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Former Ambassador Christopher Landau

Christopher Landau is an American lawyer and diplomat who served as United States Ambassador to Mexico from 2019 to 2021.

In that position, he presided over the largest American diplomatic mission in the world and fostered unprecedented bilateral cooperation that yielded results including the ratification and entry into force of the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Free Trade Agreement, protection of border commerce and regional supply chains during the pandemic, and the lowest levels of illegal migration in years. He also promoted cultural and educational links, and his innovative public diplomacy outreach garnered him more than a quarter million followers on social media.

Prior to his diplomatic service, Ambassador Landau practiced law for thirty years, serving as head of the appellate litigation practice at Kirkland & Ellis LLP, and was on the White House list of potential nominees to the U.S. Supreme Court.

He has briefed and argued cases involving a wide range of issues in that Court and all of the federal courts of appeals. Chris clerked twice at the U.S. Supreme Court, first for Justice Antonin Scalia and then for Justice Clarence Thomas.

He graduated first in his class at Harvard College, where he received a Certificate in Latin American Studies and wrote a prize-winning thesis on U.S. relations with Venezuela. He was born in Spain as the son of a career Foreign Service Officer, and grew up in Paraguay, Chile, and Venezuela. He is a native Spanish speaker.