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Joseph 'Joe' Biden

Legal Profile of Candidates

Sen. Joseph “Joe” Biden

  • Born: November 20, 1942
  • Syracuse University College of Law (1968)
  • Admitted to the Delaware Bar (1969)

Legal Career

  • Practiced law in Wilmington, DE (1969)

Political Career

  • New Castle County, Delaware, County Council (1970 – 1972)
  • U.S. Senate (1973 – Date)
  • Senate Committees & Caucuses:
    • Chairman, Committee on Foreign Relations
    • Committee on the Judiciary
    • Subcommittee on Antitrust Competition Policy and Consumer Rights
    • Chairman, Subcommittee on Crime and Drugs
    • Subcommittee on Human Rights and the Law
    • Subcommittee on Immigration, Border Security and Refugees
    • Subcommittee on Technology, Terrorism, and Homeland Security
    • Caucus on International Narcotics Control (Co-Chair)

Pivotal career moments involving law

  • Presided over contentious, controversial U.S. Supreme Court confirmation hearings of Robert Bork (ultimately rejected by the Judiciary Committee), and Clarence Thomas (ultimately went to U.S. Senate for 52-48 vote, with Biden opposed).
  • Two failed presidential campaigns:
    • 1998 - His law school track record scrutinized, with allegations of plagiarism (never proven), and misstatements about graduating in top-half of his class (he was near the bottom).
    • 2008 - Withdrew from race on January 3, 2008, after placing fifth in the Iowa caucuses.

Personal life

  • Had 3 children with first wife Neilia Hunter.  They were married in 1966 while he was still in law school.
  • In 1972, wife Neilia and one-year-old daughter Naomi were killed in collision with a tractor-trailer truck at an intersection while Christmas shopping.
  • Second marriage to teacher Jill Tracy Jacobs in 1977 after 2-year courtship.
    • Daughter Ashley Blazer Biden (1981)

Fun Fact

  • Considered one of the least wealthy members of the Senate.

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Attorney-Candidate Profiles

Barack Obama

Sen. Barack Obama

• Born: August 4, 1961
• Harvard Law School (1991)
• First African-American president of the Harvard Law Review
• Met his future wife, Michelle Robinson, in 1989 while working as a summer associate in Chicago at Sidley Austin, LLP where she was assigned to be his mentor.
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Joe Biden

Sen. Joseph "Joe" Biden

• Born: November 20, 1942
• Syracuse Univ. College of Law (1968)
• Presided over contentious, controversial U.S. Supreme Court confirmation hearings of Robert Bork and Clarence Thomas.
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Hillary Clintonborder=

Sen. Hillary Clinton

• Born: Oct. 26, 1947
• Yale Law School (1973)
• Member of Yale Review of Law and Social Action
• Met fellow law student, and future husband, Bill Clinton at Yale
• Rose Law Firm (1977 - 1992) – Partner at Arkansas firm concentrating in patent infringement, IP matters, and childrens’ rights pro bono work.
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Joe Lieberman

Joe Lieberman

• Born: February 12, 1942
• LLB, Yale Law School (1967)
• Wiggin and Dana, LLP (1967 - 1969)
• U.S. Senate (1989 - present) - In 2006 he became an Independent for his 2006 Senate re-election campaign, but identifies himself as an 'Independent Democrat.'
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Mitt Romney

Mitt Romney

• Born: March 12, 1947
• Harvard Law and Business Schools (1975)
• Graduated cum laude
• Turned the Salt Lake Olympic Committee's $379M shortfall into a $100M profit, and wrote a book about the change: "Turnaround: Crisis, Leadership, and the Olympic Games"
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Rudy Guiliani

Rudolph 'Rudy' Guiliani

• Born: May 28, 1944
• New York University Law School (1968)
• Member of NYU Law Review; graduated cum laude
• Giuliani is often remembered for engendering public support and empathy for New Yorkers after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.
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