Robert Davenport is the Norfolk District Counsel. In that capacity, he serves as the District's chief legal officer and principal adviser to the District Commander and executive staff on all legal issues related to the District's Civil Works and Military Programs.
Davenport is the former General Counsel of Nova Property Solutions, a privately held real estate investment and consulting firm in Washington, D.C. In that capacity he resolved a vast array of compliance, transactional, contracting, and environmental legal issues associated with the firm's operations.
Prior to Nova, Davenport was an Associate Deputy General Counsel in the Office of Army General Counsel, Pentagon. He provided legal advice to the Secretary of the Army and other Secretariat Officials on critical legal and policy issues related to the Army's environmental, fiscal and real estate programs to include BRAC and the Army's Military Housing Privatization Initiative. He provided counsel on all aspects of these programs and drafted legal opinions, transactional and governance documents that resolved complex issues of first impression. In recognition of his exemplary performance, which included many "firsts" for several transactions, Davenport was the recipient of the Meritorious Civilian Service Medal and Superior Civilian Service Award from the Secretary of the Army and the Meritorious Service Medal from the Army General Counsel.
Davenport is a Virginia Beach native. He graduated cum laude from Norfolk State University and was commissioned as a second lieutenant in the United States Army. He then attended the University of Wisconsin School of Law and received his Juris Doctorate degree. While at the University of Wisconsin, he served on the Moot Court Board, as Articles Editor of the Wisconsin International Law Journal and co-founded the Wisconsin Black Law Alumni Scholarship Association.
In 2009, Davenport was appointed to the Virginia Land Conservation Foundation Board of Trustees by the Governor of Virginia. He is currently a member of the District of Columbia bar, Wisconsin State Bar, the American Bar Association and admitted to practice before the United States Supreme Court.