UNITED STATES ATTORNEY JOYCE WHITE VANCE NORTHERN DISTRICT OF ALABAMA
	FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE			CONTACT: STACY CRANE
	AUGUST 7, 2009			PHONE: (205) 244-2001
	www.usdoj.gov/usao/aln			FAX: (205) 244-2171

The U.S. Senate today confirmed Joyce White Vance as United States Attorney for the Northern District of Alabama. She was one of five nominees approved by unanimous consent.

Vance, 49, presently is serving as interim U.S. attorney. She will take her oath as U.S. attorney as soon as President Obama signs her commission. A formal swearing in ceremony will take place in late August with U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder attending.
         
“I’m excited to have been confirmed as U.S. attorney for the Northern District of Alabama. I am honored to have the chance to work in an office of dedicated people, who are committed to the cause of justice,” Vance said. “ I am deeply grateful for the support I received from Congressman Artur Davis, a former federal prosecutor, and to our senators, Jeff Sessions, who also served as a U.S. attorney, and Richard Shelby.”

“My office will be committed to following the best traditions of law and justice in this country, and ensuring the security of the citizens of this district,” Vance said.

Vance was chief of the Northern District’s appellate division from October 2005 until she was named interim U.S. attorney in June. She first joined the Birmingham office as an assistant U.S. attorney, prosecuting criminal cases, in 1991.
         
Vance graduated from Bates College in Lewiston Maine in 1982 and from the University of Virginia School of Law in 1985.  After law school, she practiced with the litigation group at Arent, Fox, Kintner, Plotkin, and Kahn in Washington, D.C.  Vance moved to Birmingham in 1987, where she joined Bradley, Arant, Rose, and White. She practiced there until joining the U.S. Attorney’s Office.   She is married to Jefferson County Circuit Judge Robert S. Vance Jr.  They have four children, ages six to eighteen.