Laura Elizabeth Duffy is an American lawyer

Lawyer

A lawyer, according to Black's Law Dictionary, is "a person learned in the law; as an attorney, counsel or solicitor; a person who is practicing law." Law is the system of rules of conduct established by the sovereign government of a society to correct wrongs, maintain the stability of political...

 who serves as the United States Attorney

United States Attorney

United States Attorneys represent the United States federal government in United States district court and United States court of appeals. There are 93 U.S. Attorneys stationed throughout the United States, Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands, Guam, and the Northern Mariana Islands...

 for the Southern District of California

United States District Court for the Southern District of California

The United States District Court for the Southern District of California is the federal district court whose jurisdiction comprises the following counties in California: Imperial and San Diego. In terms of filed indictments, it is one of the busiest criminal districts in the United States...

.

Early life and education

Born in Des Moines, Iowa

Des Moines, Iowa

Des Moines is the capital and the most populous city in the US state of Iowa. It is also the county seat of Polk County. A small portion of the city extends into Warren County. It was incorporated on September 22, 1851, as Fort Des Moines which was shortened to "Des Moines" in 1857...

, Duffy attended Northwest Missouri State University

Northwest Missouri State University

Northwest Missouri State University is a state university in Maryville, Missouri. Founded in 1905 as a teachers college, it offers both undergraduate and graduate programs. The campus, based on the design for Forest Park at the 1904 St. Louis World's Fair, is the official Missouri State Arboretum....

 and the University of Iowa

University of Iowa

The University of Iowa is a public state-supported research university located in Iowa City, Iowa, United States. It is the oldest public university in the state. The university is organized into eleven colleges granting undergraduate, graduate, and professional degrees...

 before graduating from Iowa State University

Iowa State University

Iowa State University of Science and Technology, more commonly known as Iowa State University , is a public land-grant and space-grant research university located in Ames, Iowa, United States. Iowa State has produced astronauts, scientists, and Nobel and Pulitzer Prize winners, along with a host of...

 with a Bachelor of Science

Bachelor of Science

A Bachelor of Science is an undergraduate academic degree awarded for completed courses that generally last three to five years .-Australia:In Australia, the BSc is a 3 year degree, offered from 1st year on...

 degree. She 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 Creighton University School of Law

Creighton University School of Law

Creighton University School of Law is a part of Creighton University. Founded in 1904, Creighton Law is one of 14 Jesuit Catholic law schools in the U.S. One out of every 10 American law students is enrolled in a Jesuit law school. Situated primarily in urban centers, these schools were...

 in Omaha, Nebraska

Omaha, Nebraska

Omaha is the largest city in the state of Nebraska, United States, and is the county seat of Douglas County. It is located in the Midwestern United States on the Missouri River, about 20 miles north of the mouth of the Platte River...

. As a law student at Creighton, she worked as a law clerk in the Douglas County, Nebraska

Douglas County, Nebraska

-Demographics:As of the census of 2000, there were 463,585 people, 182,194 households, and 115,146 families residing in the county. The population density was 1,401 people per square mile . There were 192,672 housing units at an average density of 582 per square mile...

 Public Defender's Office.

Professional career

Duffy joined the Criminal Division of the U.S. Department of Justice

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...

 as a trial attorney in 1993, working first for the Money Laundering Section and then for the Narcotics and Dangerous Drug Section. In 1997, she moved to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of California, with the rank of Assistant United States Attorney. There, she served in the Narcotics Enforcement Section until being promoted in 2007 to the position of Deputy Chief of the General Crimes Section. She is best known for her prosecution of members of the Arellano-Felix drug cartel.

On February 24, 2010, Duffy was nominated by 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...

 to serve as U.S. Attorney for the Southern District, which covers San Diego

San Diego County, California

San Diego County is a large county located in the southwestern corner of the US state of California. Hence, San Diego County is also located in the southwestern corner of the 48 contiguous United States. Its county seat and largest city is San Diego. Its population was about 2,813,835 in the 2000...

 and Imperial

Imperial County, California

Imperial County is a county located in the Imperial Valley, in the far southeast of the U.S. state of California, bordering both Arizona and Mexico. It is part of the El Centro Metropolitan Area, which encompasses all of Imperial County. The population as of 2000 was 142,361. The county seat is the...

 counties. The Senate Judiciary Committee approved her nomination unanimously on May 27, 2010; she gained unanimous approval from the full Senate the following day.

In October 2011, she joined with the three other U.S. Attorneys from California to announce a controversial crackdown on for-profit medical marijuana dispensaries, which are permitted under California state law but not under federal law.

Personal

Duffy is a lesbian; she is married to Keri Davis, with whom she is raising a toddler. She is one of four openly LGBT

LGBT

LGBT is an initialism that collectively refers to "lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender" people. In use since the 1990s, the term "LGBT" is an adaptation of the initialism "LGB", which itself started replacing the phrase "gay community" beginning in the mid-to-late 1980s, which many within the...

 U.S. Attorneys, alongside Jenny Durkan

Jenny Durkan

Jenny Anne Durkan is an American lawyer from Seattle, Washington who serves as the United States Attorney for the Western District of Washington.- Early life and education :...

 of the Western District of Washington, Anne Tompkins

Anne Tompkins

Anne Magee Tompkins is an American lawyer who serves as the United States Attorney for the Western District of North Carolina.- Early life and education :...

 of the Western District of North Carolina, and Robert L. Pitman

Robert L. Pitman

Robert Lee Pitman is an American lawyer who serves as the United States Attorney for the Western District of Texas. He was previously a magistrate judge on the United States District Court for the Western District of Texas.-Early life and education:...

 of the Western District of Texas.