Robert N. Davis

Robert N. Davis is a George W. and Sadella D. Crawford Visiting Lecturer in Law at Yale Law School. He was appointed by the President of the United States as a Judge of the United States Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims on December 4, 2004. He served as Chief Judge from October 9, 2016, until December 3, 2019.

Prior to his judicial appointment, Davis was a full tenured professor of law at Stetson University College of Law, Gulfport, Florida. He joined the Stetson law faculty in August 2001 after teaching for 13 years at the University of Mississippi School of Law, where he was a tenured full professor. He has also held teaching positions at the University of South Florida, Georgetown University Law Center, the University of Memphis, and Washington and Lee University. He has taught in summer programs at the University of Hawaii; Downing College, England; and Concordia International University, Estonia; and has lectured at Makerere University School of Law in Uganda and at the University of Papua New Guinea.

Davis has taught constitutional law, administrative law, national and international security law, alternative dispute resolution, counterterrorism, and international and domestic sports law.

He is the founder of the Journal of National Security Law and has held positions of leadership with the American Bar Associations' Standing Committee on Law and National Security, the Federalist Society, and the American Association of Law Schools. He has written numerous articles on a variety of subjects, including a recent article published by the Texas Tech Law Review titled: "Veterans Fighting Wars at Home and Abroad." He has been a frequent commentator on television, radio, and newspapers regarding national security, terrorism, constitutional law, and elections issues. While teaching in Mississippi, he was appointed by the Governor as a Mississippi Commissioner to the National Conference of Commissioners on Uniform State Laws.

Davis has extensive experience as an arbitrator and mediator with the American Arbitration Association. He was a mediator with the United States Postal Service and was an arbitration panel member with the United States Olympic Committee.

Davis presides over the veterans court as a decorated Navy veteran. During his Navy career as an intelligence officer, he took a variety of active duty assignments around the world, including assignments to Headquarters European Command 1991, Stuttgart, Germany; Mediterranean Deployment Aboard the USS America 1993; Joint Analysis Center 1994, Molesworth, United Kingdom, DOD Foreign Officer Exchange Program 2000, Papua, New Guinea; Joint Fleet Exercise USS Coronado 2001, San Diego, CA; National Security Agency in 1997, 1998 and 2000; a presidential recall in 1999 to Bosnia; recall to active duty after the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001, to the Joint Intelligence Directorate at MacDill Air Force Base, Tampa, Florida; and Joint Staff Response Cell in support of OEF and OIF, Pentagon, 2005–2007.

Davis graduated from the University of Hartford, West Hartford, Connecticut, in 1975 and the Georgetown University Law Center, Washington, D.C., in 1978. He practiced as an appellate attorney for five years with the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, Washington, D.C. Davis subsequently spent four years with the United States Department of Education, Washington, D.C., in the business and administrative law division. He also briefly served as a Special Assistant United States Attorney in the District of Columbia as part of a Federal agency exchange program.

Davis is an avid sportsman and naturalist enjoying a variety of sports and hobbies including traditional Chinese Kung Fu and Tai Chi (Pai Lum Tao), birdwatching, hiking, biking, swimming, camping, tennis, and golf. He enjoys traveling and speaks elementary Spanish and German.