Tony West
Tony West was appointed the Acting Associate Attorney General of the United States on March 9, 2012, and was confirmed by the U.S. Senate on July 25, 2013.
As the Associate Attorney General, Mr. West's primary responsibility is to advise and assist the Attorney General and the Deputy Attorney General in formulating and implementing Departmental policies and programs related to a broad range of issues, including civil litigation, federal and local law enforcement, and public safety. Mr. West, the third-ranking official at the agency, oversees the Department's civil litigating components, grant-making components, the Office of Tribal Justice, the Executive Office for U.S. Trustees, the Office of Information Policy, the Foreign Claims Settlement Commission, and the Access to Justice Initiative. Mr. West also serves as the Co-Chair of the President's Task Force on Puerto Rico, the Vice Chair of the Steering Committee of the President's Financial Fraud Enforcement Task Force, and the federal government's highest-ranking Chief FOIA Officer.
From April 2009 to March 2012, Mr. West served as the Assistant Attorney General for the Civil Division, which is the largest litigating division in the Department of Justice. In addition to focusing on traditional areas of the Civil Division's work, Mr. West bolstered the Civil Division's affirmative civil enforcement efforts in recovering taxpayer money lost to fraud and abuse and emphasized the Division's responsibility to bring civil and criminal actions to enforce the nation's consumer protection laws.
Mr. West first served in the Department of Justice a year after graduating from law school. From 1993 through 1994, he served as a Special Assistant to the Deputy Attorney General. From 1994 to 1999, he was an Assistant United States Attorney in the Northern District of California. From 1999 to 2001, Mr. West served as a state Special Assistant Attorney General in California. Prior to returning to the Justice Department, Mr. West was a litigation partner at Morrison & Foerster LLP in San Francisco.
Mr. West graduated with honors from Harvard College, where he served as publisher of the Harvard Political Review, and received his law degree from Stanford Law School, where he was elected President of the Stanford Law Review.