Whit Cobb

Whit Cobb is the Senior Vice President & General Counsel of PAE, based in Arlington, Virginia. PAE provides services to the U.S. government, international agencies, foreign governments, and companies on all seven continents. Mr. Cobb is responsible for providing legal advice to PAE’s senior leadership on all aspects of the company’s business, leading the legal, contracts, security, export control and ethics functions, and maintaining the proper environment of compliance throughout the organization.

Mr. Cobb was the Vice President & Deputy General Counsel of BAE Systems, Inc. from January 2004 to January 2012. As the Deputy General Counsel, he provided legal counsel to the senior leadership of the company, primarily in the areas of government contracts, corporate law, compliance, employment, pension and other employee benefits, real estate, and information technology. He also assisted the General Counsel in managing the BAE Systems legal department.

Mr. Cobb served as the Deputy General Counsel (Legal Counsel) of the U.S. Department of Defense from 2001 until 2004. While at the Pentagon, he was the chief litigator for the Department of Defense and worked closely with the U.S. Department of Justice. He also supervised the military commissions process and criminal justice issues relating to the war on terrorism. His other responsibilities included overseeing legal services relating to personnel security and contractor security issues (including the Defense Office of Hearings and Appeals), providing legal advice with respect to congressional inquiries, and supporting the DoD public affairs office.

Prior to his service with the Department of Defense, Mr. Cobb was a partner in the Washington, D.C. office of Jenner & Block, where he focused on litigation, government contracts, and telecommunications issues. Before joining Jenner & Block in 1996, he was the Judicial Fellow at the Administrative Office of the United States Courts.

From 1991 to 1995, he served on active duty in the United States Army as an attorney in the Army General Counsel’s Office, where he worked on intelligence and classified program issues. Immediately after law school, he clerked for Judge Thomas A. Clark of the United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit.

Mr. Cobb is a native of Durham, North Carolina and a former Army brat. He graduated summa cum laude from Duke University, which he attended on an ROTC scholarship. Mr. Cobb, a 1990 graduate of Yale Law School, was Executive Editor of the Yale Law Journal. He is a former Chair of the Legal Committee of the Aerospace Industries Association.