Elliot Berke - Page 1
President, Republican National Lawyers AssociationPrior to entering private practice full time, Elliot served as the General Counsel of Barbour Griffith & Rogers, LLC. He oversaw compliance with federal and state laws, workplace legal issues, and worked with outside counsels on litigation in federal court.<br /> <br /> From 2004 to 2006, Elliot served as the in-house counsel and ethics advisor to the two most senior members of House leadership. As Counsel to the Office of the Speaker and General Counsel to the Office of the House Majority Leader, he advised and counseled on ethics and compliance issue for the Speaker and the Leader and their forty person staffs. In the three years he worked in House leadership, he implemented procedures to ensure compliance with all rules and standards of conduct, consulted with campaign and PAC officials, conducted internal reviews, and worked closely with outside counsel to ensure that the individual legal needs of parties, including campaigns, individuals and non-profits, were respected. He also served as the principal policy advisor on homeland security, judiciary, tort reform, and campaign finance issues, notably on the Class Action Fairness Act and the reauthorizations of the PATRIOT Act and the Voting Rights Act.<br /> <br /> Elliot also served on the Bipartisan Legal Advisory Group (BLAG), which represents the House on matters including Speech or Debate Immunity and Separation of Powers. His tenure coincided with a notably active period of federal investigation into issues related to Members and congressional staff, and his counsel was consistently sought out by the House General Counsel on how to best respect the interests of the House. He provided counsel on the constitutionality of numerous pieces of legislation over the course of three Congresses, and offered advice on the issuance of committee subpoenas.<br /> <br /> Elliot’s ethics and compliance experience on Capitol Hill was preceded by similar experience within the executive branch. As Special Counsel to the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), he oversaw complex and sensitive issues for the department. He also advised the Office of the Secretary on questions of ethics, including scheduling issues and FOIA requests. He also served as the official HUD representative to the intergovernmental task force on predatory lending.<br /> <br /> From 1999 to 2002, Elliot served in the Office of the Independent Counsel, In Re: Madison Guaranty Savings & Loan Association (OIC), first as an Associate Independent Counsel and later as Senior Counsel. During his tenure with the OIC, he advised on confidential investigations, including the jurisdictional mandates involving Whitewater and Monica Lewinsky, and assisted with federal litigation. He served as the liaison with Congress, the Justice Department, the FBI, and the media. <br /> <br /> Prior to his OIC tenure, Elliot was a congressional investigative counsel. From 1998 to 1999, he served as Counsel to the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, where he oversaw white collar crime investigations, including investigations into Internet securities fraud and the exportation of stolen vehicles. From 1997 until 1998, he served as an Investigative Counsel for the House Committee on Government Reform and Oversight and its Special Investigation into Campaign Fundraising Improprieties during the 1992 and 1996 Election Cycles. During the committee’s investigation, he focused on alleged wrongdoing related to Florida-based fundraising and on foreign and conduit contribution abuses. <br /> <br /> Originally from Orlando, Elliot graduated cum laude from Wake Forest University with a double major in Politics and History. While at Wake Forest, he was an editor and columnist for the Old Gold & Black and the Greek Forum newspapers, was active in Students against Apartheid, and spent a semester in London at the university’s Worrell House. He was appointed to the executive committee of the Wake Forest Alumni Council for the 2007-2011 term. He is also a graduate of Emory University School of Law, where he served as the Executive Articles Editor on the Emory International Law Review and was active in the International Law Society and the Federalist Society. He is the Vice President of DC Operations and a member of the Board of Governors and the Advisory Committee of the Republican National Lawyers Association. He is a member of the D.C. bar. He and his wife Lindsey live in Arlington, Virginia with their two children. He can be reached at esberke@berkelawdc.com.
