Background Information

Eric Holder

Columbia College, B.A., 1973
Columbia Law School, J.D., 1976

Eric Holder is a graduate of Columbia College (1973) and Columbia Law School (1976). Upon completing law school, he joined the Department of Justice's Public Integrity Section, where he investigated official corruption. In 1988, President Reagan nominated him to become Associate Judge of the Superior Court of the District of Columbia.

In 1993, President Clinton nominated Holder as United States Attorney for the District of Columbia. As the first African-American to hold the post, he formed community outreach programs to address domestic violence, hate crimes and child abuse. Four years later, President Clinton appointed him as the first black Deputy Attorney General. Mr. Holder supervised all of the Department's litigating, enforcement, and administrative components in both civil and criminal matters. Under Holder's direction, the Justice Department developed guidelines on the criminal prosecution of corporations (the so-called "Holder Memorandum") and the use of the False Claims Act in civil health care matters. At the request of the President, he also created and directed Lawyers for One America, a multi-agency partnership designed to diversify the legal profession and promote pro bono work. He served briefly under President George W. Bush as Acting Attorney General pending the confirmation of Attorney General John Ashcroft.

Holder is currently a litigation partner at Covington & Burling in Washington, D.C. He serves on the boards of a number of philanthropic organizations, including the Meyer Foundation, Save the Children and Concerned Black Men. He has received numerous awards and honorary degrees and is featured in The Best Lawyers in America 2007 for the Bet-the-Company Litigation, Commercial Litigation and White-Collar Criminal Defense. He has also served on the board of MCI prior to and during its merger with Verizon. Mr. Holder was a member of the U.S. Sentencing Commission Ad Hoc Advisory Group that examined, and made recommendations to revise, the organizational sentencing guidelines and was Chairman of Eastman Kodak's External Diversity Advisory Panel. He lives with his wife, Dr. Sharon Malone, an obstetrician, and their three children.