Robert A. Sherman (born 1953) is an attorney who served as United States Ambassador to Portugal from 2014 to 2017.

Early life and education

Sherman hails from

Boston Boston is the capital and most populous city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Massachusetts in the United States. The city serves as the cultural and Financial centre, financial center of New England, a region of the Northeas ...

Massachusetts Massachusetts ( ; ), officially the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It borders the Atlantic Ocean and the Gulf of Maine to its east, Connecticut and Rhode ...

. Sherman earned a

Bachelor of Arts A Bachelor of Arts (abbreviated B.A., BA, A.B. or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is the holder of a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the liberal arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts deg ...

political science Political science is the scientific study of politics. It is a social science dealing with systems of governance and Power (social and political), power, and the analysis of political activities, political philosophy, political thought, polit ...

at the

University of Rochester The University of Rochester is a private university, private research university in Rochester, New York, United States. It was founded in 1850 and moved into its current campus, next to the Genesee River in 1930. With approximately 30,000 full ...

in 1975 and a J.D. at

Boston University School of Law The Boston University School of Law (BU Law) is the law school of Boston University, a private research university in Boston. Established in 1872, it is the third-oldest law school in New England, after Harvard Law School and Yale Law School. Ap ...

in 1978.

Career

Law career

Sherman worked in private practice as an attorney at a small Boston firm during the 1980s, as well as at Eckert Seamans Cherin & Mellot, LLC. in the 1990s. From 1991 to 1993, Sherman also served as assistant attorney general of Massachusetts and chief of the state's Consumer Protection Division. In 1993, Sherman then served as a special counsel for the state attorney general. In 1999, Sherman co-founded the Boston office of the Miami law firm

Greenberg Traurig Greenberg Traurig is a multinational law firm, law and lobbying firm founded in Miami in 1967 by Mel Greenberg, Larry J. Hoffman, and Robert H. Traurig. As of 2025, it is the eighth-largest law firm in the United States. The firm has 49 locati ...

. In this capacity, Sherman focused his practice on corporate investigations and

consumer protection Consumer protection is the practice of safeguarding buyers of goods and services, and the public, against unfair practices in the marketplace. Consumer protection measures are often established by law. Such laws are intended to prevent business ...

. From 2002 to 2004, Sherman was co-lead counsel representing claimants in a sexual abuse lawsuit against the

Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Boston The Metropolitan Archdiocese of Boston () is a Latin Church ecclesiastical territory, or archdiocese, of the Catholic Church in eastern Massachusetts in the United States. Its mother church is the Cathedral of the Holy Cross (Boston), Cathedral o ...

. Sherman was a fundraiser for Obama for America, raising at least $500,000, and has personally donated more than $80,000 to Democratic candidates and organizations. Sherman was appointed to the United States Holocaust Memorial Council in January 2013. Sherman has served as a board member of the Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center and the Children's Trust Fund, and has been co-chair of the Boston Arts Academy Annual Gala Benefit and the Boston CURE Gala for the Epilepsy Foundation.

Ambassadorship

On July 25, 2013 Sherman was nominated by President

Barack Obama Barack Hussein Obama II (born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who was the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, he was the first African American president in American history. O ...

to be U.S. Ambassador to Portugal. The

United States Senate The United States Senate is a chamber of the Bicameralism, bicameral United States Congress; it is the upper house, with the United States House of Representatives, U.S. House of Representatives being the lower house. Together, the Senate and ...

confirmed Sherman by

voice vote In parliamentary procedure, a voice vote (from the Latin ''viva voce'', meaning "by live voice") or acclamation is a voting method in deliberative assemblies (such as legislatures) in which a group vote is taken on a topic or motion by respondin ...

in February 2014. Sherman presented his credentials to the President of the Portuguese Republic,

Aníbal Cavaco Silva Aníbal António Cavaco Silva (; born 15 July 1939) is a Portuguese economist and politician who served as the 19th president of Portugal, from 9 March 2006 to 9 March 2016, and as prime minister of Portugal, from 6 November 1985 to 25 October ...

, in

Lisbon Lisbon ( ; ) is the capital and largest city of Portugal, with an estimated population of 567,131, as of 2023, within its administrative limits and 3,028,000 within the Lisbon Metropolitan Area, metropolis, as of 2025. Lisbon is mainlan ...

on May 3, 2014. Sherman's first official act as ambassador was speaking at the Carlucci American International School of Lisbon for the graduation of its senior class on 1 June 2014. Ambassador Sherman became notable for his enthusiastic support of the

Portugal national football team The Portugal national football team () has represented Portugal in men's international Association football, football competitions since 1921. The national team is controlled by the Portuguese Football Federation (FPF), the governing body for ...

during the 2016 UEFA European Championship, uploading several humorous videos to

social media Social media are interactive technologies that facilitate the Content creation, creation, information exchange, sharing and news aggregator, aggregation of Content (media), content (such as ideas, interests, and other forms of expression) amongs ...

, featuring himself draped on the Portuguese flag and wearing the team

jersey Jersey ( ; ), officially the Bailiwick of Jersey, is an autonomous and self-governing island territory of the British Islands. Although as a British Crown Dependency it is not a sovereign state, it has its own distinguishing civil and gov ...

, and holding bets with U.S. ambassadors in other countries. Shortly after his ambassadorship, he was awarded the

Order of Prince Henry The Order of Prince Henry () is a Portuguese order of knighthood created on 2 June 1960, to commemorate the quincentenary of the death of the Portuguese ''infante'' Prince Henry the Navigator, one of the main initiators of the Age of Discovery. M ...

by President

Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa Marcelo Nuno Duarte Rebelo de Sousa (; born 12 December 1948) is a Portuguese politician and academic who is the president of Portugal since 2016. He is a member of the Social Democratic Party, though he suspended his party membership for the ...

, during a ceremony at the Hall of Ambassadors, in Belém Palace. The Portuguese President remarked that "by definition, the North American Ambassadors are always magnificent Ambassadors, but hermanwas, if that is possible, more magnificent than the magnificent."

Novo Banco

On October 13, 2017,

Lone Star Funds Lone Star Funds, legal name of main entity Lone Star Global Acquisitions, Ltd. is a global private equity firm that invests in corporate equity, real estate, credit, and other financial assets. The founder of Lone Star established its first fu ...

, owner of 75% of the bank

Novo Banco Novo Banco, SA, trading as Novobanco (, ), is a major Portuguese financial bank headquartered in Lisbon, Portugal. Following the entry into force of European Banking Supervision in late 2014, Novobanco has been designated as a Significant Institut ...

, announced Sherman would become a member of the General and Supervising Committee () of the latter.

Currently

Sherman is a senior advisor and advisory board member at Rasky Partners.Robert Sherman
Rasky.

Honours

PRT Order of Prince Henry - Grand Cross BAR

Grand-Cross of the

Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic, is a country on the Iberian Peninsula in Southwestern Europe. Featuring Cabo da Roca, the westernmost point in continental Europe, Portugal borders Spain to its north and east, with which it share ...

(March 10, 2017).

References

External links

Official site
{{DEFAULTSORT:Sherman, Robert A. 1953 births Living people Ambassadors of the United States to Portugal Boston University School of Law alumni Grand Crosses of the Order of Prince Henry Massachusetts Democrats Lawyers from Boston University of Rochester alumni