Socarides' Biography

THE WHITE HOUSE Washington RICHARD SOCARIDES Special Assistant to the President and Senior Advisor for Public Liaison Richard Socarides is Special Assistant to the President and Senior Advisor for Public Liaison at the White House. In this position he is responsible for coordinating policy, constituent outreach, press and communications strategy relating to key presidential initiatives and representing the President and articulating administration policy in speeches and other public appearances. He is also responsible for eliciting public input and opinion regarding policy issues, federal programs and presidential initiatives; communicating the views of the public to the President and his other advisors; and coordinating support for a wide variety of White House activities. He works closely with the White House Counsel, the Office of Legislative Affairs and the Domestic Policy Council to help coordinate legal, policy and legislative issues. Currently Socarides also serves as Chief Operating Officer of the 50th Anniversary Summit of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO). He organized the White House Conference on School Safety held on October 15, 1998. He coordinated policy, constituent outreach, press and communications strategy relating to the President's year-long initiative on race for the Office of the White House Chief of Staff. He served as principal organizer for the White House Conference on Hate Crimes in November 1997. Socarides also coordinates Administration policy on issues relating to gay Americans. He was one of the principal organizers of the first ever White House Conference on AIDS/HIV in 1995. From 1993 to 1995, Socarides was the White House Liaison for the United States Department of Labor. He conducted outreach to the business and labor communities and served as an advisor to the Secretary of Labor and to the Director of Presidential Personnel at the White House. From 1991 to 1993, Socarides worked for United States Senator Tom Harkin (D-Iowa), serving at various points on Senator Harkin's campaign and Senate staff as Political Director and Senior Advisor. He was Deputy Director for Public Liaison for Clinton/Gore '96. He also worked on the Clinton/Gore campaign in 1992, the Presidential Inaugural in 1993 and the United States Senate campaign of Geraldine Ferraro in 1991, among other campaigns. In his native New York City, Socarides was a partner in the law firm of Squadron, Ellenoff, Plesent and Lehrer. Prior to that he was an associate at the New York law firm of Lans Feinberg and Cohen and a Law Clerk at the New York County District Attorney's Office. He graduated from Hofstra University Law School and Antioch College. April 1999