Leon ("Lee") E. Irish is President of the International Center for Civil Society Law. His principal current activities are teaching comparative not-for-profit law and human rights, providing technical assistance to developing and transition countries on laws affecting civil society, and publishing a monthly newsletter and quarterly journal through www.iccsl.org. Previously he was a senior partner at Caplin & Drysdale and Jones Day.

Before founding the International Center for Civil Society Law, Dr. Irish and his wife, Prof. Karla Simon, were the founders of the International Center for Not-for-Profit Law, where he served as Chairman or President from 1994-2002. Dr. Irish is a member of the District of Columbia and Supreme Court bars and has been an officer or director of many professional and voluntary organizations, as well as an adjunct or visiting professor at a number of top law schools in the US and Europe. For USAID, UNDP, the World Bank, and others, Dr. Irish has provided technical assistance in over 45 countries around the world for the creation and improvement of laws affecting civil society and citizen rights.

Dr. Irish is a member of the College of Tax Counsel, the American Counsel of Employee Benefits Counsel, the American Bar Association, the American Law Institute, the American Association of International Law, and the Council on Foreign Relations. He served as a law clerk to Associate Justice Byron White of the United States Supreme Court, and for over thirty years he was a member of the Advisory Board of the BNA Pension Reporter. He is listed in Who’s Who and Who’s Who in America.

Lee was born in Superior, Wisconsin. He received his B.A. in history from Stanford University and his J.D. from the University of Michigan Law School, and his D. Phil. (Oxon) in law and legal philosophy at Oxford University.