Kira Antell is a Deputy Assistant Attorney General in the Office of Legal Policy (OLP) at U.S. Department of Justice. She is the senior-most career policy official for OLP which acts as the primary policy advisor to the Attorney General and the Deputy Attorney General. At OLP she leads the policy team in the creation of Department initiatives informed by empirical evidence, component perspectives, and external policy considerations. Prior to joining OLP as a deputy, she was the senior-most career official in the Department's Office of Legislative Affairs, where she developed and implemented strategies to advance the Department’s legislative initiatives. From 2008 to 2015 she was at the U.S. Sentencing Commission, an independent bi-partisan agency in the judicial branch. At the Commission, she advocated in formal and informal communication with members of Congress and congressional staff on implementation of legislation, changes to federal sentencing policy, and criminal law development. Kira Antell received her J.D. from Boston University School of Law, magna cum laude, and her B.A. from the State University of New York at Binghamton. She earned a master’s degree in criminology and criminal justice from the University of Maryland after beginning her practice of law and brings an inter-disciplinary and research-based focus to policy-making.