Carin Ann Clauss (born January 24, 1939) was the first female United States Solicitor of Labor.

Early life

Carin Ann Clauss was born on January 24, 1939, in Knoxville, Tennessee. She attended

Vassar College Vassar College ( ) is a private liberal arts college in Poughkeepsie, New York, United States. Founded in 1861 by Matthew Vassar, it was the second degree-granting institution of higher education for women in the United States, closely foll ...

, graduating in 1960 with a

Bachelor of Arts Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four yea ...

. Three years later, Clauss graduated from

Columbia Law School Columbia Law School (Columbia Law or CLS) is the law school of Columbia University, a private Ivy League university in New York City. Columbia Law is widely regarded as one of the most prestigious law schools in the world and has always ranked i ...

as one of six women in her class.

Career

Following law school, Clauss worked at the

United States Department of Labor The United States Department of Labor (DOL) is one of the executive departments of the U.S. federal government. It is responsible for the administration of federal laws governing occupational safety and health, wage and hour standards, unemploy ...

in the Office of the Solicitor, joining the department in August 1963. During her tenure, she served as Deputy Counsel of Appellate Litigation in 1968 and 1969 and co-chaired the Labor Committee of the Federal Bar Association in 1968 and 1972. She also worked to develop the department's litigation strategy for enforcing the

Equal Pay Act of 1963 The Equal Pay Act of 1963 is a United States labor law amending the Fair Labor Standards Act, aimed at abolishing wage disparity based on sex (see gender pay gap). It was signed into law on June 10, 1963, by John F. Kennedy as part of his New Fro ...

. On February 24, 1977, President Carter announced his nomination of Clauss to serve as the Solicitor of the Department of Labor. She was confirmed the same year, becoming the first female

solicitor A solicitor is a legal practitioner who traditionally deals with most of the legal matters in some jurisdictions. A person must have legally-defined qualifications, which vary from one jurisdiction to another, to be described as a solicitor and ...

of the Department of Labor. She served in that position until 1981. In 1978, while she was still at the Department of Labor, President Carter nominated Clauss to be a United States District Judge for the District of Columbia. However, she declined to be considered a second time after her original nomination stalled due to Congress adjourning before considering her nomination. After leaving the Department of Labor, Clauss taught at the

University of Wisconsin–Madison A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United Stat ...

, specializing in labor and employment law. She holds the Nathan P. Feinsinger Chair in Labor Law at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Clauss, Carin 1939 births Living people United States Department of Labor officials Carter administration personnel Columbia Law School alumni Vassar College alumni University of Wisconsin–Madison faculty People from Knoxville, Tennessee 20th-century American lawyers 20th-century American women lawyers

Early life

Career

See also

References