Kathryn Ruemmler is an attorney who currently serves as White House Counsel

White House Counsel

The White House Counsel is a staff appointee of the President of the United States.-Role:The Counsel's role is to advise the President on all legal issues concerning the President and the White House...

 to President Barack Obama

Barack Obama

Barack Hussein Obama II is the 44th and current President of the United States. He is the first African American to hold the office. Obama previously served as a United States Senator from Illinois, from January 2005 until he resigned following his victory in the 2008 presidential election.Born in...

. She previously worked as Principal Deputy White House Counsel.

Early life and education

Ruemmler received a Bachelor of Arts

Bachelor of Arts

A Bachelor of Arts , from the Latin artium baccalaureus, is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate course or program in either the liberal arts, the sciences, or both...

 in English from the University of Washington

University of Washington

University of Washington is a public research university, founded in 1861 in Seattle, Washington, United States. The UW is the largest university in the Northwest and the oldest public university on the West Coast. The university has three campuses, with its largest campus in the University...

 and earned her Juris Doctor

Juris Doctor

Juris Doctor is a professional doctorate and first professional graduate degree in law.The degree was first awarded by Harvard University in the United States in the late 19th century and was created as a modern version of the old European doctor of law degree Juris Doctor (see etymology and...

 from Georgetown University Law Center

Georgetown University Law Center

Georgetown University Law Center is the law school of Georgetown University, located in Washington, D.C.. Established in 1870, the Law Center offers J.D., LL.M., and S.J.D. degrees in law...

. She also served as Editor-in-Chief of the Georgetown Law Journal

Georgetown Law Journal

The Georgetown Law Journal is a student-edited scholarly journal published at Georgetown University Law Center.-Overview:The Journal publishes six issues each year. It also publishes the Annual Review of Criminal Procedure, a comprehensive practitioner's guide to criminal procedure.The first volume...

.

Legal career

Ruemmler was a former federal prosecutor who helped lead the government’s case against the former executives of Enron

Enron

Enron Corporation was an American energy, commodities, and services company based in Houston, Texas. Before its bankruptcy on December 2, 2001, Enron employed approximately 22,000 staff and was one of the world's leading electricity, natural gas, communications, and pulp and paper companies, with...

. In 2006, she delivered the government's closing argument in the trial of former Enron executives Kenneth Lay

Kenneth Lay

Kenneth Lee "Ken" Lay was an American businessman, best known for his role in the widely reported corruption scandal that led to the downfall of Enron Corporation. Lay and Enron became synonymous with corporate abuse and accounting fraud when the scandal broke in 2001...

 and Jeffrey Skilling

Jeffrey Skilling

Jeffrey Keith "Jeff" Skilling is the former president of Enron Corporation, headquartered in Houston, Texas. In 2006 he was convicted of multiple federal felony charges relating to Enron's financial collapse, and is currently serving a 24-year, four-month prison sentence at the Federal...

, both of whom were convicted. She returned to Latham in 2007, this time as a partner. From 2000 to 2001 she served as Associate Counsel to President Clinton

Bill Clinton

William Jefferson "Bill" Clinton is an American politician who served as the 42nd President of the United States from 1993 to 2001. Inaugurated at age 46, he was the third-youngest president. He took office at the end of the Cold War, and was the first president of the baby boomer generation...

. She was a litigation partner in the Washington, D.C. office of Latham & Watkins

Latham & Watkins

Latham & Watkins LLP is a global law firm, one of the largest in the world. Latham currently employs approximately 2,000 attorneys in the United States, Europe, the Middle East and Asia. The firm was started in Los Angeles in 1934 and has extensive Californian roots, but its largest office is now...

 from 2007 but left in January 2009 to serve as principal associate deputy attorney general at the Justice Department

United States Department of Justice

The United States Department of Justice , is the United States federal executive department responsible for the enforcement of the law and administration of justice, equivalent to the justice or interior ministries of other countries.The Department is led by the Attorney General, who is nominated...

.

Counsel

In October 2011, Ruemmler said that there is no evidence of the White House intervening in Solyndra

Solyndra

Solyndra was a manufacturer of cylindrical panels of CIGS thin-film solar cells based in Fremont, California. Although the company was once touted for its unusual technology, plummeting silicon prices led to the company being unable to compete with more conventional solar panels...

’s loan guarantee to benefit a campaign donor. Her letter to the House Energy and Commerce Committee also denies an effort by committee Republicans for access to internal White House communications. The letter goes on to deny Republican claims of improper White House influence in the Energy Department’s 2009 decision to grant the company a $535 million loan guarantee, and the deal’s early 2011 revamp that put private investors ahead of taxpayers for repayment if the company liquidated.