Rachel K. Paulose

When she was unanimously confirmed by the United States
Senate to serve as United States Attorney for the District of
Minnesota in 2006, Rachel Kunjummen Paulose became
the first Indian American woman in American history to be
nominated by the President and confirmed by the Senate
for any federal appointment.

Under Paulose’s leadership, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for
the District of Minnesota recorded the highest number of prosecutions in its history, reflecting the collaborative hard work of law enforcement partners, attorneys, staff, and civic leaders. Paulose also oversaw landmark prosecutions of white collar
crime (including securities, health care, and public corruption cases), narcotics and firearms trafficking cartels, and civil commitment of sexual predators. Paulose tripled child pornography prosecutions, doubled gun prosecutions, and initiated the
first ever prosecutions of human trafficking and aggravated identity theft. Paulose has first chaired jury and bench trials in federal court, briefed and argued cases before the federal appellate courts, and investigated multinational companies in complex parallel criminal and civil international proceedings.

Among other positions in public service, Paulose served as a law clerk to Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals Judge James B. Loken; Trial Attorney for the Voting Section, Civil Rights Division of the U.S. Department of Justice through the Attorney General’s Honors Program; Assistant U.S. Attorney; Senior Counsel to the Deputy
Attorney General; Special Counsel for Health Care Fraud to the Deputy Attorney General; and Special Assistant to the Attorney General of the United States. Paulose also served as Senior Trial Counsel at the U.S. Securities & Exchange Commission. Paulose previously worked as a partner at DLA Piper LLP, then the
largest law firm in the world, and an associate at Williams & Connolly LLP in Washington, D.C.

Paulose has been active in community leadership by serving as a Director of the Yale Law School Fund, Scholarship Judge for the Harry S. Truman Scholarship Foundation, Eighth Circuit Vice President of the Federal Bar Association, Co-Founder of the Federal Bar Association’s Diversity Committee, Director of the National Asian Pacific American Bar Association, American Bar Association
Standing Committee on Public Education, American Bar Association Standing Committee Member on Silver Gavel Awards, Girls State Governor Advisor (after election as the 1990 Ohio Girls State Governor of the largest such program in the nation), Director of the League of Women Voters, Chair of the Committee regarding
the reappointment of the Federal Public Defender of the District of Minnesota (by appointment of the judges of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit),
Director of the YMCA Board, guest columnist for the Asian American Press, and frequent contributing author to the American Bar Association Preview of Supreme
Court Cases.

Paulose is a frequently sought commentator. She has provided legal analysis for the BBC, The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, USA Today, MSNBC, The Spectator, LBC, Sky News, FOX MN, ABC MN, CBS MN, NBC MN, MPR, and the St. Paul Pioneer Press, among other media representatives. Her live commentary on the Jacob Wetterling plea deal helped KSTP-TV win an Emmy for the day’s
breaking coverage. She has given the keynote addresses at the North American South Asian Bar Association Annual Convention, the North American South Asian Law Students Association Annual Conference, and the National Asian Pacific American Bar Association Annual Meeting (Minnesota). She also presented at the
Nobel Peace Prize Forum, American Bar Association Annual Convention, International Business Law Institute, Jewish Community Relations Council, Yale Law School, and Harvard Law School, among other institutions.

In February 2015, Paulose was honored as one of the thirty leading Minnesota women history makers by the Chief Judge of the District and the Federal Bar Association in what is now a traveling court exhibit. In April 2016, Paulose’s biography was added to the Smithsonian Institution’s collection and featured in the
Smithsonian’s collection, “Beyond Bollywood: Indian Americans Shape the Nation” to honor the stories of groundbreaking Indian Americans.

Paulose taught criminal law, criminal procedure, investigations, and human exploitation (human trafficking and child pornography) at the University of St. Thomas School of Law. She served as the faculty advisor to the Black Law Students Association (BLSA) and the Federalist Society. She also served as a faculty mentor
to graduates and current students, particularly women and students of color.

Paulose received her J.D. from the Yale Law School, where she was a Coker Fellow, Editor of the Yale Journal of Law and Feminism, and Commencement Standard Bearer. She graduated summa cum laude with a B.A. from the University of Minnesota, which she attended on full merit scholarships and where she was the Commencement Speaker, Chair of the Student Representatives to the Board of
Regents, and Phi Beta Kappa. Paulose is a 1991 Harry S. Truman Scholar.