Audrey Strauss

Table of Contents

Appointment
Educational Background
Legal Career
Honors and Awards
Teachings
Office Jurisdiction
Contact Details
Social Media Profiles
Twitter Field

Appointment

Former Top Deputy, now United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, Audrey Strauss succeeds previous U.S. Attorney Geoffrey Berman, following his resignation on June 20, 2020. Attorney General William Barr has appointed Ms. Strauss as Acting U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York as she has been Mr. Berman’s second-in-command since April of 2019, with the expectation that she will pursue litigations of keen interest to the Trump Administration.

Educational Background

Audrey Strauss earned her undergraduate degree of Bachelor in Arts from the Barnard College, graduating cum laude. A Kent Scholar and Harlan Fiske Stone Scholar, Ms. Strauss received her Juris Doctorate from Columbia Law School.

Legal Career

Her long career in the legal field began with Ms. Strauss’s service as a Law Clerk under the Honorable Lawrence Pierce of the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York. She continued working for the Southern District of New York as an Assistant United States Attorney. In this capacity, she was able to prosecute and work on more than 20 cases before being promoted to being Chief of Appeals in the Criminal Division, then being Chief of the Securities and Commodities Fraud Unit of the U.S. Attorney’s Office. She worked for the Southern District of New York from 1976 to 1983, and joined Washington as a staff lawyer, working on a wide range of federal crimes, including the investigation of the Reagan-era Iran Contra affair, which resulted to her being commended for being raised in the tradition of the district’s independence. Moreover, she is known for winning a case against prosecutor Roy Con and successfully convicting two mafia members.

Later on, Audrey Strauss began performing private practice as she became Litigation Partner at the Mudge Rose Guthrie & Alexander. In 1990, she joined Fried, Frank, Harris, Shriver & Jacobson and shifted the focus of her legal career to prosecuting federal criminal litigations with emphasis on white-collar crimes. Serving in the field for approximately 22 years, until 2012, Ms. Strauss is regarded to be a titan in white-collar prosecutions.

Before joining the U.S. Attorney’s Office once again, Audrey Strauss served as a General Counsel and Chief Legal and Compliance Officer at the Alcoa World Alumina LLC. In 2014, she handled a case in defense of Alcoa involving a Bahrain-Bribery Probe and closing the case with a $384 million settlement.

Honors and Awards

A woman of formidable background and competitive expertise in law, Ms. Strauss has received numerous awards from organizations, including the Federal Bar Council, and the New York Council of Defense Lawyers. She has also been highly regarded for her service and has been recognized in the Chambers USA: America’s Leading Lawyers for Business.

Teachings

With her substantive knowledge in federal prosecutions, Audrey Strauss has been called to be a guest lecturer and adjunct professor in several universities, including the Harvard Law School, the Fordham University School of Law, and the Brooklyn Law School. She was also a former member of the Board of Directors of The Innocence Project, which prosecutes pro bono cases.

Office Jurisdiction

Waiting for the nomination of the Securities and Exchange Commission Chairman Jay Clayton to be approved, Ms. Strauss was appointed to be the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York. She oversees a staff of over 200 employees and is currently working on several politically sensitive cases involving Trump’s orbit, which she has been actively working on from when she was still a deputy to Mr. Berman. Furthermore, the office is in charge of federal crimes involving public corruption, firearms, financial fraud, and narcotics. Audrey Strauss also manages civil cases involving the United States and recovers debts owed to the United States.