FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE	SG

WEDNESDAY, MARCH 11, 1998                                                                                                                   (202) 616-2765

                                                                                                                                                                                TDD (202) 514-1888







UNDERWOOD APPOINTED PRINCIPAL DEPUTY SOLICITOR GENERAL





	WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Attorney General Janet Reno has
appointed Barbara D. Underwood, currently the First Assistant
U.S. Attorney in the U.S. Attorney's office in Brooklyn, N.Y., as
Principal Deputy Solicitor General, the Department of Justice
announced today.

	Underwood, a well-known attorney and scholar, fills the
position previously held by Seth Waxman, the current Solicitor
General.  She is an experienced appellate litigator, a former
tenured professor of law at Yale Law School and a former law
clerk to U.S. Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall.

	"Barbara Underwood is a superb attorney who brings a wealth
of experience and knowledge to the position," said Reno.  "She is
well regarded by her professional and academic colleagues and
will do an outstanding job as Principal Deputy Solicitor
General."

	As Chief AUSA for U.S. Attorney Zachary W. Carter of
Brooklyn since 1993, Underwood has supervised 150 attorneys and
also has briefed and argued numerous appellate cases.  Her
appellate experience includes more than 10 years as a senior
executive in the office of two New York City district attorneys,
where she supervised all appellate litigation in the state and
federal courts.  She also briefed and argued cases in the U.S.
Court of Appeals, the New York State Court of Appeals and the
U.S. Supreme Court.

	"I am excited and look forward to the new challenges that
lie ahead," Underwood said.  "I want to thank the Attorney
General and Solicitor General Seth Waxman for their confidence in
me."

	"Barbara is a particularly well-qualified and distinguished
attorney who brings outstanding skills to our office," Waxman
said.  "She is not only a former law professor, but also an
appellate litigator with years of experience in both state and
federal law enforcement.  She will enrich the office of the
Solicitor General."

	Carter said, "Barbara brought special gifts of scholarship
and sound judgment to the demanding job of Chief Deputy for a
large, diverse and busy district.  She will be sorely missed."

	Underwood takes on her duties March 23.

	As Principal Deputy Solicitor General, Underwood will argue
cases before the U.S. Supreme Court and assist the Solicitor
General in the administration of the office.  In the absence or
disqualification of the Solicitor General, she will be the Acting
Solicitor General.

	Underwood graduated from Radcliffe College in 1966 and
received her law degree from Georgetown University Law Center in
1969.  After graduation, Underwood clerked for Chief Judge David
L. Bazelon of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit and
Justice Marshall.  She then taught law for 10 years at the Yale
Law School.  She also has taught at Brooklyn Law School and at
New York University School of Law.  

	During a sabbatical leave from Yale, Underwood worked as a
trial attorney in the New York County District Attorney's office. 
In 1982, she left her position as a tenured professor of law at
Yale to take up a career in public service as an appellate
litigator, senior manager and policy advisor.  She was Chief of
Appeals and Counsel to the Brooklyn District Attorney from 1982
through 1989 and Senior Executive Assistant District Attorney for
Legal Affairs in Queens County, New York, from 1991 through 1993.

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