John W. Nields Jr. (born September 24, 1942) is a lawyer who was chief counsel for the
House
A house is a single-unit residential building. It may range in complexity from a rudimentary hut to a complex structure of wood, masonry, concrete or other material, outfitted with plumbing, electrical, and heating, ventilation, and air condi ...
Committee investigating the
Iran–Contra affair.
Early life and education
Nields was born in
New York City in 1942. His father John Sr. was a lawyer for
Cahill Gordon & Reindel; his mother was named Lila. Nields graduated from
Yale University in 1964. He received a law degree from
University of Pennsylvania Law School in 1967.
Career and politics
In 1969, he was
admitted to the New York Bar; he is also a member of the District of Columbia bar.
He was an
Assistant US Attorney for the
Southern District of New York (1969–1974), senior
law clerk
A law clerk or a judicial clerk is a person, generally someone who provides direct counsel and assistance to a lawyer or judge by researching issues and drafting legal opinions for cases before the court. Judicial clerks often play significant ...
for
Supreme Court justice Byron R. White
Byron "Whizzer" Raymond White (June 8, 1917 April 15, 2002) was an American professional football player and jurist who served as an associate justice of the U.S. Supreme Court from 1962 until his retirement in 1993.
Born and raised in Color ...
(1974–1977). He was the chief prosecutor in the trial of
W. Mark Felt and
Edward S. Miller in 1980. In 1987, he was chief counsel for the
House Select Committee to Investigate Covert Arms Transactions with Iran. It investigated the
Iran–Contra affair,
and he interrogated witnesses such as
Oliver North. In 1999, he represented
Webster Hubbell
Webster Lee "Webb" Hubbell (born January 18, 1948) is a former United States Associate Attorney General from 1993 to 1994 who as part of the Whitewater controversy pled guilty to one count of wire fraud and one count of failing to disclose a conf ...
, who
pled guilty to charges of
fraud
In law, fraud is intentional deception to secure unfair or unlawful gain, or to deprive a victim of a legal right. Fraud can violate civil law (e.g., a fraud victim may sue the fraud perpetrator to avoid the fraud or recover monetary compens ...
and
income tax evasion
Tax evasion is an illegal attempt to defeat the imposition of taxes by individuals, corporations, trusts, and others. Tax evasion often entails the deliberate misrepresentation of the taxpayer's affairs to the tax authorities to reduce the tax ...
.
He was co-chair of
white-collar defense practice at the
Howrey
Howrey LLP was a global law firm that practiced antitrust, global litigation and intellectual property law. At its peak Howrey had more than 700 attorneys in 17 locations worldwide.
History
The firm was founded as Howrey, Simon, Baker, & M ...
firm. In 2012, he was
of counsel at
Covington and Burling[ in Washington, D.C.
He is married to Gail Tenney Nields.]
See also
*
References
External links
*
1942 births
American prosecutors
Law clerks of the Supreme Court of the United States
Living people
Lawyers from New York City
Lawyers from Washington, D.C.
United States House of Representatives lawyers
University of Pennsylvania Law School alumni
Yale University alumni
People associated with Covington & Burling
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