Charles Borden, Partner, Allen & Overy, 39
Job: I head the firm's political law practice. A nonpartisan corporate political law practice, we advise large multinationals on compliance with international, federal, state and local political law regulatory regimes. We particularly focus on advising financial institutions and working with global political law and public affairs operations.
Community involvement: I'm working with an a nonprofit involved in advocacy work on public policy issues, helping it develop a political law compliance program. I've also been working with a local think tank on several projects aimed at reforming the federal appointments and personnel process. In the past, I've worked on numerous pro bono voting rights matters, including cases relating to voter ID, redistricting and voter registration issues.
Career highlights: Counseling nominees for Cabinet and senior White House positions in both Republican and Democratic administrations; representing major trade associations in significant rulemakings on pay-to-play and other political law issues; working with colleagues in Europe and Asia to develop compliance and risk mitigation strategies for emerging non-US political law regimes.
Why this career: When I was starting my legal career, I was interested in working in an area that combined law and public policy, so political law issues such as campaign finance, pay-to-play and lobbying regulations were a natural fit.
Where you grew up: Larchmont, NY, in Westchester County.
Why DC: My wife decided to attend the University of Maryland to get her doctorate in British literature.
First job: Caddy at the Winged Foot Golf Club in New York.
Family: I'm married with two sons—one is 2 years old, the other is eight days old.
Free time: Reading about British or American history; attending baseball games. I grew up a Yankees fan but since I don't have a National League team, I can get behind the Nats. We took our older son to a Bowie Baysox game recently and hope to take him to a Nats game later this summer.
10 years from now: Continuing to build out the political law practice at Allen & Overy. I was one of the founding partners of the DC office four years ago, when there were four partners and two associates. We now have 40 attorneys. Our goal is ultimately to have an office more than twice that size, comparable to many of the other DC offices of non-DC headquartered firms.
Favorite vacation spots: I'm an Anglophile—London and Edinburgh.
Bucket list: To walk the Old Course at St. Andrews during the British Open.
Daily habit: I try to make sure I'm home in time to put my older son to bed every night.
Startling fact: Before law school, I was going to be a historian with a focus on Medieval Scottish history. I received a master's degree in Scottish history on a Fulbright at the University of Edinburgh, which proved useful last fall when people suddenly became interested in the last time Scotland was independent.
