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Historical Biography

Deputy Attorney General: Jamie S. Gorelick

Portrait of Deputy Attorney General Jamie S. Gorelick
Gorelick, Jamie S.
28th Deputy Attorney General, -

Jamie S. Gorelick was the 28th Deputy Attorney General of the United States. She served as the Department’s second-ranking official from March 1994 to April 1997.

While Deputy Attorney General, Ms. Gorelick introduced new managerial structures to guide the Department amid a 30 percent increase in personnel and a 70 percent budget increase. One of her top priorities was to help prepare the Department to respond effectively to rising transitional crime and terrorism. Deputy Attorney General Gorelick also worked with the Department’s law enforcement components to improve responses to crisis situations in the aftermath of the Ruby Ridge and Waco incidents.

From mid-1993 until her appointment as Deputy Attorney General in March 1994, Ms. Gorelick was General Counsel of the Department of Defense. There, she helped structure the DoD’s involvement in the substantial consolidation of the defense sector. She served as President of the District of Columbia Bar from 1992 to 1993. 

Between 1979 to 1980, Ms. Gorelick was Assistant to the Secretary of Energy and Counselor to the Deputy Secretary of Energy. In the private sector from 1975 to 1979 and again from 1980 to 1993, she was a litigator in Washington, DC, representing major U.S. corporations in varied legal and business matters.

A native of New York, Ms. Gorelick received her BA magna cum laude at Harvard University in 1972 and her JD cum laude at Harvard Law School in 1975. 

Updated February 29, 2024