Paul Drew Clement (born June 24, 1966) is an American lawyer who served as U.S. Solicitor General from 2004 to 2008 and is known for his advocacy before the U.S. Supreme Court. He established his own law firm, Clement & Murphy, in 2022 after leaving Kirkland & Ellis, following that firm’s decision to end its Second Amendment work. He is also a Distinguished Lecturer in Law at Georgetown University and an adjunct professor at New York University School of Law. He was nominated by President George W. Bush on March 14, 2005, for the post of Solicitor General, confirmed by the United States Senate on June 8, 2005, and took the oath of office on June 13. Clement resigned on May 14, 2008, effective June 2, 2008, and joined the Georgetown University Law Center as a visiting professor and senior fellow at the Supreme Court Institute. Early life and education Clement was born and raised in Cedarburg, Wisconsin. He was one of four children born to Jean and Jerry Clement. After graduating from Cedarburg High School in 1984, Clement attended Georgetown University's Walsh School of Foreign Service, graduating in 1988 with a Bachelor of Science in Foreign Service summa cum laude. While at Georgetown, Clement successfully competed in the American Parliamentary Debate Association as part of the university's Philodemic Society. Clement then did graduate study in economics at Cambridge University's Darwin College, receiving an M.Phil. with distinction in 1989. He then attended Harvard Law School, where he became Supreme Court editor of the Harvard Law Review. He was also one of eight editors of the law review's annual lampoon who oversaw publication of a satirical piece mocking an article by Mary Joe Frug on the one-year anniversary of her murder. Clement and the other seven editors apologized for the parody after backlash from students and faculty. Clement graduated from Harvard in 1992 with a Juris Doctor magna cum laude. Legal career After law school, Clement was a law clerk to U.S. circuit judge Laurence Silberman of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit from 1992 to 1993, then to U.S. Supreme Court justice Antonin Scalia from 1993 to 1994. After his clerkships, Clement entered private practice as an associate in the Washington, D.C. office of the law firm Kirkland & Ellis. Clement went on to serve as Chief Counsel of Subcommittee on the Constitution, Federalism and