U.S. Department of Justice’s Cecil VanDevender Joins Lewis & Clark

With more than a decade of work in the U.S. Department of Justice, Cecil VanDevender has joined the faculty of Lewis & Clark Law School.

Most recently as visiting assistant professor in the Lawyering program, his distinguished career led him to serve as assistant special counsel in the office of special counsel Jack Smith and worked on the two federal criminal cases involving the investigation and prosecution of then-former President Donald J. Trump.

Prior to that, from 2013 to 2023, he briefed, argued, and supervised dozens of cases in the U.S. Court of Appeals, serving in numerous roles in the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Middle District of Tennessee, and he investigated and prosecuted cases involving public corruption, fraud, and organized crime. He served as first assistant U.S. attorney, appellate chief, and assistant U.S. attorney, among his many roles.

VanDevender, a Georgetown University Law Center grad, spent two years in private practice at Bass, Berry & Sims LLP; before that clerked for the Honorable Richard J. Sullivan in the U.S. District Court for Southern District of New York and the Honorable Gilbert S. Merritt, Jr. on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit.