Andrew Strelka is an American attorney who served as the Senior Tax Counsel in the Biden-Harris White House. During the

Obama administration Barack Obama's tenure as the 44th president of the United States began with his first inauguration on January 20, 2009, and ended on January 20, 2017. A Democrat from Illinois, Obama took office following a decisive victory over Republican ...

, he served at the

Internal Revenue Service The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) is the revenue service for the United States federal government, which is responsible for collecting U.S. federal taxes and administering the Internal Revenue Code, the main body of the federal statutory ta ...

and

United States Department of Justice Tax Division The United States Department of Justice Tax Division is responsible for the prosecution of both civil and criminal cases arising under the Internal Revenue Code and other tax laws of the United States. The Division began operation in 1934, un ...

where he was detailed to the White House Counsel’s Office. On September 8, 2021, it was announced that Strelka had returned to his prior law firm,

Latham & Watkins Latham & Watkins LLP is an American multinational law firm. Founded in 1934 in Los Angeles, California, Latham is the second-largest law firm in the world by revenue. As of 2021, Latham is also one of the most profitable law firms in the world ...

Early life and education

Andrew Strelka was born in

Virginia Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States, between the Atlantic Coast and the Appalachian Mountains. The geography and climate of the Commonwealth ar ...

and raised in

Roanoke County Roanoke County ( ) is a county located in the U.S. state of the Commonwealth of Virginia. As of the 2020 census, the population was 96,929. Its county seat is Salem, but the county administrative offices are located in the unincorporated Cave ...

. His father was an orthopedic surgeon and had a medical practice in

Blacksburg, Virginia Blacksburg is an incorporated town in Montgomery County, Virginia, United States, with a population of 44,826 at the 2020 census. Blacksburg, as well as the surrounding county, is dominated economically and demographically by the presence of V ...

. His father continued to practice medicine and perform surgery despite suffering a spinal cord injury and becoming paralyzed while moving a patient onto an operating table in 1982. Strelka’s father pled guilty to federal tax crimes in 1994. After entering an agreement to pay off his debt to the IRS, his father was sentenced to probation by then-District Court Judge

Sonia Sotomayor Sonia Maria Sotomayor (, ; born June 25, 1954) is an American lawyer and jurist who serves as an associate justice of the Supreme Court of the United States. She was nominated by President Barack Obama on May 26, 2009, and has served since ...

. Strelka has stated that his father took responsibility and that Justice Sotomayor “took the time to understand the person in her courtroom,” and credits her compassionate handling of his father’s case with shaping his view of the law and making him want to pursue public service. Andrew Strelka earned a Bachelor of Arts in economics from the

University of Virginia The University of Virginia (UVA) is a Public university#United States, public research university in Charlottesville, Virginia. Founded in 1819 by Thomas Jefferson, the university is ranked among the top academic institutions in the United S ...

in 2002. He earned his Juris Doctor from

American University The American University (AU or American) is a private federally chartered research university in Washington, D.C. Its main campus spans 90 acres (36 ha) on Ward Circle, mostly in the Spring Valley neighborhood of Northwest D.C. AU was charte ...

Washington College of Law The American University Washington College of Law (AUWCL or WCL) is the law school of American University, a Private university, private research university in Washington, D.C. It is located on the western side of Tenley Circle in the Tenleyto ...

in 2008 and a Master of Laws from

Georgetown University Law Center The Georgetown University Law Center (Georgetown Law) is the law school of Georgetown University, a private research university in Washington, D.C. It was established in 1870 and is the largest law school in the United States by enrollment and ...

in 2010. Strelka's identical twin brother, Thomas Strelka, is a civil rights attorney in Roanoke, Virginia.

Career

In 2008, Strelka began his legal career at the

through the

Presidential Management Fellows Program The Presidential Management Fellows (PMF) Program is a two-year training and leadership development program at a United States government agency, administered by the U.S. Office of Personnel Management (OPM), for advanced degree holders (both curr ...

. Strelka was subsequently detailed to the office of the

United States Attorney for the District of Columbia The United States Attorney for the District of Columbia (USADC) is the United States Attorney responsible for representing the federal government in the United States District Court for the District of Columbia. The U.S. Attorney's Office for the ...

in 2009. In 2010, Strelka joined the

through the Attorney General’s Honors Program. While at the DOJ Tax Division, Strelka was named national chair of the tax section of the

Federal Bar Association The Federal Bar Association (FBA) is the primary voluntary professional organization for private and government lawyers and judges practicing and sitting in federal courts in the United States. Six times a year, The Association prints ''The Fede ...

and received the Federal Bar Association’s Younger Federal Lawyer Award. In 2013, Strelka received the Tax Division's Outstanding Attorney Award and was detailed to the Obama White House. In 2014, Strelka left the government and eventually joined the tax controversy group at

. In 2020, Strelka left the law firm and served as tax counsel to the Biden-Harris Transition. On January 20, 2021, Strelka assumed the role of Senior Tax Counsel in the Biden-Harris White House. Eric Holder and Andrew Strelka 2009

On September 8, 2021, Strelka returned to

Works

*Kevin Kenworthy, Kathryn Morrison Sneade, and Andrew Strelka. ''Transfer Pricing: Document Requests and Summons Enforcement''. Bloomberg Tax and Accounting (2019).

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Strelka, Andrew Biden administration personnel Georgetown University Law Center alumni Washington College of Law alumni University of Virginia alumni Living people Tax lawyers Lawyers from Roanoke, Virginia Obama administration personnel Year of birth missing (living people) People associated with Latham & Watkins