Please join JLSA in welcoming former U.S. Ambassador to the Czech Republic, Andy Schapiro in a discussion the various ways in which a lawyer can be an advocate, on behalf of a both private clients and on behalf of our country. From 2014-17, Ambassador Schapiro served as the U.S. Ambassador to the Czech Republic, after being nominated by President Obama and confirmed by a unanimous Senate. In that position, he led a 240-person multi-agency post and strengthened the US relationship with this important NATO ally and trading partner. During his tenure, he advocated for and negotiated on behalf of the U.S. government and U.S. companies on a daily basis, strengthening a $6 billion trade relationship and deepening cooperation on issues such as cyber security, education, and law enforcement. For much of his three-decade career, Ambassador Schapiro has obtained precedent-setting victories for major companies and individuals in trials and appeals concerning data privacy, copyright, and a broad range of complex commercial disputes. He also has obtained numerous acquittals at trial and reversals on appeal for individuals charged with crimes. Andy’s skills as an advocate have earned him recognition as a “superstar” among appellate lawyers by Legal 500 United States and as a repeat winner of The American Lawyer’s “Litigator of the Week” award. Andy's clients include Google, YouTube, and X (formerly Twitter). Ambassador Schapiro is a magna cum laude graduate of Harvard Law School, where he was a recipient of the Sears Prize and Articles Co-Chair of the Harvard Law Review. He served as a law clerk to Judge Richard A. Posner of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit and to Justice Harry A. Blackmun of the U.S. Supreme Court. He received his undergraduate degree from Yale, magna cum laude, and earned an M.A. from Oxford University, as a Marshall Scholar.

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