Biography
Cecil VanDevender joins Lewis & Clark Law School following a distinguished career at the U.S. Department of Justice.
From 2013 to 2023, he served in numerous roles in the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Middle District of Tennessee, including as First Assistant U.S. Attorney, Appellate Chief, and Assistant U.S. Attorney. In those roles, he briefed, argued, and supervised dozens of cases in the U.S. Court of Appeals, and investigated and prosecuted cases involving public corruption, fraud, and organized crime. From 2023 to 2025, Cecil served as Assistant Special Counsel in the office of Special Counsel Jack Smith, where he worked on the two federal criminal cases involving the investigation and prosecution of then-former President Donald J. Trump.
Prior to his work for the Department of Justice, Cecil spent two years in private practice, at Bass, Berry & Sims LLP, and, prior to that, clerked for the Honorable Richard J. Sullivan, on the U.S. District Court for Southern District of New York, and the Honorable Gilbert S. Merritt, Jr., on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit.
Cecil received his bachelor’s degree, cum laude, from Princeton University, and his juris doctor, magna cum laude, from Georgetown University Law Center.