Administration Taps Alumni, Faculty
By Karen Brooks
Since taking office in January, President Joe Biden has staffed pivotal federal department positions with American University Washington College of Law faculty and alumni, capitalizing on their years of policy expertise, public and private sector experience, and legal leadership.
These appointees have assumed their roles at a daunting moment in U.S. history, as public health and economic crises caused by the COVID-19 pandemic persist, a divided nation grapples with mounting national security issues, and civil and human rights violations threaten the future of American democracy. Members of the AUWCL community, however, are prepared to lead at such a critical time.
Amanda Leiter, senior associate dean for faculty and academic affairs and director of the Program on Environmental and Energy Law, said the faculty and alumni joining the new administration embody the law school’s commitment to service and set an example for students who aspire to use the lessons they’re learning now to address some of the nation’s most pressing issues in the future.
“Public interest jobs offer you a chance to think hard about the problems of the day and help chart a path forward on the issues that matter most, plus to serve and give back to the people,” said Leiter, who served as deputy assistant secretary for land and minerals at the U.S. Department of the Interior during the Obama administration and worked on President Biden’s Department of the Interior transition team. “My single favorite aspect of my teaching career is hearing from and about students who’ve taken advantage of their educational opportunities to give back, and I could not be prouder that our alumni are using their degrees to advance key priorities of the Biden-Harris administration.”
Here are just a few AUWCL alumni and faculty who have joined the administration so far, and more nominations and appointments are likely on the way.
A Fuse is Lit
The second a new administration takes office, said Andrew Strelka ’08, a fuse is lit. With a finite amount of time to accomplish goals, every minute matters.
“The pace can be necessarily brutal—but it’s all worth it,” said Strelka, senior tax counsel in the White House. Strelka’s inspiration to pursue government service came from a fairly unusual place: his father’s involvement in federal tax evasion. After pleading guilty to his crimes in the mid-1990s, Strelka’s dad served as a witness for the prosecution during an investigation that spanned nearly a decade.
“This clearly stoked my interest in tax law and criminal justice. After living through a real-life investigation, I wanted to join the government as soon as I graduated. I was the law student who hand-delivered an internship application to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) each semester—to no avail,” Strelka recalled. His breakthrough came through a classmate, Bérengère Parmly ’08, who had an externship with the Department of Justice (DOJ) Tax Division. “She helped get my foot in the door, and I was able to secure an externship through American University Washington College of Law’s wonderful Externship Program, which had a great relationship with the Tax Division. A WCL student always staffed a desk in an office in the appellate section.”
Strelka has since served in a number of government roles, including as a Presidential Management Fellow in the IRS and the DOJ Tax Division, where he discovered he loved being in the courtroom.
“It really fit my personality. If there is one place you can combine tax law and the courtroom, it is the DOJ Tax Division,” he said. In his fourth year with the DOJ, Strelka was detailed to serve as a tax adviser in the Office of the White House Counsel under President Obama. While there, he received what he still considers his most prized possession: a letter from Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor, who as a district court judge had sentenced Strelka’s father to probation nearly 20 years prior.
“Thankfully, my father took responsibility for his actions and fully cooperated with the government, and Justice Sotomayor demonstrated great empathy when she acknowledged those decisions,” he said. “She could have easily sentenced him to time in prison, but she took the time to understand the person in her courtroom. I sent her a letter, and she responded by writing that my family’s story touched her heart.”
Strelka credits Justice Sotomayor’s compassionate handling of his father’s case with shaping his view of the law and making him want to pursue public service.
“Public service is also one of the only places you get significant discretion and responsibility right off the bat, even early in your career, because the volume of work is so high. When you get to the DOJ, they can hand you a pile of folders and say, ‘OK, it looks like you have to be in court in Kentucky on Monday. Better get a plane ticket!’” Strelka laughed. “But getting thrown into it and making decisions on your feet is the best way to learn.”
For The People
Civil rights activism has been a part of life for Katherine Culliton-González ’93 for as long as she can remember. As a child in Wilmington, Delaware, she accompanied her mother to many women’s rights marches and protests of school segregation and the Vietnam War. They also campaigned together for Joe Biden as he pursued his first Senate seat in 1972.
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“I went to law school because I wanted to make a difference in the world. My mom was one of my greatest influences and helped me understand how many inequalities and human rights problems there are,” Culliton-González said.
Forty-eight years after celebrating Biden’s first election win, Culliton-González joined his presidential administration as civil rights and civil liberties officer in the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). The Office for Civil Rights and Civil Liberties ensures that DHS policies comply with civil and human rights; investigates complaints about alleged DHS civil rights and liberties violations; and oversees DHS’s equal employment opportunity and diversity programs. (AUWCL graduate Veronica Venture ’90 is director of equal employment opportunity and diversity for DHS).
A longtime human and civil rights lawyer who has engaged in women’s rights, Latinx civil rights, immigrant justice, and voting rights initiatives, Culliton-González brings decades of litigation and policy advocacy experience to her new position, including through previous government roles as an attorney in the DOJ Civil Rights Division and director of the Office of Civil Rights Evaluation for the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights.
“I feel honored to serve in the Biden-Harris administration, especially because it is so focused on racial and gender equity, civil rights, and human rights,” she said. “Government work is just as challenging as working in a law firm, and maybe more so because the government needs lawyers who carry the principles of public service in their heart. The pressure to serve the American people well is always there—as it should be.”
Culliton-González, who was valedictorian of her AUWCL class, counts Dean Emeritus Claudio Grossman as an enduring role model. While in law school, she completed a Ford Foundation Fellowship in international law with Grossman, who then directed the law school’s International Legal Studies Program.
“Claudio became a mentor, and I learned so much working with him. He inspired me to do whatever I could to protect human and civil rights,” said Culliton-González, who after graduating from AUWCL taught human rights law as a Fulbright Scholar in Chile during its transition to democracy.
Today, Culliton-González is involved in countless civil and human rights endeavors and considers her seat on DHS’s Family Reunification Task Force as chief among them.
“As a civil rights lawyer, a mother, and a person married to a naturalized American citizen originally from Guatemala, I was appalled and devastated to see families separated at the border,” she said. “It is now the policy of the Biden-Harris administration to reunite them. We are going to get these families back together, and it is the most important thing I could be doing with my time.”
A Nonlinear Path
When Jennifer Daskal—professor and faculty director of AUWCL’s Tech, Law, and Security Program—started law school in 1997, she was certain about one thing: She did not want to work in the criminal justice system. Having formerly worked for the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, a research and policy institute that pursues federal and state policies designed to reduce poverty and inequality, she thought she might end up focusing on similar issues throughout her career.
Her first job after earning her JD at Harvard? Serving as an attorney with the Public Defender Service for the District of
Columbia. “I never intended to work in criminal justice when I went to law school—but criminal law was the one class I truly loved as a 1L, and the criminal justice clinic turned out to be the best thing I did in law school,” Daskal recalled. “I tell this to my students all the time to show how important it is to have an open mind.”
After a few years, Daskal transitioned through a series of positions with Human Rights Watch, the DOJ National Security
Division, and Georgetown University Law Center, honing her expertise in cyber and tech policy and national security before joining AUWCL in 2013. She is taking a leave of absence from the law school while she serves as deputy general counsel for DHS.
“A career path does not have to be linear,” she said. “Law students should take chances on any opportunities to work on things they enjoy and find interesting so they can build up skills and expertise. And if working for the government is someone’s goal, it doesn’t have to happen immediately after law school.”
As a member of the Office of the General Counsel, Daskal provides advice and services relating to the range of legal issues that affect DHS and helps to ensure that DHS policies are implemented lawfully and efficiently. She describes the work as “exciting, thrilling, and exhausting.”
WCL’s representation in the federal government demonstrates how public service is woven into the law school’s fabric, she said. “One of the things I love best about WCL is that there is a huge commitment to public service. The faculty supports, encourages, and applauds community engagement in a wide array of forms. From day one, this is what most attracted me to WCL, and I continue to consider it one of the greatest aspects of the school.”
More Alumni Filling Senior Positions
As of early April, the administration had also tapped these four AUWCL alumni for senior roles.
Elizabeth Klein ’06 was nominated as deputy secretary of the U.S. Department of the Interior. Klein is an experienced leader in clean energy, climate change, and environmental law and policy. Most recently, she was deputy director of the State Energy and Environmental Impact Center at NYU School of Law, which supports state attorneys general in defending and promoting clean energy, climate, and environmental laws and policies. Klein served at Interior during both the Clinton and Obama administrations, including as Interior’s associate deputy secretary. She was previously an attorney at Latham & Watkins specializing in energy and environmental law issues.
Melanie Nakagawa ’05 was appointed to the White House as special assistant to the president and senior director for climate and energy with the National Security Council. The NSC’s primary role is to advise and assist the president on national security and foreign policies, and to coordinate those policies across government agencies. She was appointed deputy assistant secretary for energy transformation at the U.S. State Department during the Obama administration and served as a strategic advisor on climate change to former Secretary of State John Kerry, who Biden appointed as his presidential envoy for climate.
Aruna Kalyanam ’07 was named deputy assistant secretary for tax and budget, Office of Legislative Affairs, Department of the Treasury. Kalyanam is a veteran of Capitol Hill, bringing over 21 years of experience in the tax policy legislative process with her to the Treasury Department’s Office of Legislative Affairs. Kalyanam most recently served on the Ways and Means Committee as deputy chief tax counsel and staff director of the Select Revenue Measures (the dedicated tax policy subcommittee). She has been involved in every major tax legislative package on Capitol Hill since 2001 and led the Ways and Means Committee’s policy development on renewable energy, energy efficiency, and infrastructure.
Alicia O’Brien ’02 was named senior counsel and special assistant to the president, Office of the White House Counsel at the White House. O’Brien was a partner at King & Spalding before her White House appointment. She had also been a partner with Venable. Prior to private practice, O’Brien held senior positions at the U.S. Department of Justice as a deputy assistant attorney general in the Office of Legislative Affairs and as an associate deputy attorney general in the Office of the Deputy Attorney General. O’Brien routinely advised the department’s senior leadership on a wide variety of high-profile matters and managed responses to inquiries and investigations from Congress, inspectors general, the Government Accountability Office, and other federal agencies.