Adrian Zuckerman (attorney)

Adrian Zuckerman (born September 22, 1956) is a Romanian-born American lawyer and former diplomat who served as the United States Ambassador to Romania from 2019 to 2021.

Early life and education

Zuckerman was born in Bucharest, in the Romanian People's Republic, and is still fluent in Romanian. His parents were Romanian Jews who worked as medical researchers. The family emigrated from Romania when he was nine years old, spending nine months in Rome, Italy before arriving in New Haven, Connecticut in May 1966, when his father started work at the Yale School of Medicine.

Zuckerman graduated from Hamden Hall Country Day School in 1975. He earned a B.S in Life Sciences from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, a B.S in Management from the MIT Sloan School of Management and his J.D. from New York Law School in June 1983. While at MIT, Zuckerman became a brother of the Lambda Phi Chapter of the Alpha Delta Phi fraternity.Notable Alumni of The Alpha Delta Phi
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Career

Zuckerman was a real estate lawyer and partner with the New York City law firm Seyfarth Shaw.

Before his tenure at Seyfarth Shaw, Zuckerman was co-head of national real estate and corporate services at Epstein Becker & Green.

Between 2003 and 2007, Zuckerman was Partner, Head of Real Estate, Managing Partner of New York Office and Member of Management Committee at Lowenstein Sandler. Prior to this (1994-2003), he was Partner, Head of Real Estate and Member of Management Committee at Davidoff & Malito, LLP in New York City.  He served as counsel at a major national real estate firm in New York City (1987 to 1994) and prior to that as a law firm associate (1984 to 1987). 

He also has acted as the chair of a New York City civil court judicial screening panel and as an arbitrator for the Real Estate Board of New York. 

Active in philanthropic and educational initiatives, Mr. Zuckerman is a member of the board of Kids Corp., a non-profit organization that supports underprivileged children in Newark, New Jersey, and serves on the alumni board of New York Law School. 

United States Ambassador to Romania

On July 24, 2018, President Donald Trump announced his intent to nominate Zuckerman to be the next United States Ambassador to Romania. On November 19, 2019, his nomination was confirmed by a vote of 65–30 in the Senate. On December 17, 2019, he presented his credentials to Romanian President Klaus Iohannis. He resigned on January 20, 2021.

Ambassador Zuckerman focused on a number of issues during this mandate, including fighting corruption, combating human trafficking, strengthening the rule of law and increasing reforms of state-owned businesses.

During Zuckerman's tenure in Romania, the two countries signed a 10-year “Roadmap for Defense Cooperation.

Another major project during Ambassador Zuckerman's term was the signing of an agreement to finance and refurbish one nuclear reactor and build two more nuclear reactors at Cernavoda. This $8 billion project, which is financed with up to $7 billion by the United States Export Import Bank, is the largest project ever between the two countries.

Honours

* Romania: Ambassador Zuckerman is a recipient of the Grand Cross rank of the Order of the Star of Romania.

This Order is Romania's highest civil Order and was presented to Zuckerman by the President of Romania, Klaus Iohannis in January 2021, as a sign of the “high appreciation for the entire activity carried out during his term in Romania, as well as for his substantial involvement in the development and deepening of the strategic partnership between Romania and the United States of America”.

Zuckerman, Donald Trump and Rudy Giuliani

During his confirmation hearings in June 2019, Zuckerman testified “If confirmed, I would offer continued support for Romania’s noteworthy anti-corruption efforts. Fighting corruption and supporting judicial independence are vital to the region’s long-term prosperity and security, as well as to the extraordinary law enforcement and security cooperation that exists between the United States and Romania”.

In 2007, when Rudy Giuliani was seeking the Republican nomination for president, Zuckerman donated $2000 to his campaign. In August 2018 Rudy Giuliani “appeared to contradict the U.S. State Department’s existing policy position” by writing a letter, at the request of former FBI director Louis Freeh, to Romania's president “claiming Romania’s National Anticorruption Directorate had crossed the line of acceptable behavior.” Giuliani “requested amnesty be granted to various people prosecuted in Romania, shortly after the State Department urged Romania to continue its ‘considerable progress in combating corruption and building effective rule of law.’” This line has been contradicted in all the speeches and public appearances of Ambassador Zuckerman, further showing that the Giuliani signed letter was a private endeavor of Mr Giuliani, not supported by the State Department or by Mr. Zuckerman.

For example, in a speech in October 2020, Ambassador Zuckerman said the following about the rule of law, anti-corruption and building a better Romania: "''The rule of law is paramount to freedom and democracy. We cannot backslide on the advances made in Romania to restore respect for the rule of law in the last year. The corruption found in the prior government, which resulted in the relaxation of anti-crime laws just to help former PSD leader Dragnea avoid jail will not be countenanced. Those who participated and assisted in depriving the Romanian people of the rule of law and engaged in corrupt conduct will not have our support".''

Adrian Zuckerman is also a member of one of Donald Trump’s golf clubs.

Controversies

In 2022, Romanian film producer and businessman Bobby Păunescu presented Mr Zuckerman as the international legal representative to a new real estate development in Cluj, which was never completed. He later denied any involvement with the project.

In November 2024, Elena Lasconi, leader of USR party and candidate in the upcoming presidential elections, accused Zuckerman of pressure to withdraw her campaign in favour of her opponent, Nicolae Ciucă. Zukerman denied the allegations. "Fostul ambasador al SUA Adrian Zuckerman, reacție la acuzațiile Elenei Lasconi"
Financial Intelligence. Accessed November 15, 2024.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Zuckerman, Adrian
1956 births
Living people
Romanian emigrants to the United States
American people of Romanian-Jewish descent
Hamden Hall Country Day School alumni
Massachusetts Institute of Technology School of Science alumni
MIT Sloan School of Management alumni
New York Law School alumni
Lawyers from New York City
First Trump administration personnel
Ambassadors of the United States to Romania
Grand Crosses of the Order of the Star of Romania