“The Legacy of Women at DOJ”

On Friday, April 8, 2022, the NAFUSA Annual Conference in San Diego will feature a panel discussion entitled “The Legacy of Women at DOJ.” It will feature former United States Attorney General Loretta Lynch, former Deputy Attorney General Jamie Gorelick and former Deputy Attorney General and former Acting Attorney General Sally Yates. The panel will be moderated by NAFUSA President Karen Hewitt.

 

Loretta E. Lynch, the former United States Attorney General, is a partner in the Paul, Weiss Litigation Department. Ms. Lynch’s legal career has included both private law practice and public service, including three presidential appointments. Ms. Lynch served as the U.S. Attorney General from 2015-2017, where she was appointed by President Barack Obama.

In 1990, Ms. Lynch became an Assistant U.S. Attorney in the United States Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of New York, where she rose through the ranks, serving in the General Crimes Section as Deputy Chief (1992–93), in the Long Island Division as Chief (1994–98), and as the Chief Assistant to the U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of New York (1998–99) before being named U.S. Attorney of that office in 1999 by President Bill Clinton.

Ms. Lynch returned to private practice in 2002, where she specialized in commercial litigation, white-collar criminal defense and corporate compliance issues. During this period, Ms. Lynch also served on the Board of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York and was Special Counsel to the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda.

In 2010 Pres. Obama appointed Ms. Lynch once again as U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of New York. Ms. Lynch received her J.D. and her B.A. in American Literature from Harvard University.

As one of Washington’s best-known litigators, Jamie Gorelick has represented institutions and individuals in a wide array of matters, particularly in the regulatory and enforcement arenas.  Routinely listed as one of the “Best Lawyers in America,” she was the 2018 American Lawyer  “Lifetime Achiever”, has been profiled as “A Legend in the Law” in the Washington Lawyer, and listed by the National Law Journal as one of the “Thirty Greatest Washington Lawyers of the Last 30 Years.”  She recently received the American Bar Foundation’s Outstanding Service Award.

Jamie has been in and out of government for most of her career.  She was one of the longest serving Deputy Attorneys General of the United States, the second highest position in the Department of Justice.She is currently a partner at WilmerHale is Washington, DC.

Former Deputy Attorney General Sally Yates is a partner in King & Spalding’s Special Matters & Government Investigations practice.  Her practice focuses on counseling clients in complex and sensitive matters, including government enforcement and regulatory matters, congressional investigations, compliance, corporate governance and crisis management. Drawing upon her nearly three decades at the Department of Justice, she specializes in internal and independent investigations for public and private organizations and boards. In addition to serving as the second-highest ranking official at the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) Sallly also served as the Acting Attorney General.

An accomplished trial lawyer and Fellow in the American College of Trial Lawyers, Sally has tried numerous high-profile cases.

 

Karen Hewitt is a former United States Attorney and an experienced trial lawyer who has successfully litigated hundreds of cases in federal court for more than two decades. She currently represents companies nationwide in civil and criminal investigations and in complex business litigation. Karen’s practice focuses on defending matters involving possible violations of federal law, including the Anti-Kickback Statute, the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, the Taft-Hartley Act, and the False Claims Act. She is Partner-in-Charge of Jones Day’s California Region, which encompasses five offices and nearly 300 lawyers. She has been recognized in Chambers as a “real powerhouse.” Karen is President of the National Association of Former U.S. Attorneys.