Robert Corn-Revere

Robert Corn-Revere has been a First Amendment litigator for more than four decades. In 2023, he joined FIRE from the law firm of Davis Wright Tremaine where he was a partner for 20 years. Before his time at DWT, he was a partner at Hogan & Hartson and served as legal advisor and later chief counsel to Federal Communications Commission Chairman James H. Quello.

Corn-Revere is a prominent writer, thinker, and advocate on free expression issues. In 2021, Cambridge University Press published his book, “The Mind of the Censor and the Eye of the Beholder: The First Amendment and the Censor’s Dilemma,” which explores how free expression became a part of America’s identity. He also co-authored the three-volume treatise, “Modern Communication Law,” published by West Group. In 2003, he successfully petitioned Governor George E. Pataki to grant the first posthumous pardon in New York history to the late comedian Lenny Bruce, who was convicted for “obscene” comedy routines.

Before joining FIRE full-time, Corn-Revere was a volunteer on FIRE’s Advisory Council. He also served as outside counsel for FIRE’s Stand Up For Speech Litigation Project, successfully litigating on behalf of college students and faculty whose First Amendment rights were violated.

He is regularly listed as a leading First Amendment and media law practitioner by The Best Lawyers in America, SuperLawyers Washington, D.C., and by Chambers USA. Best Lawyers in America named him as Washington, D.C.’s 2017 “Lawyer of the Year” in the areas of First Amendment Law and Litigation – First Amendment. He was again named as Best Lawyers’  “Lawyer of the Year” for First Amendment Law for 2019 and 2021, and in Media Law for 2022. He is listed in Washingtonian Magazine's Top Lawyers Hall of Fame for Lifetime Achievement.