Ivan Schlager

Ivan Schlager is an international trade and national security partner in the Washington, D.C., office of Kirkland & Ellis LLP. Ivan provides counsel on structuring, negotiating and documenting transactions to address regulatory issues, including approval by the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS). He represents a diverse group of clients ranging from defense companies, major telecommunications providers, and media and technology companies to private equity firms and companies in the financial services, energy, manufacturing and health care industries.

Ivan has significant experience navigating national security reviews and negotiating complex mitigation agreements. He has developed innovative structures to address national security issues in some of the largest and most complex cross-border transactions. He also assists clients with industrial security (including mitigation of foreign ownership, control or influence (FOCI)), international trade, export control and government contracting issues, as well as congressional investigations and other matters involving government relations and investigations. In 2021, Chambers Global also assigned Ivan a Band 1 rating in International Trade: CFIUS Experts (USA).

Before joining Kirkland, Ivan was a partner and head of the national security practice and served on the Policy Committee at Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP. His prior experience includes serving as the chief counsel and staff director to the U.S. Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation, where he supervised subcommittee professional staff and devised legislative strategy.