16 Facts About Kevin O'Malley

Kevin Francis O'Malley was born on May 12,1947 and is an American lawyer and diplomat who was the United States Ambassador to Ireland from 2014 to 2017.

Kevin O'Malley is a second generation Irish American, with dual citizenship of the United States and Ireland until he returned his Irish citizenship in order to become ambassador.

Kevin O'Malley has been an active member of the Democratic Party in Missouri, and White House Chief of Staff Denis McDonough described Kevin O'Malley as a "close personal friend" of US President Barack Obama.

Kevin O'Malley was previously an officer in the United States Army Reserve.

Kevin O'Malley was a Special Attorney of the Organized Crime and Racketeering Section of the United States Department of Justice in Washington, DC, Los Angeles, California and Phoenix, Arizona from 1974 to 1979 and was an Assistant United States Attorney in St Louis, Missouri from 1979 to 1983.

Kevin O'Malley served as an adjunct professor of law at Saint Louis University School of Law from 1979 to 1985, where he previously studied, and as an adjunct professor of law at Washington University School of Law in 2013 and 2014.

Kevin O'Malley was a legal instructor for the American Bar Association Central and East European Law Initiative in Moscow, Russia in 1996 and Warsaw, Poland in 1999.

Kevin O'Malley is a fellow of the American College of Trial Lawyers, and a nationally recognised author of a treatise on jury instructions that is used in federal jury trials throughout the United States.

Kevin O'Malley has been consistently chosen by the editors of The Best Lawyers in America for his work in medical negligence defence and white collar criminal defences.

On June 5,2014, Kevin O'Malley was nominated by President Obama for the position of US Ambassador of Ireland.

Senator Claire McCaskill, a Democrat from Missouri, immediately threw her support behind Kevin O'Malley, as did Senator Roy Blunt, a Republican from Missouri.

White House Chief of Staff Denis McDonough said that Kevin O'Malley would bring "a strong knowledge of the role of the religious and cultural underpinnings, and the very important foreign policy and national security undergirdings" of the relationship between the United States and Ireland.

The appointment of Kevin O'Malley was approved by the Irish Government.

On July 15,2014, Kevin O'Malley underwent his first confirmation hearing before the US Senate Committee on Foreign Relations.

Kevin O'Malley was then officially appointed by President Obama, and sworn in by Vice President Biden on September 30,2014.

Kevin O'Malley presented his credentials to Irish President Michael D Higgins on October 8,2014, taking up residency nearby in the Deerfield Residence in the Phoenix Park.