J. David Carlin focuses his practice on public law and policy matters, particularly in the financial services sector. He has represented banks, private equity firms, hedge funds, credit rating agencies and other financial institutions before the House Financial Services Committee and the Senate Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs committees.
Mr. Carlin returned to Akin Gump in 1998 after serving as assistant secretary for congressional relations at the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), a position to which President Clinton appointed him in 1995. In managing the Office of Congressional and Intergovernmental Relations, he served as the primary liaison between the Department and both Congress and the White House Office of Legislative Affairs.
Prior to joining the administration, Mr. Carlin was an associate at Akin Gump, where he focused on financial services and other policy issues. While at the firm, he co-founded the Homeless Children’s Tutorial Project, Inc. (Project Northstar), a volunteer program serving homeless children in Washington. He served as president of the organization in 1992 and has also been a member of its board of directors.
Mr. Carlin received his B.A. summa cum laude in political science and modern languages in 1984 from Kansas State University, where he was elected to Phi Beta Kappa, and his J.D. in 1988 from Harvard Law School, where he served as co-chairman of the Harvard Law School Legislative Research Bureau. He is a member of the District of Columbia and Missouri bars.
Mr. Carlin has been actively involved in Kansas Democratic politics. He participated in his father’s successful 1984 gubernatorial re-election campaign and also served as a member of former Congressman Jim Slattery’s (D-Kan.) campaign staff.