James Cole Jr. is an American attorney who served as the acting

Deputy Secretary of Education The deputy secretary of education oversees and manages the development of policies in the United States Department of Education. The deputy secretary focuses primarily on K–12 education policy, such as No Child Left Behind, the High School Init ...

from 2016 to 2017, serving under 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 ...

Education

Cole received his

Bachelor of Science A Bachelor of Science (BS, BSc, SB, or ScB; from the Latin ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for programs that generally last three to five years. The first university to admit a student to the degree of Bachelor of Science was the University o ...

in finance with honors from the

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (U of I, Illinois, University of Illinois, or UIUC) is a public land-grant research university in Illinois in the twin cities of Champaign and Urbana. It is the flagship institution of the Un ...

, and his

Juris Doctor The Juris Doctor (J.D. or JD), also known as Doctor of Jurisprudence (J.D., JD, D.Jur., or DJur), is a graduate-entry professional degree in law and one of several Doctor of Law degrees. The J.D. is the standard degree obtained to practice l ...

from the

University of Chicago Law School The University of Chicago Law School is the law school of the University of Chicago, a private research university in Chicago, Illinois. It is consistently ranked among the best and most prestigious law schools in the world, and has many dis ...

, where he served as a comment editor of the University of Chicago Law School Roundtable.

Department of Education

General Counsel for Department of Education

On June 10, 2013, President

Barack Obama Barack Hussein Obama II ( ; born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who served as the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party, Obama was the first Af ...

nominated Cole as General Counsel."President Obama Announces More Key Administration Posts", White House, June 10, 2013
/ref> He was then confirmed by the Senate as the department's general counsel in December 2014.

Acting Deputy Secretary of Education

Delegated the duties of Deputy Secretary on January 28, 2016, Cole served as the chief operating officer and chief legal officer and oversaw a broad range of operational, management, policy, legal and program functions at the department. Cole also oversaw the department's work on President Obama's My Brother's Keeper Task Force.

Department of Transportation

From 2011 to 2014 Cole served as the deputy general counsel of the

United States Department of Transportation The United States Department of Transportation (USDOT or DOT) is one of the executive departments of the U.S. federal government. It is headed by the secretary of transportation, who reports directly to the President of the United States and ...

. In this role he advised the secretary, deputy secretary and general counsel on legal, policy and program matters relating to DOT's 10 operating administrations, including the

Federal Aviation Administration The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is the largest transportation agency of the U.S. government and regulates all aspects of civil aviation in the country as well as over surrounding international waters. Its powers include air traffic ...

Federal Highway Administration The Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) is a division of the United States Department of Transportation that specializes in highway transportation. The agency's major activities are grouped into two programs, the Federal-aid Highway Program ...

and

Federal Railroad Administration The Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) is an agency in the United States Department of Transportation (DOT). The agency was created by the Department of Transportation Act of 1966. The purpose of the FRA is to promulgate and enforce rail sa ...

Legal career

From 2004 to 2011, he served on the board of directors of the

NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund The NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, Inc. (NAACP LDF, the Legal Defense Fund, or LDF) is a leading United States civil rights organization and law firm based in New York City. LDF is wholly independent and separate from the NAACP. Altho ...

. From 2005 to 2011, he also served on the board of trustees of Prep for Prep, a New York City-based youth leadership development program that identifies and prepares students of color for the rigors of independent day and boarding schools. In addition, he has mentored high school and college students since graduating from

Dunbar Vocational High School Dunbar Vocational High School (also known as Dunbar Vocational Career Academy, or DVCA) is a state school, public 4–year vocational school, vocational high school located in the Douglas, Chicago, Bronzeville neighborhood on the south side of Chica ...

, located in

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = List of sovereign states, Count ...

. From 1996 to 2011, Cole worked at the law firm of

Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz is an American law firm in New York City. The firm is known for corporate law, regularly handling large and complex transactions. On both a profit per lawyer, and profit per equity partner basis, it is the most ...

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

, where, in 2004, he became a partner in the corporate department. He has advised a broad range of public and private companies in a variety of industries in the United States and around the world. Prior to joining Wachtell, Lipton, Cole clerked for Judge Stephanie K. Seymour of the

United States Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit The United States Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit (in case citations, 10th Cir.) is a federal court with appellate jurisdiction over the district courts in the following districts: * District of Colorado * District of Kansas * Distr ...

References

External links

James Cole Jr. Department of Education biography
* , - {{DEFAULTSORT:Cole, James Jr. Living people United States Deputy Secretaries of Education United States Department of Transportation officials Gies College of Business alumni University of Chicago Law School alumni New York (state) lawyers Law clerks Dunbar Vocational High School alumni Year of birth missing (living people) Place of birth missing (living people) Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz people