Viet D. Dinh is Professor of Law and Co-Director of Asian Law and Policy Studies at the Georgetown University Law Center. Dinh was U.S. Assistant Attorney General for Legal Policy from 2001 to 2003. As the official responsible for federal legal policy, Dinh helped develop initiatives to reduce demand for illicit drugs, eliminate racial profiling in federal law enforcement, protect children from exploitation, combat human trafficking, develop DNA technology, reduce gun violence, and reform civil and criminal justice procedures.

After 9/11, Dinh conducted a comprehensive review and revision of Department of Justice priorities, policies and practices to ensure that all available resources are dedicated to protecting America against terrorist acts. He played a key role in developing the US Patriot Act and revising the Attorney General’s guidelines, which govern federal law enforcement activities and national security investigations. Dinh also represented the Department of Justice in selecting and confirming federal judges, contributing to the appointment of 100 district judges and 23 appellate judges during his tenure.

Dinh specializes in constitutional law, corporations law, and the law and economics of development. His representative publications include Defending Liberty: Terrorism and Human Rights, 14 HELSINKI MONITOR 328 (2003); Codetermination and Corporate Governance in a Multinational Business Enterprise, 24 J. CORP. L. 975 (1999); and Financial Sector Reform and Economic Development in Vietnam, 28 L. & POL. INT’L BUS. 857 (1997).

Dinh serves on the Board of Directors of the News Corporation and MacAndrews & Forbes Worldwide Corporation. He also holds or has held board positions at organizations including The Orchard, Deerland Enzymes, Inc., Bioptics, Inc., Liberty’s Promise, the American Judicature Society, the Transition Committee for California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, the Section on National Security Law of the Association of American Law Schools, and the ABA Section on Administrative Law.

Dinh graduated magna cum laude from both Harvard College and Harvard Law School, where he was a Class Marshal and an Olin Research Fellow in Law and Economics. He was a law clerk to Judge Laurence H. Silberman of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit and to U.S. Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor. He served as Associate Special Counsel to the U.S. Senate Whitewater Committee, as Special Counsel to Senator Pete V. Domenici for the Impeachment Trial of the President, and as counsel to the Special Master in In re Austrian and German Bank Holocaust Litigation. He is a member of the District of Columbia and U.S. Supreme Court bars.

Share