was not charged with any wrongdoing in connection with his negotiations for Epstein, and defense attorneys’ representations of clients — however controversial — are protected professional conduct. He has not made extensive public statements about his role in the Epstein case beyond denying any impropriety.