Attorney General Kamala D. Harris Announces Appointment of California Solicitor General

Monday, October 28, 2013
Contact: (916) 210-6000, agpressoffice@doj.ca.gov

SAN FRANCISCO -- California Attorney General Kamala D. Harris today announced the appointment of Edward DuMont to the position of California Solicitor General.

As the chief appellate lawyer for the Department of Justice, DuMont will lead the new Office of the Solicitor General, oversee all civil and criminal appeals, and litigate the most sensitive, complex cases throughout the appellate process in state and federal courts. Under DuMont’s leadership the Department’s Office of the Solicitor General, originally established more than a decade ago, will expand significantly in scope and capacity.

“The people of California will be well served by Ed’s legal acumen and extensive appellate litigation experience,” said Attorney General Harris. “I am confident that his talent, drive and background will supplement the Department’s already robust appellate practice and help us establish the best Solicitor General’s office in the country.”

“I am honored to have been asked to join the dedicated lawyers at the Department of Justice and to help ensure that the people of California continue to receive the highest level of appellate representation,” said DuMont. “While it will be hard to leave my current clients and colleagues, I look forward to returning to California, joining a new team and working together to build an expanded Solicitor General’s office that we will all be proud of.”

DuMont brings more than 27 years of public and private sector experience in United States Supreme Court and appellate litigation to the position of California Solicitor General. DuMont joined the law firm of Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr LLP in 2002, becoming a partner in 2004, and currently is a vice chair of the firm’s Appellate and Supreme Court Litigation Practice Group. Before joining the firm, Ed served seven years as an Assistant to the Solicitor General of the United States and as an Associate Deputy Attorney General at the U.S. Department of Justice, focusing on computer crime and privacy issues.

DuMont has argued 18 cases before the U.S. Supreme Court on a wide array of issues, including employment law, the First Amendment, criminal law and administrative procedure. During his career, he also has been the principal author of dozens of briefs before the U.S. Supreme Court, and filed briefs or argued matters in the federal courts of appeals for the First, Second, Fourth, Sixth, Seventh, Eighth, Ninth, Tenth, District of Columbia and Federal Circuits.

The California Attorney General’s Office is comprised of 4,200 employees, including more than 1,100 attorneys who are responsible for representing the People of California in a wide variety of civil and criminal matters before state and federal trial and appellate courts. The California Attorney General’s caseload is one of the largest of any public or private law office in the country, and the office appears – via written briefs, oral argument or both – dozens of times annually before the Ninth Circuit and the California Supreme Court. Over the last three years, the Attorney General’s Office has also been a regular participant in U.S. Supreme Court litigation, including nine separate oral arguments and dozens more briefs as both a party and friend of the court.

A California native, DuMont grew up in the Bay Area. He received his Bachelor of Arts degree from Yale University and his Juris Doctor from Stanford Law School. He is admitted to the bar in California, the District of Columbia and New York. DuMont will officially assume his new post in January 2014.

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