Jill Wine-Banks (born May 5, 1943 as Jill Susan Wine
["Wine-Banks, Jill (1943–)"]
''Dictionary of Women Worldwide: 25,000 Women Through the Ages''. Retrieved September 7, 2019 via Encyclopedia.com
Encyclopedia.com (also known as HighBeam Encyclopedia) is an online encyclopedia. It aggregates information from other published dictionaries, encyclopedias and reference works including pictures and videos.
History
The website was launched by ...
.), formerly Jill Wine-Volner, is an
America
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territor ...
n
lawyer
A lawyer is a person who practices law. The role of a lawyer varies greatly across different legal jurisdictions. A lawyer can be classified as an advocate, attorney, barrister, canon lawyer, civil law notary, counsel, counselor, solicitor ...
who was one of the
prosecutor
A prosecutor is a legal representative of the prosecution in states with either the common law adversarial system or the civil law inquisitorial system. The prosecution is the legal party responsible for presenting the case in a criminal ...
s during the
Watergate scandal
The Watergate scandal was a major political scandal in the United States involving the administration of President Richard Nixon from 1972 to 1974 that led to Nixon's resignation. The scandal stemmed from the Nixon administration's continu ...
. She was the first woman to serve as
US General Counsel of the Army (1977–80) under President
Jimmy Carter
James Earl Carter Jr. (born October 1, 1924) is an American politician who served as the 39th president of the United States from 1977 to 1981. A member of the Democratic Party, he previously served as the 76th governor of Georgia from ...
. She is also the first woman to have held the position of executive director of the
American Bar Association
The American Bar Association (ABA) is a voluntary bar association of lawyers and law students, which is not specific to any jurisdiction in the United States. Founded in 1878, the ABA's most important stated activities are the setting of acade ...
.
Early life and education
Jill Wine was born to a family of Jewish immigrants in
Chicago
(''City in a Garden''); I Will
, image_map =
, map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago
, coordinates =
, coordinates_footnotes =
, subdivision_type = Country
, subdivision_name ...
, Illinois
on May 5, 1943 as Jill Susan Wine.
[ Her parents were Bert S. Wine and Sylvia Dawn (née Simon) Wine.][ She was raised in ]Chicago
(''City in a Garden''); I Will
, image_map =
, map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago
, coordinates =
, coordinates_footnotes =
, subdivision_type = Country
, subdivision_name ...
, where her father was a Certified Public Accountant
Certified Public Accountant (CPA) is the title of qualified accountants in numerous countries in the English-speaking world. It is generally equivalent to the title of chartered accountant in other English-speaking countries. In the United Sta ...
.[Linda Witt]
"Watergate's Jill Wine-Banks Has a New Hubby—and a Job with an Old Foe, Bert Jenner"
''People
A person ( : people) is a being that has certain capacities or attributes such as reason, morality, consciousness or self-consciousness, and being a part of a culturally established form of social relations such as kinship, ownership of propert ...
'', Aug. 24, 1981. She was educated at 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 Unive ...
, receiving a B.S.
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 of ...
in Communication studies
Communication studies or communication science is an academic discipline that deals with processes of human communication and behavior, patterns of communication in interpersonal relationships, social interactions and communication in different ...
and was president of her chapter of Iota Alpha Pi,[Profile from F&H Solutions Group](_blank)
/ref> and at 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 ...
, receiving a J.D. in 1968. After her marriage to Ian Volner, also a lawyer, she practiced law as Jill Wine-Volner.
Career
After law school, Wine-Volner joined 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 ...
, becoming one of the first female attorneys in the organized crime section. During the Watergate scandal
The Watergate scandal was a major political scandal in the United States involving the administration of President Richard Nixon from 1972 to 1974 that led to Nixon's resignation. The scandal stemmed from the Nixon administration's continu ...
, she served on the staff of special prosecutor
In the United States, a special counsel (formerly called special prosecutor or independent counsel) is a lawyer appointed to investigate, and potentially prosecute, a particular case of suspected wrongdoing for which a conflict of interest exist ...
Leon Jaworski. In that capacity, in the proceedings before Judge John Sirica
John Joseph Sirica (March 19, 1904 – August 14, 1992) was a United States district judge of the United States District Court for the District of Columbia, where he became famous for his role in the trials stemming from the Watergate scandal.
...
, she was responsible for cross-examining President of the United States
The president of the United States (POTUS) is the head of state and head of government of the United States of America. The president directs the executive branch of the federal government and is the commander-in-chief of the United St ...
Richard Nixon
Richard Milhous Nixon (January 9, 1913April 22, 1994) was the 37th president of the United States, serving from 1969 to 1974. A member of the Republican Party, he previously served as a representative and senator from California and was ...
's secretary Rose Mary Woods about the minute gap on the Watergate tapes
The Nixon White House tapes are audio recordings of conversations between U.S. President Richard Nixon and Nixon administration officials, Nixon family members, and White House staff, produced between 1971 and 1973.
In February 1971, a sound-ac ...
. Wine-Volner was given the task of cross-examining Woods after a colleague made an inappropriate remark to the press. During cross-examination, Wine-Volner had Woods recreate the way in which Woods claimed she accidentally erased a portion of the tape when she was transcribing it. Woods had claimed to have kept her foot on the pedal on the tape recorder, and Wine-Volner succeeded in demonstrating that this was implausible.
Wine-Volner received media attention during the trial for her legal tactics and fashion choices; critics disapproved of her wearing miniskirts.
After Watergate, Wine-Volner joined a Washington, D.C. 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 ...
. In 1977, President Jimmy Carter
James Earl Carter Jr. (born October 1, 1924) is an American politician who served as the 39th president of the United States from 1977 to 1981. A member of the Democratic Party, he previously served as the 76th governor of Georgia from ...
nominated her to serve as General Counsel of the Army
The General Counsel of the Army (also known as the Army General Counsel, abbreviated AGC) is the chief legal officer of the U.S. Department of the Army and senior legal advisor to the Secretary of the Army.
U.S. law provides that the General Cou ...
, and she subsequently held that post until 1980. She was the first woman to hold the position of General Counsel of the Army. After divorcing Ian Volner, in 1980 she married her boyfriend from their high school days, Michael Banks, an antiques dealer living in Winnetka, Illinois
Winnetka () is a village in Cook County, Illinois, United States, located north of downtown Chicago. The population was 12,316 as of 2019. The village is one of the wealthiest places in the nation in terms of household income. It was the second ...
, and changed her name to Jill Wine-Banks.
In 1980, at the behest of Albert E. Jenner, Jr., who had served on the staff of the Republicans on the House Judiciary Committee
The U.S. House Committee on the Judiciary, also called the House Judiciary Committee, is a standing committee of the United States House of Representatives. It is charged with overseeing the administration of justice within the federal courts, a ...
during Watergate and who had been impressed with her in-court performance, she became a partner at the Chicago law firm of Jenner & Block
Jenner & Block is an American law firm with offices in Chicago, London, Los Angeles, New York City, San Francisco, and Washington, D.C. The firm is active in corporate litigation, business transactions, the public sector, and other legal fields ...
.
In 1987, she became the executive director of the American Bar Association
The American Bar Association (ABA) is a voluntary bar association of lawyers and law students, which is not specific to any jurisdiction in the United States. Founded in 1878, the ABA's most important stated activities are the setting of acade ...
, the first woman to hold that position.[ In 1989, there was a minor scandal after Wine-Banks persuaded the ]Illinois Attorney General
The Illinois Attorney General is the highest legal officer of the state of Illinois in the United States. Originally an appointed office, it is now an office filled by statewide election. Based in Chicago and Springfield, Illinois, the attorney ...
's office, of which Wine-Banks had once been the second in command, to assign a prosecutor to investigate a veterinarian
A veterinarian (vet), also known as a veterinary surgeon or veterinary physician, is a medical professional who practices veterinary medicine. They manage a wide range of health conditions and injuries in non-human animals. Along with this, vet ...
who she believed had negligently treated her Dalmatian, leading to the dog's death.[ After the '']Chicago Tribune
The ''Chicago Tribune'' is a daily newspaper based in Chicago, Illinois, United States, owned by Tribune Publishing. Founded in 1847, and formerly self-styled as the "World's Greatest Newspaper" (a slogan for which WGN radio and television a ...
'' ran a story titled "Grieving Dog Owner Unleashes Clout with State", a former ABA president, Eugene Thomas, circulated a letter in which he said that Wine-Banks "does not understand the use of power and lacks a sense of decorum and propriety in professional matters" and should be dismissed by the ABA.[ She left the ABA in 1990.
In 1992, Wine-Banks joined ]Motorola
Motorola, Inc. () was an American multinational telecommunications company based in Schaumburg, Illinois, United States. After having lost $4.3 billion from 2007 to 2009, the company split into two independent public companies, Motorola ...
as a director and vice president, a position she held until 2000.[Jill Wine-Banks' LinkedIn Profile](_blank)
/ref> From 1997 to 2000, she was also a vice president of Maytag. In 2001, she founded and was the chief executive officer
A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a central executive officer (CEO), chief administrator officer (CAO) or just chief executive (CE), is one of a number of corporate executives charged with the management of an organization especially ...
of Winning Workplaces, a human resources
Human resources (HR) is the set of people who make up the workforce of an organization, business sector, industry, or economy. A narrower concept is human capital, the knowledge and skills which the individuals command. Similar terms includ ...
firm. She left Winning Workplaces in 2003 and joined the Chicago Public Schools
Chicago Public Schools (CPS), officially classified as City of Chicago School District #299 for funding and districting reasons, in Chicago, Illinois, is the third-largest school district in the United States, after New York and Los Angeles.
...
as chief officer for career and technical education, a post she held until 2008. Since November 2008, Wine-Banks has worked as a consultant
A consultant (from la, consultare "to deliberate") is a professional (also known as ''expert'', ''specialist'', see variations of meaning below) who provides advice and other purposeful activities in an area of specialization.
Consulting servic ...
with F & H Solutions.
Wine-Banks also has a robust career providing legal analyst commentary on MSNBC. She hosts two podcasts, SistersinLaw along with Boston Globe columnist and former lawyer Kimberly Atkins Stohr and former U.S. Attorneys Barbara McQuade and Joyce Vance, and Intergenerational Politics, which will be produced by Politicon.
Personal life
Wine-Banks's marriage to Ian Volner ended in divorce. She then married antiques dealer Michael Banks.
Books
*
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Wine-Banks, Jill
1943 births
American women lawyers
Columbia Law School alumni
General Counsels of the United States Army
American Bar Association
Living people
MSNBC people
People associated with Jenner & Block
University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign College of Media alumni
Watergate scandal investigators
Women in the United States Army