Lily Fu ClaffeeLily Fu Claffee
General Counsel
U.S. Department of Commerce

 

 

 

Lily Fu Claffee serves as the General Counsel of the United States Department of Commerce. President George W. Bush nominated Mrs. Claffee on March 31, 2008, and the United States Senate unanimously confirmed her appointment on June 5, 2008.

As General Counsel, Mrs. Claffee is the principal legal advisor to Secretary of Commerce Carlos M. Gutierrez and is the chief legal officer of the Department. She oversees the work of over 400 lawyers in the 14 offices that provide legal advice to all components of the Department.

Prior to joining the Department of Commerce, Mrs. Claffee served as Deputy General Counsel of the Department of the Treasury, where, as the principal assistant to the General Counsel, she provided legal and policy advice to senior officials and oversaw the operation of Treasury’s approximately 2,000 lawyer Legal Division.

Mrs. Claffee also served as a Deputy in the Office of the Associate Attorney General at the Department of Justice.  In that position, Mrs. Claffee had oversight responsibilities for a number of operating components and litigating divisions, including the Antitrust and Civil Divisions.

Before entering government, Mrs. Claffee was a partner in the law firm now known as Mayer Brown LLP, where she served as the firm’s Washington hiring partner. At Mayer Brown, Mrs. Claffee represented corporations and executives in antitrust, class action and appellate litigation matters, and advised clients in connection with internal corporate and government investigations.

Mrs. Claffee received her undergraduate degree in 1990 from the University of Wisconsin, and her law degree in 1993 from the University of Minnesota, where she served as Managing Editor of the Minnesota Law Review.  Following law school, Mrs. Claffee clerked for Judge Michael S. Kanne of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit.

A member of the District of Columbia and Illinois bars, Mrs. Claffee is a native of Chicago, Illinois. She and her husband Scott live in Washington, DC.