Raymond

P.

Tolentino

Raymond (“Ray”) P. Tolentino is an experienced litigator, strategic counselor and former senior US government lawyer who focuses on complex commercial litigation, appellate litigation and crisis management. He has extensive experience guiding clients through cutting-edge business disputes, government-facing litigation, high-stakes regulatory proceedings and sensitive investigations in matters involving administrative, constitutional, education, labor and employment, healthcare, financial regulation, and civil rights law. Drawing on his experience working in every branch of the US federal government, Ray assists clients in navigating shifting regulatory environments and advises companies, nonprofits, universities and executives on how to mitigate and address legal, regulatory and reputational risk. He also maintains a robust public interest and pro bono practice focused on antidiscrimination law, immigrants’ rights, gun violence protection, criminal justice, voting rights, and LGBTQ+ and gender equality.

Before joining Cooley, Ray served as special assistant to the president and senior associate counsel in the Office of the White House Counsel, providing legal and strategic advice to the president, vice president, senior White House officials and federal agencies on civil rights, constitutional, regulatory and administrative law issues. At the White House, Ray helped oversee high-profile litigation involving the federal government, working with executive branch officials to shape and implement regulations and policies related to artificial intelligence, antidiscrimination law, labor and employment policy, education, reproductive rights, environmental protection, disability rights, criminal justice reform, and voting rights. Before serving as a White House official, Ray was a partner at a litigation boutique, where he litigated groundbreaking commercial, civil rights and criminal cases and served as the firm’s deputy general counsel. In October 2020, Ray served as special counsel to US Sen. Amy Klobuchar on the Senate Judiciary Committee for the Supreme Court confirmation hearing of Justice Amy Coney Barrett.  

Ray is also a law professor and legal scholar, currently serving as an adjunct professor of law at Georgetown University Law Center, where he teaches the seminar Contemporary Civil Rights Issues at the Supreme Court. From 2022 to 2024, Ray was an adjunct professor at Howard University Law School, where he served as the faculty director of the Civil Rights Clinic. Ray’s white papers, articles and op-eds have appeared in Time magazine, NBC News and Brookings Institution publications, and he regularly speaks to law students, lawyers, bar associations and law professors on various topics, including civil rights law, constitutional law and public interest litigation.

Tolentino received his J.D., summa cum laude, from the Georgetown University Law Center, where he received the Francis E. Lucey, S.J. Award for graduating first in his class and served as the Senior Articles Editor of The Georgetown Law Journal. Tolentino received his B.A., summa cum laude, from Georgetown, where he was elected into Phi Beta Kappa.