Former Justice Department Prosecutor and National Security Official Amy Jeffress Joins Arnold & Porter
Washington, DC, April 16, 2014 -- Arnold & Porter LLP announced today that Amy Jeffress, a former high-ranking official in the U.S. Department of Justice, has joined the firm as a partner in its White Collar Defense and National Security practices. Ms. Jeffress will be resident in the firm's Washington office, where her practice will focus on national and international security and compliance issues, internal investigations, enforcement actions, and criminal defense.
In a legal career spanning nearly two decades, primarily at the U.S. Department of Justice, Ms. Jeffress most recently served as the Department's Attaché to the U.S. Embassy in London, where she was responsible for coordinating criminal matters between the United States and the United Kingdom. While at the Department of Justice, she also served as Counselor to the Attorney General; Assistant U.S. Attorney in the District of Columbia, including two years as Chief of the National Security Section; and Counsel to the Deputy Attorney General.
"An experienced prosecutor, and more recently Attorney General Eric Holder's counselor on national security and international matters, Amy has earned great respect both inside and outside the government not only for her legal skill but also for her sophisticated judgment on how to resolve very difficult issues," said Arnold & Porter Chairman Thomas Milch. "I am confident that our clients will benefit enormously from her combined experience in national/international security investigations and litigation."
Ms. Jeffress has worked with the White House and the National Security Council on significant cases and policy issues and has dealt extensively with senior officials and attorneys from the intelligence community, State Department, Department of Defense, Joint Chiefs of Staff, and Department of Homeland Security. She also advised the Attorney General and other senior Department of Justice officials on litigation involving national security issues.
Ms. Jeffress joins a national security practice that has been named among the most experienced and well-respected in Washington. The practice includes numerous former senior government lawyers, including John B. Bellinger III, who served in the Bush Administration as The Legal Adviser for the Department of State and for the National Security Council; Jeffrey H. Smith, who served as the General Counsel of the Central Intelligence Agency in the Clinton Administration; Charles A. Blanchard, former General Counsel and Chief Ethics Officer for the U.S. Air Force; John P. Barker, a former Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Export Controls in the Clinton Administration; Ronald D. Lee, who served as the General Counsel of the National Security Agency and as Associate Deputy Attorney General in the Clinton Administration; and James W. Cooper, a former senior Justice Department attorney and Assistant U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia, where he was the Deputy Chief of the Criminal Division and Acting Chief of the National Security Section.
"I have long been impressed by the capabilities of Arnold & Porter's White Collar and National Security practices and am enthusiastic about being part of such a highly-respected team. I look forward to applying my experience to benefit corporate clients facing challenges related to government law enforcement, national security, privacy, compliance, and international matters," said Ms. Jeffress.
Ms. Jeffress obtained her J.D. from Yale Law School, where she served as the Articles Editor for the Yale Law Journal. She also earned a degree in Political Science from Freie Universitaet Berlin and graduated magna cum laude with a B.A. in Political Science from Williams College.
Arnold & Porter LLP is an international law firm of nearly 800 lawyers with offices in Brussels, Denver, Houston, London, Los Angeles, New York, San Francisco, Silicon Valley, and Washington, D.C. The firm, founded in 1946, maintains more than 25 practice areas spanning a broad spectrum of the law, with a primary focus on litigation, transactional matters, and regulatory issues.
