By Jennifer Price
Judith Corley took an unorthodox approach to becoming the president’s attorney.
She majored in French language and literature at the University of Washington and lived abroad for a year before a friend got her a job as a secretary for a law firm in the District.
Seven years later, after earning her law degree as a part-time student at the George Washington University Law School, Ms. Corley, J.D. ’85, became an attorney for Perkins Coie.
Today, she represents President Barack Obama in personal matters and in his political organization, Obama for America.
“I never imagined that I would be the president’s lawyer. Law is really something I just sort of fell into. It’s not like I went to college thinking that I wanted to be a lawyer,” says Ms. Corley. “Actually until I went to work at a law firm, I couldn’t have told you what a lawyer really does other than what I saw on Perry Mason.”
Because Ms. Corley had no desire to teach French, she jumped at the opportunity to move to the District and work at a law firm.
“I figured it would pay the rent, and it was exciting to be in a new place,” she says.
A year after working at Preston Thorgrimson Ellis Holman and Fletcher, she went to work in the Federal Election Commission’s public information office, where she helped produce publications and manage the help phone line.
“You become really well-versed in the law because you have to answer all these questions and get information for people. So I actually knew the law really well even though I wasn’t a lawyer,” Ms. Corley says.
Eventually she decided to become a lawyer herself.
“I really liked helping people solve their problems, and I really enjoyed learning about the laws surrounding elections,” says Ms. Corley.
But because she had already been out of school for seven years, she didn’t want to be a full-time student.
“I had gotten used to being able to pay the bills and not living on student wages so I decided to go to school part time and work part time so I would have some income coming in, and I wouldn’t have to go into debt up to my ears,” she says.
At the time, GW was one of the few universities in the D.C. area that offered a part-time program.
During her time at the FEC, she got to know Robert Bauer, one of the few attorneys practicing election law at the time. Mr. Bauer, who today is the White House counsel, encouraged Ms. Corley to go to law school and offered her a part-time job as a law clerk at Perkins Coie.
While working 20 hours a week at the law firm, Ms. Corley took night classes at GW. One of her first classes was a contracts class with Max Pock, a former professor at GW’s law school.
“He was a character. He liked to pretend that he was this big gruff guy, but he was a complete softie. And he was funny,” she says. “He made it fun to learn. That’s the class I remember most.”
After four years of law school, Ms. Corley went to work full time for Perkins Coie, becoming a partner in 1994.
As a lawyer in Perkins Coie’s political law group, Ms. Corley works with members of Congress on campaign and ethics issues as well as businesses and nonprofits on lobbying compliance and other political activities.
Ms. Corley’s clients include the Democratic National Convention; EMILY’S List, a political action committee that supports pro-choice Democratic women running for public office; the American Hospital Association; the Investment Company Institute; and American Voters, a coalition of progressive groups that seek to maximize mobilization of progressive voters.
But there’s no question that her most high-profile client is President Obama.
Ms. Corley began representing President Obama in January when the president’s former personal attorney, Mr. Bauer, became the White House counsel. Mr. Bauer was also the general counsel for President Obama’s 2008 campaign.
While Mr. Bauer represents President Obama in his official capacity as president, Ms. Corley only represents the president in personal matters.
“I’ve worked with Bob Bauer for 25 years now and known him for even longer than that so it was logical that I would take over the bulk of the clients that he had been the lead attorney on,” she says.
While Ms. Corley understands the prestige of representing the president, she says it doesn’t take up a lot of her time.
“I realize why people think it’s really cool that I represent the president. It’s not something that everyone gets to do. My neighbor took me to her book club so she could introduce me to everybody as the president’s attorney,” she says. “But he doesn’t have a lot of personal legal issues. Think about what you would use a lawyer for: if you’re getting divorced or sued or creating a will. It’s really not that much work.”
Ms. Corley met President Obama when he was still a senator but has not seen him in person since. She doesn’t talk to him on the phone regularly either. Instead, she sends him memos when she needs to communicate with him.
“I haven’t had the need to see him since becoming his personal lawyer,” she says. “I’m actually hoping that I never have to go and see him on any personal legal issue because that would mean things aren’t going so well for him.”
If President Obama decides to run for re-election in 2012, Ms. Corley will help with the legal issues of the campaign. And she’s still in charge of winding things down from his 2008 campaign.
“There are still a surprising number of things I still have to do for the campaign. While there are very few employees left, there is still a fair amount of money and legal work left” she says. “It's not something that just disappears right after the election.”