Kevin A. Ring - Life and Career

Life and Career

Ring has a B.A. in political science from Syracuse University and graduated from the Columbus School of Law at Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C. He entered private practice as a member of the Maryland Bar after having worked as a staffer in both the House of Representatives and Senate. In 1993, he joined the staff of U.S. Representative John T. Doolittle. In 1995, he was promoted to legislative director. In 1998, he was named by then-U.S. Senator John Ashcroft (R-Mo) to serve as a counsel on the Senate Judiciary Committee’s Constitution, Federalism and Property Rights Subcommittee. Among other duties, he advised Ashcroft on federal judicial nominations. In 1999 he returned to the House to become executive director of the Conservative Action Team, a group of conservative House Republicans.

In 2000, Ring went to work for Abramoff at Preston Gates Ellis & Rouvelas Meeds LLP, the lobbying arm of the law firm Preston Gates & Ellis LLP based in Seattle. A year later, he followed Abramoff to Florida-based law firm Greenberg Traurig where he worked until October 2004. In 2002 and 2003, he was named a 'Top Rainmaker' by The Hill newspaper in its annual rankings of Washington’s premier lobbyists. In 2004, his book, Scalia Dissents: Writings of the Supreme Court’s Wittiest, Most Outspoken Justice, was published. After leaving Team Abramoff at Greenberg Traurig, he joined Barnes & Thornburg LLP law firm in Washington, D.C. Many of his clients followed him there even as he surfaced in several congressional investigations of Abramoff. He resigned from Barnes and Thornburg on April 13, 2007, the same day the FBI raided John Doolittle's home.