Nicole Seligman (born 1957) is an American attorney. She is currently Executive Vice President and General Counsel of Sony Corporation, and has received national attention in the United States for her representation of Lieutenant Colonel Oliver North during the Iran-Contra hearings and of President Bill Clinton during his impeachment trial.

Career

Recruited to Sony Corporation of America (SCA) by CEO Howard Stringer, Seligman became the company's Executive Vice President and General Counsel in September 2001, and became Corporate Executive Officer of the worldwide Sony Corporation in June 2003. When Stringer became Sony Corporation CEO in June 2005, Seligman rose to become General Counsel of that corporation, retaining the same role at SCA.

Before joining Sony, Seligman was a partner at Williams & Connolly LLP in Washington, D.C. Only shortly after joining the firm, she was assigned to assist partner Brendan Sullivan in representing Lt. Col. North before Congressional hearing and at his trial. Eleven years later, her more senior partner, David Kendall, President Clinton's outside counsel, asked for her assistance. She appeared with Clinton when he testified before the grand jury in the Monica Lewinsky scandal, and she spoke on his behalf before the Senate at the impeachment trial. Her other clients at Williams & Connolly included large media organizations such as CNN (in the Operation Tailwind matter), ABC, and occasionally the National Enquirer (which was primarily represented by Kendall).

At the beginning of her legal career, Seligman clerked for Justice Thurgood Marshall on the Supreme Court of the United States (1984-1985) and for Judge Harry T. Edwards at the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia (1983-1984). Earlier, she had worked as associate editorial page editor for Hong Kong's Asian Wall Street Journal (1978-1980).

"It really is striking," Williams & Connolly's partner Kevin Baine told the Washington Post, "when you look at the things she's done over the years, that she's won the confidence and trust of people of all political stripes and persuasions—from Thurgood Marshall to Oliver North to... [P]resident [Clinton].

She earned a B.A., Magna Cum Laude, from Harvard College (Radcliffe) in 1978, and, in 1983, a J.D., Magna Cum Laude, from Harvard Law School, where she edited the Harvard Law Review.

She is married to Joel I. Klein, Chancellor of the New York City Department of Education and former U.S. Assistant Attorney General in charge of the Justice Department's Antitrust Division.

References

1. Official Sony biography of Nicole Seligman. Accessed November 26 2006.
2. Marcus, Ruth. " Clinton's Least Known Lawyer." November 18 1999. Accessed November 26 2006.
3. Franken, Bob. " Second female attorney argues for Clinton before Senate." Accessed November 26 2006.