Kate O’Scannlain, ’99, ’05 J.D., picked to be Labor Department’s top lawyer

Kate O’Scannlain

The White House recently announced several key additions to President Donald Trump’s administration.

Kate O’Scannlain, ’99, ’05 J.D., will be the president’s nominee for solicitor at the U.S. Department of Labor.

The solicitor’s office is tasked with meeting the entire department’s legal needs, which includes providing legal advice to the labor secretary and other officials as they work to accomplish the department’s goals. The office represents the department in litigation, including enforcement actions and defensive litigation as well as in alternative dispute resolutions. The solicitor also helps develop regulations, standards, and legislative proposals.

Currently, O’Scannlain is a partner at Kirkland & Ellis in Washington, D.C. She focuses her practice on employment and labor law, including commercial litigation on behalf of clients in federal and state court, providing regulatory advice, and counseling on mergers, acquisitions, restructuring, and private equity.

She is also a member of the Notre Dame Law Association Board.

Her father is Judge Diarmuid O’Scannlain of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit. Judge O’Scannlain has spoken at Notre Dame Law School several times and served as the Clynes Visiting Chair in 2013 at Notre Dame’s London Law Centre.