Christopher Landau (born November 13, 1963) is an American lawyer and diplomat who served as the United States Ambassador to Mexico from 2019 to 2021.^[2][3] He was nominated to the position by President Donald Trump.

Landau was born in Madrid, Spain, where his father, George Landau (later United States Ambassador to Paraguay, Chile, and Venezuela), was then stationed with the Foreign Service. His father, who was Jewish, was born in Vienna and fled to South America after the Nazi annexation of Austria in 1938.^[4] Landau was raised Catholic.^[4]

Landau attended the American School of Asunción, Paraguay, for five years.^[5] He is fluent in Spanish which he learned from childhood.^[4]

Landau graduated from Groton School in Groton, Massachusetts, in 1981. He earned his Bachelor of Arts in history, summa cum laude, from Harvard College in 1985, where he was elected to Phi Beta Kappa his junior year, earned a Certificate in Latin American Studies, and received the Sophia Freund Prize for the highest grade point average in his graduating class.^[6][7][8] He wrote his senior thesis, which was awarded the Hoopes Prize, on United States relations with the leftist government of Venezuela in the mid 1940s.^[1] He received his Juris Doctor, magna cum laude, from Harvard Law School in 1989, where he was articles co-chair of the Harvard Law Review and won the Sears Prize for the highest grade-point average in his second year.

Landau is related to Israeli sculptor Sigalit Landau.^[4]

After graduating from law school, Landau clerked for then-judge Clarence Thomas of the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit.^[4] He later clerked for Justices Antonin Scalia and Thomas of the Supreme Court of the United States during the 1990 and 1991 Terms, respectively. During the former clerkship, Landau was co-clerk with Lawrence Lessig; during the latter clerkship, he was co-clerks with Gregory G. Katsas, Gregory E. Maggs and Stephen R. McAllister.

In 1993, Landau joined Kirkland & Ellis as an associate, becoming a partner in 1995. He was chairman of the firm's appellate practice until he left after 25 years to join Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan in 2018.^[9][10][11] He has argued nine cases before the U.S. Supreme Court, including two on behalf of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, and has briefed and argued appeals in all of the U.S. Courts of Appeals.^[4]

From 1994 to 1995, Landau was an adjunct professor of administrative law at the Georgetown University Law Center.^[5] In 2017, the Chief Justice of the United States appointed him to the Advisory Committee on the Federal Rules of Appellate Procedure.^[12] Landau served as a Trustee of the United States Supreme Court Historical Society, and Chair of the Society's Programs Committee.^[13] He was also a Director of the Diplomacy Center Foundation, which supports the United States Diplomacy Center at the United States Department of State.^[14]

On March 26, 2019, President Donald Trump nominated Landau as United States Ambassador to Mexico.^[15] On August 1, 2019, the Senate unanimously confirmed his nomination by voice vote.^[16][17] He was sworn into office on August 12, 2019, arrived in Mexico on August 16, 2019, and presented his credentials to President Andrés Manuel López Obrador on August 26, 2019.^[18][19][20] As Ambassador, Landau made the issue of immigration a top policy priority.^[21]

On September 9, 2020, President Trump added Landau to a list of potential nominees to the Supreme Court of the United States.^[22] After Joe Biden succeeded Trump as President, Landau left his post as ambassador in 2021, and was replaced by former U.S. Senator from Colorado Ken Salazar.^[23]

• List of ambassadors of the United States to Mexico
• List of law clerks of the Supreme Court of the United States (Seat 9)
• List of law clerks of the Supreme Court of the United States (Seat 10)
• Donald Trump Supreme Court candidates