LGBT POV

The White House is about to announce the nomination of openly gay attorney David Huebner to be Ambassador to New Zealand and Samoa, according to a White House source with whom I just spoke.

Huebner, a partner in Sheppard Mullin Richter & Hampton LLP, is well-known in the Los Angeles LGBT community as the longtime counsel to the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD), at one point serving as the board co-chair when it was transitioning from chapters to a national organization.

Dean Hansell, a partner at the legal firm of Dewey & LeBoeuf, who has known Huebner for over 20 years and continues to serve on the GLAAD board with him, said this:

“He is a superb nomination. The point with him is that you get a first rate attorney who happens to be gay. His ties to GLAAD go back many, many years.”

Hansell also said that Samoa – which just experienced a devastating tsunami and its economic reverberations – needs someone with Huebner’s experience.

“I know that region of that world – I’ve tried some cases there – and it was hard ht recently. Having somebody of his competence here would be a very smart move. It’s a very important area – it’s tried case sin some – hard hit recently – having somebody of his competence there would be very smart move. It’s a location with important strategic value. And it’s a country that could really use the help right now.”

And while New Zealand has a number of LGBT rights (no adoption or marriage), Samoa is a country with a huge transgender population and a “potpourri” of religions, Hansell said, from Mormons to fundamentalist Christians to Catholics. He does not think there are any Jews.

Neither Hansell nor I know if Huebner is Jewish – but the wing-nut Religious Right think he is. He’s on the Zogs Nightmare (ZOG = Zionist Occupied Government) website list of Jews and Homoexuals – “proving, once and for all, that the radical homosexual movement in the United States is a Jewish movement.” You know the rest.

I emailed David Huebner, who I’ve known since 1989, for a comment on his pending nomination. But he’s in Shanghai, China now where he lives and works. I’ll post an update as soon as he gets back to me.

In the meantime, here’s some of his bona fides from the law firm’s website:

“A partner resident in the Shanghai office, Mr. Huebner heads the firm’s China Practice and International Disputes Practice. He specializes in international arbitration, mediation, and cross-border litigation, and advises clients on corporate compliance and governance issues. He serves as the firm’s Chief Representative in China.

Areas of Practice
Mr. Huebner represents corporations in the construction and infrastructure, pharmaceutical, technology, entertainment/media, transportation, and energy sectors, among others, in arbitrations before various international tribunals. He has particular expertise in intellectual property, m&a, licensing, infrastructure, investment, and State entity disputes. He regularly counsels clients on structuring deals to minimize risk and to best plan for resolving potential conflicts.
An experienced arbitrator, Mr. Huebner is included on the approved panels of neutrals of several major arbitral institutions, including CIETAC, ICDR, and AAA. He also has substantial experience in complex civil litigation arising from cross-border transactions, as well as in organizing and managing multi-jurisdictional dispute and risk portfolios for large clients.

In addition to handling disputes, Mr. Huebner has substantial Foreign Corrupt Practices Act experience, supervises the conduct of internal investigations and audits to determine compliance with various applicable laws and regulations, and advises senior management and corporate audit committees on the consequences of such investigations and audits, including the development of appropriate defenses, disclosures, disciplinary actions, and compliance policies.
He is former Chairman & CEO of Coudert Brothers LLP and former executive assistant to the Hon. Koji Kakizawa, member of the lower house of the Japanese Diet (Tokyo).

Education
• J.D., Yale Law School, 1986
• A.B., Princeton University (Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs), 1982, summa cum laude
Admissions
• England & Wales
• California
• New York
District of Columbia

Teaching
Adjunct Professor, University of Southern California Gould Law School, teaching courses in International Arbitration, International Intellectual Property Law & Policy, and International Business Transactions (Los Angeles)
Guest Lecturer, Tsinghua University, on international dispute resolution (Beijing)
Guest Lecturer, East China University of Politics and Law, on international dispute resolution and intellectual property (Shanghai)
Guest Lecturer, University of Southern California Marshall School of Business, on various dispute resolution and intellectual property issues (Los Angeles)