David Pressman
David Pressman (born 1977) was the United States Ambassador to the United Nations for Special Political Affairs. He was nominated by President Obama, and confirmed by the Senate on September 17, 2014. Ambassador Pressman represented the United States at the United Nations Security Council and in related negotiations. After the end of the Obama administration, Ambassador Pressman joined the international law firm of Jenner & Block LLP where he works in various areas of mostly international and US Constitutional law. An international human rights lawyer, Pressman has represented victims of terrorism, American hostages held overseas, dissidents and journalists targeted  by authoritarian regimes, among others. Biography. Raised in a Jewish family, Pressman received his B.A. from Brown University and his J.D. from New York University School of Law in 2004, where he graduated magna cum laude and Order of the Coif. He clerked for the Supreme Court of Rwanda - where he evaluated post-genocide transitional justice initiatives - and at the Southern Poverty Law Center. He then served as a press lead for the Clinton Administration. Pressman is an American human rights lawyer and former aide to United States Secretary of State Madeleine K. Albright. He has advised a number of  highly visible individuals on foreign policy and related advocacy strategies. In 2008 "Los Angeles Times" referred to him as George Clooney's ""consigliere"." With George Clooney, Brad Pitt, Matt Damon, Don Cheadle, and Jerry Weintraub, Pressman co-founded Not On Our Watch Project, a leading advocacy and grant-making organization focused on raising awareness about mass-atrocities. Pressman served as the Assistant Secretary of Homeland Security responsible for policy development on global criminal justice issues at DHS. He also served as the Director for War Crimes and Atrocities on the National Security Council at the White House, where he coordinated  the Government's efforts to prevent and respond to mass atrocities, genocide, and war crimes. Pressman was a member of President Obama's Atrocities Prevention Board.