Wendy J. Olson (born 1964) is an American lawyer who served as a United States attorney for the District of Idaho from 2010 to 2017. She was appointed in 2010 by President Barack Obama, replacing Thomas E. Moss. As one of 93 United States attorneys, she represented the government in all civil and criminal cases within her district.

Early life and education

Olson was born in

Pocatello, Idaho Pocatello () is the county seat of and largest city in Bannock County, with a small portion on the Fort Hall Indian Reservation in neighboring Power County, in the southeastern part of the U.S. state of Idaho. It is the principal city of the ...

, and attended

Pocatello High School Pocatello High School is a four-year public high school in Pocatello, Idaho, United States. It is the oldest of the three traditional high schools of the Pocatello/Chubbuck School District and serves the southwest portion. The school colors are ...

. Olson attended Drake University in Des Moines, Iowa, graduating with a Bachelor of Arts degree in journalism in 1986. She served as an intern in the sports department of the '' Los Angeles Times'' before leaving to attend Stanford Law School in Palo Alto, California. She graduated from Stanford with a

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 law ...

in 1990. She interned with Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr, the Student Press Law Center, and the Media Access Project.

Career

Olson served as a

law clerk A law clerk or a judicial clerk is a person, generally someone who provides direct counsel and assistance to a lawyer or judge by researching issues and drafting legal opinions for cases before the court. Judicial clerks often play significant ...

for Judge

Barbara Jacobs Rothstein Barbara Jacobs Rothstein (born 1939) is a Senior United States district judge of the United States District Court for the Western District of Washington. Life and career Born in Brooklyn, New York, Rothstein received a Bachelor of Arts degr ...

on the

United States District Court for the Western District of Washington The United States District Court for the Western District of Washington (in case citations, W.D. Wash.) is the federal district court whose jurisdiction comprises the following counties of the state of Washington: Clallam, Clark, Cowlitz, Grays H ...

for two years immediately after finishing law school. She served as a trial attorney and later Deputy Director of the National Church Arson Task Force in the United States Department of Justice Civil Rights Division from 1992 to 1997. From 1994 to 1997, she also worked part-time as an

adjunct professor An adjunct professor is a type of academic appointment in higher education who does not work at the establishment full-time. The terms of this appointment and the job security of the tenure vary in different parts of the world, however the genera ...

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 ...

. In 1997, Olson joined the Office of the United States Attorney for the District of Idaho, rising to the rank of Senior Litigation Counsel at the time of her appointment in 2010. After Olson resigned in 2017, she joined the Boise office of

Stoel Rives Stoel Rives LLP is a U.S. business law firm with 10 office locations in seven U.S. states and Washington, D.C. Headquartered in Portland, Oregon, in the Park Avenue West Tower, it is the largest law firm in the state of Oregon, having 391 attorn ...

, a law firm that operates in the Pacific Northwest. In 2021, Olson was included on a shortlist of possible nominees to succeed Judge

B. Lynn Winmill Barry Lynn Winmill (born March 18, 1952) is a senior United States district judge of the United States District Court for the District of Idaho. Early life and education Winmill was born in Blackfoot, Idaho, and grew up on a dairy farm.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Olson, Wendy J. 1964 births Living people 20th-century American women lawyers 20th-century American lawyers 21st-century American women lawyers 21st-century American lawyers Drake University alumni Idaho lawyers People from Pocatello, Idaho Stanford Law School alumni United States Attorneys for the District of Idaho