Lynch, Loretta, 1959-

<p>Loretta Elizabeth Lynch (born May 21, 1959) is an American lawyer who served as the 83rd Attorney General of the United States from 2015 to 2017. She was appointed by President Barack Obama to succeed Eric Holder and previously served as the United States Attorney for the Eastern District of New York under both Presidents Bill Clinton (1999–2001) and Barack Obama (2010–2015). As a U.S. Attorney, Lynch oversaw federal prosecutions in Brooklyn, Queens, Staten Island and Long Island.</p>

<p>Born in Greensboro, North Carolina, Lynch graduated from Harvard Law School in 1984. She then practiced law in New York and became a federal prosecutor in 1990, rising to become head of the Eastern District office. She later returned to private law practice, until she again became the top district prosecutor. From 2003 to 2005, she served on the board of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York.</p>

<p>On November 8, 2014, President Barack Obama nominated her to succeed Eric Holder as Attorney General. On February 26, 2015, the Judiciary Committee of the United States Senate recommended her confirmation by a 12–8 vote, with all Democrats of the committee and three Republicans in favor. On April 23, 2015, Lynch was confirmed by the Senate by a 56–43 vote, making her the second African-American, the second woman and the first African-American woman to be confirmed for the position. She was sworn in as Attorney General on April 27, 2015.</p>

<p>Lynch was born on May 21, 1959, in Greensboro, North Carolina. Her mother, Lorine Lynch was a school librarian and her father, Lorenzo Lynch a Baptist minister both graduated from the HBCU Shaw University. The Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee(SNCC) was founded on the campus of Shaw University. As a child, she spent hours with her father, watching court proceedings in the courthouse of Durham, North Carolina. Her early interest in court proceedings was compounded by stories of her grandfather, a sharecropper and pastor, who in the 1930s helped people move to the north to escape persecution under the racist Jim Crow laws of the time. Lynch earned a Bachelor of Arts in English and American literature from Harvard College in 1981 and a Juris Doctor from Harvard Law School in 1984, where she was a member of the Harvard Legal Aid Bureau. She is a member of Delta Sigma Theta sorority, and was a charter member of the Xi Tau chapter of the sorority while at Harvard.</p>

<p>Eighty-Third Attorney General, 2015-2017</p>

<p>Loretta E. Lynch was born on May 21, 1959, in Greensboro, North Carolina. She received her A.B., cum laude, from Harvard College in 1981, and her J.D. from Harvard Law School in 1984.</p>

<p>In 1990, after a period in private practice, Ms. Lynch joined the United States Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of New York, located in Brooklyn, the city she considers her adopted home. There, she forged an impressive career prosecuting cases involving narcotics, violent crimes, public corruption, and civil rights, including the high-profile case of Abner Louima, a Haitian immigrant who was sexually assaulted by uniformed police officers in a Brooklyn police precinct in 1997.</p>

<p>In 1999, President Bill Clinton appointed her to lead the office as United States Attorney, a post she held until 2001. In 2002, she joined Hogan & Hartson LLP (now Hogan Lovells) as a partner in the firm’s New York office. While in private practice, Ms. Lynch performed extensive pro bono work for the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda, established to prosecute those responsible for human rights violations in the 1994 genocide in that nation. As Special Counsel to the Tribunal, she was responsible for investigating allegations of witness tampering and false testimony.</p>

<p>In 2010, President Barack Obama asked Ms. Lynch to resume her leadership of the United States Attorney’s Office in Brooklyn. Under her direction, the office successfully prosecuted numerous corrupt public officials, terrorists, cybercriminals and human traffickers, among other important cases.</p>

<p>President Obama announced his intention to nominate Ms. Lynch as Attorney General on November 8, 2014 and she was sworn in as the 83rd Attorney General of the United States by Vice President Joe Biden on April 27, 2015.</p>

<p>Ms. Lynch is the daughter of Lorenzo and Lorine Lynch of Durham, N.C., whose shared commitment to justice inspired her career in public service.</p>

<p>Loretta E. Lynch, the former United States Attorney General, is a partner in the Paul, Weiss Litigation Department. Ms. Lynch advises clients on government and internal investigations and on high-stakes litigation and regulatory matters.</p>

<p>Ms. Lynch’s legal career has included both private law practice and public service, including three presidential appointments.</p>

<p>Ms. Lynch served as the U.S. Attorney General from 2015-2017, where she was appointed by President Barack Obama. As Attorney General, Ms. Lynch oversaw more than 100,000 employees across numerous agencies and offices, including the 93 U.S. Attorneys; major investigative agencies, including the FBI, the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF); the U.S. Marshals Service; the Bureau of Prisons; the National Security Division; and the Office of the Solicitor General, among others. She also supervised the DOJ’s major litigating divisions, including Antitrust, Civil, Civil Rights, Criminal, Environment and Natural Resources, and Tax.</p>

<p>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.</p>

<p>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.</p>

<p>In 2010 Pres. Obama appointed Ms. Lynch once again as U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of New York, where her office would go on to prosecute major terrorism, fraud and corruption cases. In the wake of the global financial crisis, she supervised the investigations of and subsequent high-value settlements with a number of global banks stemming from the banks’ involvement in the mortgage securities market, as well as in a settlement with a global bank related to the Bank Secrecy Act.</p>

<p>Ms. Lynch received her J.D. and her B.A. in American Literature from Harvard University.</p>