Attorney General: Michael B. Mukasey

Michael B. Mukasey was born on July 28, 1941, in New York City, New York. He earned his bachelor’s degree from Columbia University in 1963 and his law degree from Yale Law School in 1967. At Yale, he was a member of the Board of Editors of the Yale Law Journal. After graduating from law school, Mukasey entered private practice with the firm of Webster, Sheffield, Fleischmann, Hitchcock & Brookfield in New York City where he remained until 1972. He was appointed Assistant U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York in 1972 and became chief of that office’s Official Corruption Unit in 1975. Mukasey returned to private practice in 1976 as a partner with the New York City law firm of Patterson, Belknap, Webb & Tyler, where he remained until 1987 when confirmed to the bench of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York. He became the Chief Judge of that court in 2000, serving until his retirement from the bench in 2006. Mukasey then returned to private practice at Patterson, Belknap, Webb & Tyler. 

Mukasey was sworn in as the 81st Attorney General of the United States on November 14, 2007, under President George W. Bush, an office he held until January 20, 2009. Upon leaving the Department of Justice, he joined Debevoise & Plimpton as a partner in New York City.