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Historical Biography

Solicitor General: Kenneth W. Starr

Photo of Solicitor General Kenneth W. Starr
Kenneth W. Starr
39th Solicitor General, -

Kenneth Starr (born July 21, 1946) is admitted to practice in California, Virginia, the District of Columbia, and the U.S. Supreme Court. Starr's areas of expertise are antitrust, federal courts and federal jurisdiction, and constitutional law. In the 1970's, he clerked for The Honorable David W. Dyer of the U.S. Court of Appeals, Fifth Circuit, and for U.S. Supreme Court Chief Justice Warren E. Burger.

While in private practice, he was a partner at Kirkland & Ellis and Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher. In addition to working in the private sector, he has served as Counselor to U.S. Attorney General William French Smith, Judge for the U.S. Court of Appeals, D.C. Circuit, Solicitor General of the United States, and Independent Counsel on the Whitewater matter. As Solicitor General, he argued twenty-five cases before the Supreme Court involving a wide range of governmental regulatory and constitutional issues of commercial importance.

On April 6, 2004, he was appointed dean of Pepperdine University's School of Law.

Ken Starr is a member of numerous professional organizations and boards, including the American Law Institute, the Supreme Court Historical Society, and the American Inns of Court. An enthusiastic writer and scholar, he has authored many law review articles. His latest book is First Among Equals: The Supreme Court in American Life published in 2002.

Updated September 18, 2023