Joel I. Klein Biography

Joel I. Klein, Assistant Attorney Genral, Antitrust Division, U.S. Department of Justice, 10th and Constitution NW, Washington DC, 20530, Room 3109, 202-514-2401.

Mr. Klein was confirmed by the Senate on July 17, 1997 to be the Assistant Attorney General in charge of the Antitrust Division.  The Antitrust Division is engaged in a legal proceeding against the Microsoft Corporation.  Klein was appointed Acting Assistant Attorney General on October 18, 1996 and previously served as the Antitrust Division's Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General (1995-96).

Before his appointment to the Justice Department, Klein worked in the Clinton White House, in the Office of White House Counsel (1993-1995).  He succeeded Vince Foster as Deputy Counsel to President Clinton.

Previously, Klein practiced law in Washington, DC, for twenty years. He was a law clerk, first to Chief Judge David Bazelon on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit (1973-74), and then to Justice Lewis Powell on the United States Supreme Court.   He next worked at a public interest law firm, the Mental Health Law Project (1975-76).  For the following five years, he was an associate and partner at Rogovin, Stern & Huge, a litigation boutique (1976-81).  In 1981, Mr. Klein joined with two colleagues to start their own law firm, Onek, Klein & Farr.  The firm specialized in complex litigation, both trial and appellate. In addition to several major corporate clients, the firm also represented states and cities as well as a number of major professional and trade associations. Mr. Klein's practice focussed heavily on health care and constitutional litigation.  He also specialized in appellate advocacy, having briefed and argued numerous cases before the U.S. Supreme Court and the U.S. Courts of Appeals. This work covered a wide range of substantive areas including antitrust law, health law, civil rights, statutory interpretation, and constitutional law.

In addition to practicing law, Klein has also served as a visiting and an adjunct professor at the Georgetown University Law Center, where he taught Civil Procedure, Federal Jurisdiction, and a seminar on complex constitutional litigation.

Klein also has been active in community service. He has participated in the Big Brothers Program, served as Chairman of the Board of the Green Door, a pioneer community-based treatment program for mentally ill residents of the District of Columbia, and as Treasurer of the World Federation for Mental Health, and was a member of a U.S. Department of State Delegation in 1991 to examine issues of psychiatric abuse in the former Soviet Union. He is also active in the American Bar Association and is a member of the American Law Institute.

Klein was born in New York City on October 25, 1946. He was graduated from Columbia College (1967) and Harvard Law School (1971), both magna cum laude. He is married to Patsy Davis.

Mr. Klein was a $1,000.00 contributor to both the Democratic National Committee and Bill Clinton in 1992.