Victor A. Kovner

 

Victor A. Kovner is Senior Counsel to Davis Wright Tremaine, where he has practiced law since that firm merged with his prior firm Lankenau Kovner. In 1990-1, he was the Corporation Counsel of the City of New York under Mayor David N. Dinkins. He has served as Chair of the Committee on the Judiciary and as Secretary of the New York City Bar Association. Pursuant to appointments by Governors Hugh L. Carey and Mario M. Cuomo, he served on the New York State Commission on Judicial Conduct from 1976 to 1990, concluding as the Commission`s Chair.

He has been a member of the Board of Trustees of the Fund for Modern Courts from 1970 to the present, and was the Fund`s chair for four years roughly a decade ago. While Chair of the Fund, he helped draft and advocate for the legislation signed by Governor Paterson in 2010 creating the first Commission on Judicial Compensation.

He has specialized in First Amendment Law, and for two decades was on the faculty of the annual Communications Law Seminar of the Practicing Law Institute. Pursuant to appointment of President William J. Clinton, he was for eight years on the President`s Commission on White House Fellowships. In recent years, he has served as the Trustee of the Liz Claiborne and Art Ortenberg Foundation, which supports community-based wildlife preservation in many parts of the world. Mr. Kovner is an appointee of the Governor.