Sean Quirk is a judicial law clerk on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. He previously clerked on the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York and worked as an attorney at Covington & Burling LLP in Washington, DC. Before entering law, Sean worked as a research fellow on U.S.-China trade in Beijing and then served as a U.S. Navy surface warfare officer aboard guided-missile destroyer USS Fitzgerald (DDG 62) in Japan and Destroyer Squadron 31 in Pearl Harbor. His past naval deployments include freedom of navigation operations in the South China Sea and the “maximum pressure” campaign against North Korea. He is a Term Member at the Council on Foreign Relations and a Young Leader with the Pacific Forum.

Originally from Palo Alto, Sean received his B.A. in political science from Columbia University, M.P.P. from Harvard Kennedy School, and J.D. from Harvard Law School. While a student, he interned at the White House, the U.S. State Department’s China Desk, and the Council on Foreign Relations.