Who

The head of the litigation department at Debevoise & Plimpton, White was the first woman to be named U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York.

Backstory

After earning her law degree at Columbia, White clerked for a federal judge and worked as an assistant attorney for the U.S. Southern District. After a detour into private practice at Debevoise, she went back into public service in 1993 when then-President Bill Clinton tapped her for the U.S. Attorney's job in Manhattan. She soon gained fame for prosecuting everything from white-collar crime and insider trading to drug smuggling to international terrorism. Some of the high-profile prosecutions on her watch: the original World Trade Center bombing case and the terror conspiracy case against Egyptian cleric Sheik Omar Abdel Rahman; the plot to destroy the U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania that resulted in the deaths of 224 people; and the successful 1992 prosecution of mafia boss John Gotti on charges of murder and racketeering. She also served as the lead prosecutor in the trial against Marc Rich, the ex-husband of socialite Denise Rich. In 2001, just before leaving office, President Clinton pardoned Rich. (White was later appointed to oversee the investigation into what reporters dubbed "Pardongate.") White stepped down as U.S. Attorney in January 2002 to rejoin Debevoise.

Of note

Now back at white-shoe firm Debevoise as the head of its 225-attorney litigation department, White takes on slightly less noble cases these days. In 2002, she defended Rosie O' Donnell, who was sued by the publisher of Rosie, Gruner + Jahr, for $100 million. She also represented hospital operator HCA in connection with alleged SEC violations by then-Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist. One of her more absurd cases as of late: Her successful defense of the Time Warner Book Group and writer Timothy O'Brien. Donald Trump sued both parties for $5 billion after the O'Brien suggested in his book TrumpNation that Trump was not, in fact, a billionaire.

Campaign trail

White served on Andrew Cuomo's transition committee following his successful bid for Attorney General, along with fellow attorneys Robert Morgenthau, H. Rodgin Cohen, Barry Scheck, and Ira Millstein.

Personal

Mary Jo isn't the only power lawyer in the White household. Her husband John was a partner at Cravath Swaine & Moore before heading to the Securities and Exchange Commission. (He's currently director of the SEC's Division of Corporation Finance.) They have one son, and live in the East 50s.