John C. Demers

B.A., magna cum laude, College of the Holy Cross; J.D., magna cum laude, John Demers is Vice President and Assistant General Counsel, Global Law Affairs, for the Boeing Company.  In that capacity, John manages and leads the Boeing Law Department’s international practice group.  With offices and attorneys around the world, Global Law Affairs provides enterprise-wide support to the company across a complete range of international legal issues.  Global Law Affairs has three key areas of responsibility:  general counseling for Boeing International and for the company’s foreign-based operations; advising the company on cross-border trade regulations (e.g., the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, trade controls, foreign investment rules); and managing international legal policy matters, including World Trade Organization dispute resolution.

Previously, John was Chief Counsel for Network & Space Systems, a division of Boeing whose business includes satellites, space exploration, missile defense systems, cybersecurity, and network and tactical systems.  Before joining Boeing, John served in several different positions in the U.S. Department of Justice, including that of Deputy Assistant Attorney General for the Office of Law & Policy in the National Security Division. As such, he led a team of lawyers who were responsible for a variety of national security legal and policy issues, including questions involving cybersecurity, national security letters, guidelines for investigations, and the national security provisions of the U.S. Code.  Among other responsibilities, John worked on the Department’s efforts to modernize surveillance law, which culminated in the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act Amendments Act of 2008, and he helped to develop and present the Department’s legal positions before the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court.  In addition to his work at the Justice Department, John has worked in private practice at Ropes & Gray in Boston and clerked for Associate Justice Antonin Scalia of the U.S. Supreme Court and Judge Diarmuid O’Scannlain of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit.  John graduated from Harvard Law School and the College of the Holy Cross and is a member of the bars of the State of New York and the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.