Abbe Lowell

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American attorney (born 1952)

title: "Abbe Lowell" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["1952-births", "20th-century-american-jews", "american-lawyers", "columbia-law-school-alumni", "columbia-university-faculty", "georgetown-university-law-center-faculty", "living-people", "people-associated-with-winston-&-strawn", "21st-century-american-jews", "columbia-college,-columbia-university-alumni", "maryland-democrats", "people-associated-with-chadbourne-&-parke"] description: "American attorney (born 1952)" topic_path: "law" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abbe_Lowell" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

::summary American attorney (born 1952) ::

::data[format=table title="Infobox officeholder"]

Field	Value
name	Abbe Lowell
image	Minority Chief Investigator Abbe D. Low.jpg
caption	Lowell during the impeachment inquiry into Bill Clinton, 1998
birth_name	Abbe David Lowell
birth_date
birth_place	New York City, U.S.
party	Democratic
spouse	Molly Meegan
children	3
education	Columbia University (BA, JD)
::

| name = Abbe Lowell | image = Minority Chief Investigator Abbe D. Low.jpg | caption = Lowell during the impeachment inquiry into Bill Clinton, 1998 | birth_name = Abbe David Lowell | birth_date = | birth_place = New York City, U.S. | death_date = | death_place = | party = Democratic | spouse = Molly Meegan | children = 3 | education = Columbia University (BA, JD) Abbe David Lowell (born April 28, 1952) is an American defense attorney who has represented several high-profile defendants. Some of the well known political figures Lowell has represented are Don Lemon, Bob Menendez, John Edwards, Jared Kushner, Ivanka Trump, Hunter Biden, Jim Wright, Dan Rostenkowski, Charles Keating, Joseph M. McDade, Joseph Bruno, Gary Condit, Jim Gibbons and Lisa Cook.

Early life and education

Lowell was born in 1952. He graduated from Columbia University in 1974 and Columbia Law School in 1977. Lowell is Jewish.

Career

Lowell worked in the U.S. Department of Justice, including a stint as an assistant to Attorney General Benjamin Civiletti. He has been an adjunct professor of law at Georgetown University Law Center and Columbia University. He was a partner at the firm of Winston & Strawn LLP. He has appeared in the media as a legal affairs expert.

Lowell was chief minority counsel to U.S. House of Representatives Democratic members during the impeachment of Bill Clinton in the Lewinsky scandal.

Lowell has defended political figures including John Edwards, Jim Wright, Dan Rostenkowski, Charles Keating, Gary Condit, former Nevada governor Jim Gibbons, former congressman Joseph McDade, lobbyist Jack Abramoff, and U.S. senator Bob Menendez.

Lowell was part of the defense of Stephen Jin-Woo Kim, a State Department contractor who pleaded guilty to a felony count of disclosing classified American intelligence on North Korea.

As of June 2017, Lowell has represented both Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump in inquiries linked to Russia.

Lowell represented Nickie Lum Davis, who pleaded guilty in August 2020 to illegally lobbying the Trump administration on behalf of international fugitive Jho Low. In 2017, Lowell was also involved in discussions about Low's legal and lobbying efforts, which were designed to end the Justice Department's probe of the embezzlement of around $4.5 billion from the Malaysian state fund 1MDB.

In 2021, Lowell represented Michael Taylor, the American soldier accused of helping Carlos Ghosn escape from Japan. At the time, Taylor was fighting extradition to Japan.

As of May, 2025, Lowell left Winston & Strawn and started a new law firm.

In August 2025, it was reported that Lowell was hired by Federal Reserve Board Governor Lisa Cook to defend her against being fired by President Donald Trump for alleged mortgage fraud. Cook argued that her firing is illegal. Lowell represented Letitia James against accusations of mortgage fraud.

Justice Department investigation

As of December 2020, the United States Department of Justice's Public Integrity Section was investigating Lowell for his role in an alleged "secret lobbying scheme" and potential bribery in exchange for a pardon. Lowell was enlisted by California billionaire Sanford Diller to seek a pardon for his friend Hugh Baras.

Lowell's involvement came to light in an August 28, 2020 court opinion by Judge Beryl Howell that found Lowell's communications were not covered by standard attorney-client privileges "because they potentially contained both evidence of crimes and involved nonlawyer third parties." As part of the alleged bribery-for-pardon scheme, Lowell interacted with the White House Counsel's Office, and "according to documents reviewed by the [Wall Street] Journal, Mr. Lowell and Mr. Diller discussed contacting top officials in the [Trump] administration." The scheme would allegedly have involved a donation of more than $300,000 to Republican Party causes. However, no pardon for Baras was issued, and the investigation did not result in criminal charges.

Political and civic activities

In 1982, Lowell ran unsuccessfully for the Maryland House of Delegates as a Democrat. Lowell heads the development committee and is a trustee of the Shakespeare Theatre. He also served as vice president and general counsel of the Jewish Community Center of Greater Washington in 2020.

References

(August 27, 2025). "For targets of Trump's retribution, this is the lawyer on speed dial".
(October 6, 1998). "Counsel Lowell: A Defender Of Democrats in Trouble". [[The Washington Post]].
(October 29, 2009). "Defense Attorney Abbe D. Lowell". [[Times Union (Albany).
"Abbe D. Lowell". [[HuffPost]].
"Power Player {{!}} Columbia College Today".
(2015-05-03). "Abbe Lowell Is on a Legal Mission".
(January 16, 1980). "Senate Seat Reshuffling 'Impossible'". [[Spartanburg Herald-Journal]].
"Abbe David Lowell - J.D. Adjunct Faculty". [[Georgetown Law]].
(May 23, 2018). "Nationally Recognized White Collar Defense and Trial Attorney Joins Winston & Strawn".
(December 7, 2010). "Legal Tangle Tightens Around WikiLeaks, Julian Assange". PBS.
(April 22, 2005). "A Talk with Jack Abramoff's Attorney". [[Businessweek]].
(April 7, 2010). "Key witness in Edwards' trial Young grilled again by defense lawyer". Fox News.
"Trial Showdown Begins for Keating, Symbol of Thrift Debacle".
(June 23, 2001). "Condit hires lawyer who aided Clinton / Abbe Lowell to advise on intern case". [[San Francisco Chronicle]].
Archibold, Randal C.. (November 3, 2008). "Governor of Nevada Is Cleared in an Inquiry on Gifts, His Lawyer Says". [[The New York Times]].
(June 11, 1992). "McDade Seeks Specter Records To Try To Prove Conflict Of Interest". [[The Philadelphia Inquirer]].
(September 11, 2017). "Both Parties Turn to Lawyer Lowell in High-Stakes Cases". [[The Wall Street Journal]].
Gerstein, Josh. (February 3, 2011). "Alleged State Department leaker fights charges - Josh Gerstein". [[Politico]].
(June 27, 2017). "Trump son-in-law Kushner hires prominent trial lawyer: NYT". [[Reuters]].
(July 14, 2017). "Kushner lawyer Abbe Lowell taking over Russia case from Gorelick". [[Politico]].
(2023-02-28). "Abbe Lowell Built Ties to Trump World. Now He's One of Hunter Biden's Lawyers". New York Times.
Allen-Ebrahimian, Bethany. (September 29, 2020). "China's influence agents lawyer up". Axios.
Friedman, Dan. (October 21, 2020). "'He Was Throwing Off Cash': How an International Fugitive Tried to Influence Trump's Swamp". Mother Jones.
(2021-02-01). "Man wanted in Carlos Ghosn's escape accuses US of 'betrayal'".
"Lowell & Associates, PLLC".
Mangan, Dan. (2025-08-26). "Lutnick suggests Lisa Cook's refusal to accept Trump firing from Fed supports fraud claim".
https://www.cnn.com/2025/10/24/politics/abbe-lowell-letitia-james-attorney
(December 4, 2020). "Now-Deceased Billionaire Prompted Bribery-for-Pardon Investigation". The Wall Street Journal.
Josh Gerstein. (December 31, 2021). "Complaint could roil DOJ foreign-agent prosecutions". Politico.
Schwartz, Eric Hal. (January 23, 2013). "Having a ball at the DCJCC".

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