Masters of the Bench

Loretta E. Lynch was sworn in as the 83rd Attorney General of the United States by Vice President Joe Biden on April 27, 2015. President Barack Obama announced his intention to nominate Ms. Lynch on November 8, 2014.

Ms. Lynch received her A.B., cum laude, from Harvard College in 1981, and her J.D. from Harvard Law School in 1984.  In 1990, after a period in private practice, Ms. Lynch joined the United States Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of New York, located in Brooklyn, New York—the city she considers her adopted home.  There, she forged an impressive career prosecuting cases involving narcotics, violent crimes, public corruption, and civil rights.  In one notable instance, she served on the prosecution team in the high-profile civil rights case of Abner Louima, the Haitian immigrant who was sexually assaulted by uniformed police officers in a Brooklyn police precinct in 1997.

In 1999, President Clinton appointed her to lead the office as United States Attorney—a post she held until 2001.  In 2002, she joined Hogan & Hartson LLP (now Hogan Lovells) as a partner in the firm’s New York office.  While in private practice, Ms. Lynch performed extensive pro bono work for the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda, established to prosecute those responsible for human rights violations in the 1994 genocide in that country.  As Special Counsel to the Tribunal, she was responsible for investigating allegations of witness tampering and false testimony.

In 2010, President Obama asked Ms. Lynch to resume her leadership of the United States Attorney’s Office in Brooklyn.  Under her direction, the office successfully prosecuted numerous corrupt public officials, terrorists, cybercriminals and human traffickers, among other important cases.

Ms. Lynch is the daughter of Lorenzo and Lorine Lynch of Durham, N.C., a retired minister and a librarian whose commitment to justice and public service has been the inspiration for her life’s work.

Ms. Lynch enjoys spending her free time with her husband, Stephen Hargrove, and their two children.