Beth Brinkmann

Infobox Officeholder
honorific-prefix =
name = Beth Brinkmann
honorific-suffix =

---

imagesize = 200px
small

caption =
office = Assistant to the United States Solicitor General
term_start = 1993
term_end = 2001
birth_date = birth date and age|1958|9|24
birth_place =
death_date =
death_place =
restingplace =
restingplacecoordinates =
birthname =
nationality = flag|United States
party =
otherparty =
spouse =
children =
alma_mater = California
Yale Law School
occupation =
profession = Lawyer
religion =


website =
footnotes =

Beth S. Brinkmann (born September 24, 1958) is an American lawyer who served as the Assistant to the Solicitor General of the U.S. from 1993 until 2001. She has argued more than 20 cases before the U.S. Supreme Court both in that role and in her current role as a partner in the Washington, D.C. office of the firm Morrison & Foerster.

Early professional career

Brinkmann graduated Phi Beta Kappa in 1980 with a bachelor's degree from the University of California, Berkeley, and earned her law degree from Yale Law School in 1985. She clerked for Supreme Court Justice Harry Blackmun in 1986 and also clerked for appeals-court judge Phyllis A. Kravitch of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit. Brinkmann worked from 1991 until 1993 as an assistant federal public defender in Washington and worked for four years as an associate with the small San Francisco litigation firm of Turner & Brorby.

Work in the Solicitor General's office

Brinkmann became Assistant to the Solicitor General of the U.S. in December 1993, according to a March 22, 2003 article in the Journal of Appellate Practice and Process. She told that journal that she argued her first case before the Supreme Court on March 23, 1994. In 1993, Brinkmann became Assistant to the Solicitor General of the U.S., regularly arguing cases before the Supreme Court. "Every time you go up there, it is amazing, and an honor and privilege being there. You also feel very patriotic—at least I do," Brinkmann told the National Journal in 2002. [ [http://lobby.la.psu.edu/_107th/121_Human_Cloning/News_Stories/National%20Journal/National_Journal_030902.htm National Journal Magazine Archive ] ]

Private practice

After leaving the Solicitor General's office, Brinkmann joined Morrison & Foerster in early 2002. As a partner at Morrison & Foerster and the chair of the firm's Appellate Practice Group, Brinkmann has continued to argue cases before the U.S. Supreme Court. In a November 20, 2007 article in the Chicago Daily Law Bulletin, Brinkmann told the paper that she had argued 22 cases before the Supreme Court in her career. Eighteen of those times were as a staff lawyer in the Solicitor General's office, Brinkmann told ABA Journal in an article that ran in the newsletter's March 2005 issue. [ [http://www.abajournal.com/magazine/through_the_doors1/ Through the Doors | ABA Journal - Law News Now ] ]

Possible future federal judicial service

In the March 12, 2008 issue of The New Republic, writer Jeffrey Rosen floated the name of Brinkmann as a future federal appeals-court judge or Supreme Court justice, likening her to Chief Justice John G. Roberts by suggesting her as a possible "Democratic female John Roberts." Rosen also characterized Brinkmann as "moderate, pragmatic and pro-business." [cite news |first=Jeffrey |last=Rosen |authorlink= |coauthors= |title=Short Bench: Why the Dems lack Supreme Court nominees |url=http://www.tnr.com/politics/story.html?id=57762136-6855-44c6-b057-7510b7cb4eda |work=The New Republic |publisher= |date=2008-03-12 |accessdate= ]

References

External links

* [http://www.mofo.com/attorneys/9351/summary.html Morrison & Foerster profile]