Archived Information

Claudia A. Withers
Deputy General Counsel Departmental & Regulatory Service

Claudia A. Withers is a Deputy General Counsel at the U.S. Department of Education. As Deputy General Counsel, Ms. Withers supervises the divisions of Business & Administrative Law and Regulatory Services. Prior to coming to the Department, she was Executive Director of the Fair Employment Council of Greater Washington, a civil rights research and advocacy organization. There, she was responsible for the implementation of a variety of strategies designed to address employment discrimination and disadvantage, including employment testing; the publication of studies documenting workplace discrimination; public education; and litigation. While at the FEC, she worked on a study for AARP analyzing EEOC charges filed by midlife and older women.

Ms. Withers was formerly Deputy Director for Employment Programs with the National Partnership for Women and Families (formerly the Women?s Legal Defense Fund) in Washington, D.C., a national advocacy organization dedicated to advancing the legal rights of women. While at the Partnership she monitored agency enforcement of antidiscrimination laws, represented individuals with workplace discrimination claims, co-authored appellate briefs, and provided technical assistance to lawyers and other advocates on employment related issues. She was also an advocate before the US Congress and the District of Columbia City Council on issues such as pregnancy discrimination, pay equity, affirmative action, and family and medical leave. She directed the organization?s Employment Rights Project for Women of Color.

She is a former member of the Board of Directors of the National Employment Lawyers? Association, and is a member of the Labor and Employment and Individual Rights and Responsibilities Sections of the American Bar Association. From 1993 to 1995 Ms. Withers served on the DC Circuit Task Force on Gender, Race and Ethnic Bias.

Claudia Withers currently serves on the adjunct faculty for the Washington College of Law at American University in Washington, DC She has taught a seminar at the law school entitled "Contemporary Problems in Antidiscrimination Law: The Intersection of Race and Gender."

She has practiced law in Durham, North Carolina, clerked for a Federal district court judge, and worked as a staff attorney at the Department of Education. She received a BA from Duke University, and a J.D. from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.


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Last update December 1, 1999 (TRB)