Pic of Unemployed Guys: White House
Barack Obama dipped his toes in BigLaw, spending a summer at Sidley & Austin, where he met his wife, Michelle. BigLaw wasn’t for him, but he doesn’t seem to be holding that choice against a number of high-level appointees.
In no particular order, so far we have:
- Tom Vilsack (Hamilton BA ’72, Albany JD ’75 – how did he end up in Iowa?), a Des-Moines based energy and agribusiness lobbyist with Dorsey & Whitney and former governor of Iowa, as Secretary of Agriculture;
- Eric Holder (Columbia BA ’73, JD ’76), a DC-based litigation partner at Covington & Burling with extensive experience at the Justice Department, as Attorney General;
- David Ogden (Penn BA ’76, Harvard JD ’81), a government- and regulatory-litigation partner at WilmerHale is the apparent favorite to be Holder’s right hand man as the Deputy Attorney General;
- Ron Kirk (University of Austin BA ’76, UT JD ’79), a Dallas-based public policy and finance partner from Vinson & Elkins and former mayor of Dallas, as US Trade Representative; and
- of course, we can’t forget Hillary Clinton (Wellesley BA ’69, Yale JD ’73), a former partner in the Rose Law Firm (BigLaw by virtue of its vernerability, if not its size), who will be Secretary of State.
From the government and inhouse side, Mary Schapiro, Obama’s appointee to take over the SEC, is one of the higher-profile picks. She’s had a long career as a regulator, having previously headed NASDR and the CFTC and been general counsel at the Futures Industry Association, among other postings.
Related posts:
