Dennise Noemí Longo Quiñones is a Puerto Rican lawyer and government official serving as the Secretary of Justice of Puerto Rico. Longo Quiñones was previously a

United States Attorney United States attorneys are officials of the U.S. Department of Justice who serve as the chief federal law enforcement officers in each of the 94 U.S. federal judicial districts. Each U.S. attorney serves as the United States' chief federal c ...

and assistant federal prosecutor. She was a special assistant to Secretary of Justice José Fuentes Agostini from 1998 to 2000 and the legal advisor of Governor Luis Fortuño from 2009 to 2012.

Early life and education

Dennise Noemí Longo Quiñones was born in

San Juan, Puerto Rico San Juan (, , ; Spanish for "Saint John") is the capital city and most populous municipality in the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, an unincorporated territory of the United States. As of the 2020 census, it is the 57th-largest city under the jur ...

Concepción Quiñones de Longo Concepción Quiñones de Longo is a Puerto Rican pediatrician and government official. She was the interim Secretary of Health of Puerto Rico in March 2020 and had previously served as the undersecretary of Rafael Rodríguez Mercado. Quiñones d ...

and raised in Bayamón. She completed grade school at the Colegio Santo Domingo and graduated from the Colegio Puertorriqueño de Niñas. Longo Quiñones earned a bachelor's degree in political science and Latin American studies at

Brown University Brown University is a private research university in Providence, Rhode Island. Brown is the seventh-oldest institution of higher education in the United States, founded in 1764 as the College in the English Colony of Rhode Island and Providenc ...

. She attended graduated school at the

George Washington University Law School The George Washington University Law School (GW Law) is the law school of George Washington University, in Washington, D.C. Established in 1865, GW Law is the oldest top law school in the national capital. GW Law offers the largest range of cou ...

(GW Law) while working as a

paralegal A paralegal, also known as a legal assistant, or paralegal specialist is a professional who performs tasks that require knowledge of legal concepts but not the full expertise of a lawyer with a license to practice law. The market for paralegals i ...

for Brown & Wood. Longo Quiñones also worked in the

United States Department of Justice Civil Division The United States Department of Justice Civil Division represents the United States, its departments and agencies, members of Congress A Member of Congress (MOC) is a person who has been appointed or elected and inducted into an official bod ...

and the office of the Federal public defender. She participated in the GW Law Immigration Clinic and

interned Internment is the imprisonment of people, commonly in large groups, without charges or intent to file charges. The term is especially used for the confinement "of enemy citizens in wartime or of terrorism suspects". Thus, while it can simply ...

for the

United States House of Representatives The United States House of Representatives, often referred to as the House of Representatives, the U.S. House, or simply the House, is the Lower house, lower chamber of the United States Congress, with the United States Senate, Senate being ...

. In 1993, Longo Quiñones completed a Juris Doctor at GW Law and was admitted to the

Maryland State Bar Association The Maryland State Bar Association (MSBA) is a voluntary bar association for the state of Maryland. The association pursues the following mission: "to effectively represent Maryland’s lawyers, to provide member services, and to promote profes ...

Career

From 1993 to 1995, Longo Quiñones worked at the Circuit Court of Maryland for Baltimore City as a judicial officer and assistant prosecutor where she specialized in

juvenile delinquency Juvenile delinquency, also known as juvenile offending, is the act of participating in unlawful behavior as a minor or individual younger than the statutory age of majority. In the United States of America, a juvenile delinquent is a person ...

. In 1995, she was admitted to the Bar Association of Puerto Rico and she began working in private practice. From November 1998 to October 2000, Longo Quiñones was a special assistant to the Secretary of Justice of Puerto Rico José Fuentes Agostini and Ángel Rotger Sabat where she handled

civil rights Civil and political rights are a class of rights that protect individuals' freedom from infringement by governments, social organizations, and private individuals. They ensure one's entitlement to participate in the civil and political life of ...

lawsuits pertaining to the conditions in medical, juvenile, and criminal institutions. From late 2000 to 2008, she worked in corporate law in various

law firm A law firm is a business entity formed by one or more lawyers to engage in the practice of law. The primary service rendered by a law firm is to advise clients (individuals or corporations) about their legal rights and responsibilities, and to r ...

s throughout

Orlando, Florida Orlando () is a city in the U.S. state of Florida and is the county seat of Orange County, Florida, Orange County. In Central Florida, it is the center of the Greater Orlando, Orlando metropolitan area, which had a population of 2,509,831, acco ...

and Puerto Rico. Longo Quiñones was a legal advisor to Governor Luis Fortuño from January 2009 to June 2012. She chaired the Governor's ethics committee in the Governor's office. From 2012 to 2019, she was an assistant federal prosecutor and

for the

United States Department of Justice The United States Department of Justice (DOJ), also known as the Justice Department, is a federal executive department of the United States government tasked with the enforcement of federal law and administration of justice in the United State ...

in the international narcotics division and the financial fraud corruption where she led investigations on drug trafficking and money laundering organizations. In August 2019, Longo Quiñones was appointed as the Secretary of Justice of Puerto Rico by Governor

Wanda Vázquez Garced Wanda Emilia Vázquez Garced (born July 9, 1960) is a Puerto Rican politician and attorney who served as Governor of Puerto Rico from 2019 to 2021. Prior to her tenure as governor, she served as the 19th secretary of Justice, from 2017 to 201 ...

. In October 2019, the

Senate of Puerto Rico The Senate of Puerto Rico ( es, Senado de Puerto Rico) is the upper house of the Legislative Assembly of Puerto Rico, the territorial legislature of Puerto Rico. The Senate, together with the House of Representatives of Puerto Rico, control th ...

confirmed her appointment despite opposition from senate minority members in the Popular Democratic and

Puerto Rican Independence Throughout the history of Puerto Rico, Puerto Ricans, its inhabitants have initiated several movements to obtain independence for the island, first from the Spanish Empire from 1493 to 1898 and since then from the United States. A spectrum of p ...

parties.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Longo Quinones, Dennise 21st-century Puerto Rican lawyers Brown University alumni Florida lawyers George Washington University Law School alumni Living people Maryland lawyers People from Bayamón, Puerto Rico Lawyers from San Juan, Puerto Rico 21st-century Puerto Rican women lawyers 21st-century American women lawyers 21st-century American lawyers Secretaries of Justice of Puerto Rico United States Attorneys Women government officials Year of birth missing (living people) New Progressive Party (Puerto Rico) politicians