Richard Zabel

  • Lecturer in Law

Richard B. Zabel is general counsel and chief legal officer at Elliott Management Corporation. He served as the deputy United States attorney from 2011 to 2015, and as the chief of the criminal division at the United States Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York from 2009 to 2011.

Zabel was a partner at the law firm Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld, where he was co-head of the firm-wide litigation practice, focusing on white collar criminal defense, SEC investigations, corporate internal investigations, complex civil litigation, and appeals.

Before joining Akin Gump, Zabel served for eight years as an assistant U.S. attorney in the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York. During his tenure, he prosecuted a variety of cases involving securities fraud, obstruction of justice, racketeering, firearms, and narcotics charges, and argued numerous cases before the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.

He served as chief of the narcotics unit at the U.S. Attorney’s Office and has received numerous awards, including the Attorney General’s award for Distinguished Service and the Department of Justice Director’s award for Superior Performance as an Assistant U.S. Attorney.

His publications include “In Pursuit of Justice, Prosecuting Terrorism Cases in the Federal Courts: 2009 Update and Recent Developments,” in Human Rights First, July 2009, “In Pursuit of Justice, Prosecuting Terrorism Cases in the Federal Courts,” in Human Rights First, May 2008, and “Congress’ Role in Investigating Fraud: Are Legislators’ Aggressive Approaches in Hearings Helping or Hindering the Process?” in the New York Law Journal, among others.

He taught as an adjunct professor of criminal law at the Fordham University School of Law, and is a member of the New York Bar Association, the Federal Bar Council, and the New York Inn of Court.

He received his J.D. in 1987 from Harvard Law School, where he was named Best Oralist in the Ames Moot Court Competition. Zabel received his A.B. 1983 from Princeton University, where he was a member of Phi Beta Kappa and afterward a Fulbright Scholar.