Kenneth W. Starr: A Look at the Renowned Lawyer's Distinguished Career

Summary

Kenneth W. Starr is an American lawyer and former Circuit Judge of the United States Court of Appeals. He is most widely known for his role as Independent Counsel in the Whitewater investigation during the Clinton administration.


Kenneth Starr was raised in rural Texas, where he attended public schools and then later went on to attend college at George Washington University and "Friends of Bill" such as Susan McDougal. He was also awarded a Rhodes Scholarship and attended graduate school at Oxford University in England for two years.

In the early years of his career, Starr held several positions in the public and private sector, including Special Assistant to the Attorney General of the United States, Solicitor General of the United States and Associate Judge of the United States Court of Appeals. Kenneth Starr is most famous for his role as Independent Counsel from 1994 to 1999, when he conducted the Whitewater investigation. The investigation focused on whether President Bill Clinton and First Lady Hillary Clinton were involved in financial fraud during their time in the White House.

Starr is also notable for his advocacy of “strict constructionism”- an approach to Constitutional interpretation which stresses fidelity to the original intent of the framers. Starr has been a longtime public advocate for conservative legal principles, including the defense of traditional family values.

Kenneth Starr has had a long career as a lawyer and judge, and is a respected figure in legal circles. Not only is he known for his role in the Whitewater Investigation, but also for his advocacy of conservative legal principles. He has been at the forefront of issues such as the defense of traditional family values, strict constructionism and his outspoken views on the importance of the separation of powers. His opinions on these issues have earned him recognition in both Republican and Democratic circles.
 

The Early Life of Kenneth W. Starr

Born in 1954 in Vernon, Texas, Kenneth W. Starr is a renowned American lawyer and judge who served as the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit from 1983 to 1989 and as the 45th Solicitor General of the United States from 1989 to 1993. Starr attended a number of schools during his schooling years, including Vanderbilt University from which he graduated cum laude in 1976 with a degree in history, and Duke Law School from which he graduated first in his class with a Juris Doctor in 1979.
 

Kenneth W. Starr's Professional Career

Starr started out his professional career as a law clerk for Judge David B. Sentelle of the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit. Following this, he practiced law at the law firm of Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher. In 1983, he was appointed to the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit. In 1989, he was appointed as the 45th Solicitor General of the United States by President George H. W. Bush. As the Solicitor General, Starr argued numerous cases before the Supreme Court.
 

Kenneth W. Starr's Excellence in the Legal Field

In 1995, Starr stepped down from his position as the Solicitor General and subsequently joined the law firm of Kirkland & Ellis, LLP. The following year, President Bill Clinton appointed Kenneth W. Starr as an Independent Counsel to investigate a number of possible situations related to the Whitewater controversy. During the course of the investigation, Starr wrote a number of reports to Congress which were well known for their thoroughness and completeness.
 

Kenneth W. Starr's Later Years

In 2003, Kenneth W. Starr was appointed Dean of Pepperdine University School of Law, a position he held until 2004. He then returned to the law firm of Kirkland & Ellis, LLP, before becoming President and Chancellor of Baylor University in 2010. Starr stepped down from his position as Baylor's President in 2016 and returned to the law firm of Kirkland & Ellis, LLP.

<<This profile is excerpted from a public lecture to law students at Pepperdine Law School on Law, Faith, and Social Justice.

During the lecture, Kenneth W. Starr said religious faith has always played a role in his law practice. The son of a Texas minister, Mr. Starr said he learned about social justice from reading the Bible and that he has applied the teachings of Jesus Christ throughout his legal career.

"Jesus is speaking of a lot of things, but he's certainly speaking about justice," Mr. Starr told the law students. "He's talking about folks sitting in prison. He's talking about the disabled. He's talking first about the poor. He's talking about those who need hope."

Mr. Starr—who graduated from George Washington University and then earned a Master's degree from Brown University before going to law school at Duke University—said when he was in law school, he wanted to take a course on poverty law, but there were no such offerings.

"Two students—I was one of them—then were invited to begin that course, and so we did," he said. "We actually did research, and we came up with a course syllabus."

The course focused on juvenile justice, due process, and equal protection. Mr. Starr said he wasn't very satisfied with the course, but was convinced that there should be more focus on juvenile justice, especially because there was so much focus on crime during the early 1970s. Mr. Starr graduated law school in 1973.

"People were feeling very unsettled," he said. "The American people were worried about the future of this society at any number of levels, including fundamental issues of basic safety. Crime in the streets was an enormous issue, and the social science data was showing us—guess where the crime was? It was coming from juveniles. That's the high-risk category."

Years later, when Mr. Starr was practicing law in Washington, DC, he volunteered at an inner-city high school in Anacostia, teaching and mentoring students. He was deeply affected by the experience of a young man named Lamar, who used a research project to study the causes of crime in the inner city. The 18-year-old Lamar was the product of a single-parent family; his brother was a drug dealer and had been shot. Lamar concluded in his research that the cause of inner-city crime was the breakdown of the family.

The conclusion struck a chord with Mr. Starr, who said throughout his career, he has wanted to do more to help people, especially the poor, fight against social injustice.

It's a side of Kenneth Starr that may surprise many—especially his critics, who reviled the attorney during the Clinton investigation and accused Mr. Starr of leading a partisan witch-hunt. But Starr does not mention Clinton or Whitewater during his seminar with the law students. Instead, he urges them to get involved in pro bono work and not to be ashamed of their faith.

Mr. Starr said if there is one area where attorneys can combine their faith and profession for social justice, it is asylum cases.

"Dear friends, if there is one group of people who the United States should be warmly welcoming, that is those who have a genuine fear of persecution," he said. "Can you imagine living in a country where you're persecuted because of your politics? Because I'm blue state or red state, okay, I'm going to persecute you? Or because of your faith in the Sudan? Can you imagine living in that country? Well, because so many of our brothers and sisters do."

With 24-hour news and cheap airfare, Mr. Starr said lawyers have great opportunities to work internationally and to help the persecuted around the world create a better life in the United States. But he cautioned the students not to neglect the problems at home when taking on pro bono cases.

Mr. Starr is now representing Robin Lovitt, who is on Virginia's death row. Mr. Starr initially became involved in the case through his old law firm, Kirkland & Ellis. Mr. Starr said he was disturbed by Mr. Lovitt's experiences growing up poor, abused, and addicted to drugs and by how his case has been handled. Mr. Lovitt was convicted of murdering the manager of a sports café in 1998, but maintains he is innocent. DNA evidence in the case was destroyed in violation of Virginia state statute.

The case is now being considered by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 4th Circuit, which is expected to rule before the summer.

In encouraging attorneys to get involved in social justice cases with the poor, Mr. Starr joked about his first criminal case in the 1970s while practicing law in Los Angeles.

"I wanted to do pro bono work, and I also, quite frankly, wanted to go to court, so there was an instrumental utilitarian value to it," he said. "I got my first case. They said, 'Your client is in the Inglewood jail.' I said, 'Where's Inglewood? I'm from Texas.' So there was no MapQuest at those times."

He found his way to the Inglewood jail and promised his client he would get him out. The client was accused of grand theft auto.

"It was eleven o'clock at night, and sure enough I was able—utterly incompetent—but able to get him out that evening. It's called bail."

Mr. Starr said he negotiated with the prosecutor and no charges were brought. The arrest record was there, but he felt he had helped his client and realized he didn't have to go to court to do so.

Eventually, Mr. Starr did get to try cases in court and became one of the most well known attorneys in the United States. He credits his success with combining faith and social justice. And while he does not purport to have expertise in asylum cases, Mr. Starr returned to the issue several times while addressing the law students.

"If you feel that call to legal aide, I would say, 'Don't forget the refugees among us who should remain,'" he said. "People across the globe are in prison solely because of their religious beliefs. That is such a profound violation of something that is so elemental to the human spirit."