Following is a list of notable alumni of the Northwestern University Pritzker School of Law.
Academia
Diane Marie Amann, chair in International Law and faculty co-director of the Dean Rusk International Law Center at the University of Georgia School of Law Raoul Berger, senior fellow in American Legal History at Harvard University George Burditt, adjunct member of the faculty G. Marcus Cole, professor of law and associate dean for curriculum at Stanford Law School Steven Drizin, lawyer and law professor at the Northwestern University Pritzker School of Law Thomas F. Geraghty, associate dean for clinical education, professor of law, and director of the Bluhm Legal Clinic at the Northwestern University School of Law Kristin E. Hickman, Distinguished McKnight University Professor and the Harlan Albert Rogers Professor in Law at the University of Minnesota Law School Charles P. Kindregan, Jr., professor at Suffolk University Law School James Nabrit Jr., president of Howard University and pioneering civil rights law academic and attorney Kate A. Shaw, law professor at University of Pennsylvania Law School and ABC News Supreme Court contributor Jonathan Turley, Maurice C. Shapiro Professor of Public Interest Law at George Washington University Law School
Advocacy and nonprofits
Albert Goldman (J.D. 1925), socialist lawyer and political activist, personal lawyer of Leon Trotsky during his stay in Mexico CityAlbert Glotzer, "Albert Goldman," in Bernard K. Johnpoll and Harvey Klehr (eds.), Biographical Dictionary of the American Left. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 1986; pp. 159-160. Florence Kelley (1894), social reformer, early advocate for the minimum wage, eight-hour workdays, and children's rights; first general secretary of the National Consumers League; helped to create the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) Ada Kepley, advocate for women's suffrage and temperance, first American woman to obtain a law degree
Business Matt Ferguson, president and CEO of Careerbuilder.com Elbert Henry Gary, co-founder, president, and chairman of United States Steel Corporation; namesake of Gary, Indiana Michael Goodkin, quantitative finance entrepreneur and founder of Arbitrage Management CompanyGoodkin, Michael. The Wrong Answer Faster: The Inside Story of Making the Machine that Trades Trillions. John Wiley & Sons, 2012 Randy Kaplan, founder of Akamai Technologies Marc J. Lane, founder of The Marc J. Lane Wealth Group Morgan E. O'Brien, co-founder and former chairman of Nextel Jay A. Pritzker, co-founder of Hyatt Hotels Corporation and member of the Pritzker family. Frank C. Rathje, founder of the Mutual National Bank of Chicago and president of the American Bankers Association Howard A. Tullman, serial entrepreneur, venture capitalist
Entertainment
Jerry Springer, former mayor of Cincinnati, television talk show host
Government
Richard E. Wiley, former Chairman of the Federal Communications Commission
Judiciary Simeon R. Acoba, Jr., Hawaii Supreme Court Justice Mary Bartelme, influential pioneer in juvenile justice, the first woman elected judge in Illinois Dalveer Bhandari, Judge at the International Court of Justice, 2012–present Michael B. Brennan, United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit Judge Rubén Castillo, Chief Judge of the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois Edmond E. Chang, U.S. District judge for United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois Michael P. Drescher, associate justice of the Vermont Supreme Court since 2026 Joel Flaum, United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit Judge Arthur Goldberg, former United States Supreme Court Justice, U.S. Secretary of Labor, and Ambassador to the United Nations Jim Jones, Chief Justice of the Idaho Supreme Court Carole Kamin, first woman to become president of a state bar in the United States; Cook County Circuit Court Judge Kenesaw Mountain Landis, first Commissioner of Major League Baseball and U.S. District Judge for the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois Roberto A. Lange, U.S. District Judge for the United States District Court for the District of South Dakota Joan Larsen, U.S. Circuit Judge for the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth CircuitPaul Egan, "U.S. Senate confirms appointment of Joan Larsen to federal appeals court", Detroit Free Press, Detroit, November 1, 2017. Retrieved December 11, 2017. Joan Lefkow, U.S. District Judge for United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois José Abad Santos, 5th Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of the Philippines Michael Y. Scudder, United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit Judge Nathaniel C. Sears, judge of the Illinois Appellate Court and Cook County Superior Court; 1897 Republican nominee for mayor of Chicago John Paul Stevens, United States Supreme Court Justice Suhas Subramanyam, Member of the United States House of Representatives Richard Tallman, United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit Senior Judge Horace Ward, challenged racial discrimination at the University of Georgia and judge of the United States District Court for the Northern District of Georgia
Law
Ferdinand L. Barnett, Civil Rights activist and first African-American Assistant State's Attorney in Illinois, husband of Ida B. Wells Richard Ben-Veniste, chief of the Watergate Special Prosecutor's Office Watergate Task Force Salem Chalabi, first General Director of the Iraqi Special Tribunal to try Saddam Hussein Richard A. Devine, Cook County Former State's Attorney W. Neil Eggleston, White House Counsel under President Barack Obama T. Markus Funk, law professor and attorney at Perkins Coie Tappan Gregory, president of the American Bar Association in 1947–48 Graham T. Perry, second African-American elected for assistant attorney general for the State of Illinois Kyle Roche, cryptocurrency attorney Richard Terrin, legal advisor to Governor-General of the Philippines, Dwight F. Davis Lloyd Garrison Wheeler, first African American admitted to the bar in Illinois"Obituary: Lloyd Garrison Wheeler," Chicago Tribune, Aug. 31, 1909, pg. 4.
Literature and journalism
Ferdinand Lee Barnett, founder of The Chicago Conservator Robert R. McCormick, publisher of the Chicago Tribune and co-founder of law firm Stuart G. Shepard and Robert R. McCormick (later Kirkland & Ellis)
Politics George Wildman Ball (1933), former U.S. Undersecretary of State and U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Judy Biggert (J.D. 1963), U.S. House of Representatives William Jennings Bryan, former U.S. Secretary of State and three-time Democratic nominee for President Dale Bumpers, former Governor of Arkansas and U.S. Senator Alfred Cilella, Illinois state legislator'Illinois Blue Book 1943-1944,' Biographical Sketch of Alfred Cilella, pg. 398-399 Dennis Daugaard, Governor of South Dakota William Dawson, first African American to chair a Congressional Committee, beginning in 1949 Edward Dunne, former Governor of Illinois and former Mayor of Chicago Carl R. Feld, Wisconsin State Assembly Robert Todd Lincoln (1866),This alumnus attended the law school when it formed part of the Old University of Chicago, which closed in 1886 after it was damaged by a fire, and which was later renamed the Northwestern University School of Law. U.S. Minister to the United Kingdom (1889–1893); 35th United States Secretary of War (1881–1885) Wendy E. Long, Republican nominee for United States Senate from New York in 2012 and 2016 Sara Love, Maryland Senate Frank Orren Lowden, Governor of Illinois J. Curtis McKay, Wisconsin State Assembly Albert E. Mead, former governor of Washington Newton Minow, former Chairman of the Federal Communications Commission Dawn Clark Netsch, first woman to be elected to a statewide constitutional office in Illinois Cecil A. Partee, former City Treasurer of Chicago, Cook County State's Attorney, and president of the Illinois Senate J. B. Pritzker, Managing Partner of Pritzker Group Venture Capital, and current Governor of Illinois Pat Quinn, former Governor of Illinois Tom Railsback, U.S. House of Representatives Henry T. Rainey, 40th Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives Jerry Springer, former mayor of Cincinnati and television talk show host Seymour Stedman, Socialist Party of America nominee for vice-president of the United States (and for Mayor of Chicago)A Political Guide for the Workers: Socialist Party Campaign, Book 1920, The Socialist Party of the United States, 1920, p. 15. Halvor Steenerson, former U.S. RepresentativeCompendium of History and Biography of Central and Northern Minnesota, G.A. Ogle & Company, 1904, p. 143. Adlai Stevenson, former Governor of Illinois, two-time Democratic Nominee for President, and Ambassador to the United Nations Jim Thompson, former Governor of Illinois Charles M. Thomson, former U.S. House of Representatives Daniel Walker, former Governor of Illinois Harold Washington, first black mayor of Chicago and U.S. House of Representatives Paul Ziffren, Democratic National Committee chair
Sports
Eddie Einhorn, owner of the Chicago White Sox Kenesaw Mountain Landis, first Commissioner of Major League Baseball, for U.S. District Judge for the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois Jerry Reinsdorf, owner of the Chicago White Sox and Chicago Bulls Mark Walter, founder and CEO of Guggenheim Partners and Chairman of Los Angeles Dodgers
References