Alumna White Listed Among 50 Most Influential Women Lawyers

Press contact:

James O’Neill

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June 4, 2007- Columbia Law School alumna Mary Jo White ’74 has been named to a list of the 50 most influential women lawyers in America by the National Law Journal.

 

The list and brief bios on the 50 were published in the May 28 edition of the NLJ.

 

The ``tough-as-nails’’ White, 59, is the only woman ever to have held the post of U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York, the NLJ writes. In that capacity, ``White successfully prosecuted some of the biggest national and international cases in the country,’’ the NLJ says.

 

For instance, she secured convictions in connection with the 1993 World Trade Center bombing, as well as the 1998 bombings of U.S. embassies in Tanzania and Kenya.

 

 In 2002, she moved to white-collar defense at Debevoise & Plimpton, and now chairs the firm’s 225-lawyer litigation department.

 

The NLJ writes that in private practice, specializing in internal investigations and corporate defense, she represents Siemens A.G.’s audit committee in a worldwide investigation of potentially corrupt payments to government officials. During a Justice Department and SEC inquiry of former Senate Majority Leader  and Tennessee Senator Bill Frist, she represented HCA Inc.

 

Columbia Law School, founded in 1858, stands at the forefront of legal education and of the law in a global society. Columbia Law School graduates have provided leadership worldwide in a remarkably broad range of fields – government, diplomacy, the judiciary, business, non-profit, advocacy, entertainment, academia, science and the arts.

 

Led by Dean David Schizer, Columbia Law School joins traditional strengths in international and comparative law, constitutional law, administrative law and human rights law with pioneering work in the areas of intellectual property, digital technology, sexuality and gender, and criminal law. The Law School offers J.D., J.S.D. and LL.M. degree programs to a diverse student body. For further information, visit www.law.columbia.edu..