Robert B. Fiske

For other persons named Robert Fiske, see Robert Fiske (disambiguation).

Robert Bishop Fiske, Jr. (born December 28, 1930 in New York City) is a prominent trial attorney and a partner with the law firm of Davis Polk & Wardwell in New York City. He was the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York from 1976 to 1980 after earlier having served as an assistant in the office from 1957 to 1961. Attorney General Janet Reno appointed Fiske as the "special prosecutor" to investigate the Whitewater controversy and the death of White House Counsel Vincent Foster in January 1994, but when Congress abolished the position of special prosecutor by passing the Independent Counsel Reauthorization Act of 1994, Fiske was replaced by former D.C. Circuit judge Kenneth Starr. At Davis Polk, Fiske's clients have included the National Football League in an antitrust suit brought by the United States Football League; Clark Clifford and Robert A. Altman in investigations of their roles in the BCCI matter; Exxon in New York and New Jersey investigations of the Arthur Kill oil spill; A. Alfred Taubman of Sotheby's on charges of conspiring to violate antitrust laws by engaging in price-fixing with rival Christie's; and Sanjay Kumar of Computer Associates International, Inc. on charges of securities fraud and obstruction of justice. He is a past president of the American College of Trial Lawyers and the Federal Bar Council.

He has a BA from Yale University (1952), where he was a member of Wolf's Head, and a JD from the University of Michigan (1955), where he was associate editor of the law review.