David E. Kendall Biography, Age, Height, Wife, Net Worth and Family

Kendall was recognized with a Doctor of Laws, honoris causa (honorary), degree from his alma mater, Wabash College, on May 16, 2010.

Kendall advised President Clinton during the grand jury appearance that led to the discovery of Clinton’s relationship with White House intern Monica Lewinsky. The Washington Post notes that the Washington legal establishment was critical of Kendall’s advising Clinton to pursue the “legalistic argument” that Clinton’s sexual encounters with the intern did not constitute a sexual relationship, “for not having Clinton come forward earlier with the truth about Lewinsky, for letting him testify before the grand jury [and digging] himself into even deeper… trouble with his… answers, and for inflaming [Independent Counsel Kenneth] Starr with repeated attacks;” he is credited, however, for the fruit born from battles with Starr, including the August 1998 ruling of Judge Norma Holloway Johnson “accusing Starr of violating grand jury secrecy rules,” and for improving the public’s perception of his client’s case by referring to the Starr Report as “an extravagant effort to find a case where there is none.”

Kendall began representing President Clinton in November 1993 in an investigation related to the Arkansas savings and loan, Whitewater Development Company, Inc. As the investigation expanded, Kendall went on to represent Clinton during the 1998–99 impeachment proceedings, and continues to represent the Clintons in miscellaneous civil matters.

Kendall began representing former Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton, before her State Department appointment, in November 1993, over matters regarding an Arkansas savings and loan, Whitewater Development Company, Inc., and represented her interests throughout her husband’s legal challenges during his presidency, including in bar counsel investigations and civil litigation.

He joined Williams & Connolly LLP, a Washington, D.C. law firm, in 1978 and became a partner there in 1981. He currently works on diverse matters such as intellectual property, criminal investigations, and the William J. Clinton Presidential Center and Clinton Foundation. As he states in his profile at his law firm’s web page, he “has appeared in trial courts in 23 states and has argued appeals in six federal courts of appeal, seven state supreme courts, and the Supreme Court of the United States.” He has briefed and argued numerous important criminal cases before the Supreme Court on pro bono assignments.

Following a clerkship with Supreme Court Justice Byron White, Kendall served at the NAACP Legal Defense Fund from 1973 to 1978, focusing on criminal defense practice, and handling high-profile death penalty cases including Coker v. Georgia and the death penalty appeals of John Spenkelink.

Kendall has been married to Anne L. Kendall, a psychologist with the Wake Kendall Group, since 1968, and they have three children.

Kendall obtained his Bachelor of Arts in history from Wabash College in 1966 (summa cum laude, Phi Beta Kappa). As a Rhodes Scholar, Kendall earned a degree at Worcester College, Oxford in 1968, elevated to a Master of Arts (Oxon) per tradition. He earned a Juris Doctor from Yale Law School in 1971, where he met former president Bill Clinton and former Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton.

David Evan Kendall (born May 2, 1944) is an American attorney, a graduate of Wabash College, Yale Law School, and Worcester College, Oxford, who clerked with Supreme Court Justice Byron White, worked as associate counsel at the NAACP Legal Defense Fund, and has been a partner at Williams & Connolly LLP of Washington, DC since 1981, where he has provided legal counsel to individuals and corporations on high-profile business and political matters.

Kendall was born at Camp Atterbury near Edinburgh, Indiana, on May 2, 1944, and grew up in Sheridan, Indiana. While a student at Wabash College, Kendall helped register black voters in Mississippi during the Freedom Summer of 1964, which led to his arrest on multiple occasions. While in Mississippi, he was the roommate of murdered civil rights worker Andrew Goodman during the last week of Goodman’s life.