Legal Adviser
Encyclopedia
The Legal Adviser of the Department of State is a position within the United States Department of State
United States Department of State
The United States Department of State , is the United States federal executive department responsible for international relations of the United States, equivalent to the foreign ministries of other countries...

. It was created by an Act of Congress
Act of Congress
An Act of Congress is a statute enacted by government with a legislature named "Congress," such as the United States Congress or the Congress of the Philippines....

 on February 23, 1931 (P.L. 71-715; 46 Stat. 1214) and given a rank equivalent to that of an Assistant Secretary
Assistant Secretary
Assistant Secretary is a grade in the British Civil Service, now more commonly styled Divisional Manager or Deputy Director. In the grading scheme they are denoted Grade 5....

. The Legal Adviser replaced the Solicitor
Solicitor
Solicitors are lawyers who traditionally deal with any legal matter including conducting proceedings in courts. In the United Kingdom, a few Australian states and the Republic of Ireland, the legal profession is split between solicitors and barristers , and a lawyer will usually only hold one title...

, a Department of Justice
United States Department of Justice
The United States Department of Justice , is the United States federal executive department responsible for the enforcement of the law and administration of justice, equivalent to the justice or interior ministries of other countries.The Department is led by the Attorney General, who is nominated...

 employee who had functioned as the Department of State
United States Department of State
The United States Department of State , is the United States federal executive department responsible for international relations of the United States, equivalent to the foreign ministries of other countries...

's chief legal officer since 1891. Between 1870 and 1891, the Examiner of Claims had been the chief legal officer of the Department. The Legal Adviser provides legal advice on all problems (domestic and international) arising in the course of the Department's activities. Solicitors and Examiners of Claims were by statute officials of the Department of Justice.The first Legal Adviser was Green Hackworth
Green Hackworth
Green Haywood Hackworth , a Kentucky native and graduate of the Valparaiso University School of Law, is perhaps best known as the first U.S. judge of the International Court of Justice....

, who served until 1946 and then became a judge on the International Court of Justice
International Court of Justice
The International Court of Justice is the primary judicial organ of the United Nations. It is based in the Peace Palace in The Hague, Netherlands...

.

The Legal Adviser heads the United States Department of State Office of the Legal Adviser.

List of Legal Advisers of the Department of State

Name Assumed Office Left Office President
President of the United States
The President of the United States of America is the head of state and head of government of the United States. The president leads the executive branch of the federal government and is the commander-in-chief of the United States Armed Forces....

 served under
Green Hackworth
Green Hackworth
Green Haywood Hackworth , a Kentucky native and graduate of the Valparaiso University School of Law, is perhaps best known as the first U.S. judge of the International Court of Justice....

July 1, 1931 March 1, 1946 Franklin D. Roosevelt
Franklin D. Roosevelt
Franklin Delano Roosevelt , also known by his initials, FDR, was the 32nd President of the United States and a central figure in world events during the mid-20th century, leading the United States during a time of worldwide economic crisis and world war...

 and Harry S. Truman
Harry S. Truman
Harry S. Truman was the 33rd President of the United States . As President Franklin D. Roosevelt's third vice president and the 34th Vice President of the United States , he succeeded to the presidency on April 12, 1945, when President Roosevelt died less than three months after beginning his...

Charles H. Fahy
Charles H. Fahy
Charles Fahy served as Solicitor General of the United States and later as a United States federal judge on the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit....

June 19, 1946 August 15, 1947 Harry S. Truman
Harry S. Truman
Harry S. Truman was the 33rd President of the United States . As President Franklin D. Roosevelt's third vice president and the 34th Vice President of the United States , he succeeded to the presidency on April 12, 1945, when President Roosevelt died less than three months after beginning his...

Ernest A. Gross
Ernest A. Gross
Ernest A. Gross was a United States diplomat and lawyer who headed the U.S. delegation to the United Nations in the lead-up to the Korean War.-Biography:...

August 16, 1947 March 3, 1949 Harry S. Truman
Harry S. Truman
Harry S. Truman was the 33rd President of the United States . As President Franklin D. Roosevelt's third vice president and the 34th Vice President of the United States , he succeeded to the presidency on April 12, 1945, when President Roosevelt died less than three months after beginning his...

Adrian S. Fisher
Adrian S. Fisher
Adrian Sanford Fisher was an American lawyer and federal public servant, who served from the late 1930s through the early 1980s. He was associated with the Department of War and Department of State throughout his professional career. He participated in the U.S...

June 28, 1949 January 27, 1953 Harry S. Truman
Harry S. Truman
Harry S. Truman was the 33rd President of the United States . As President Franklin D. Roosevelt's third vice president and the 34th Vice President of the United States , he succeeded to the presidency on April 12, 1945, when President Roosevelt died less than three months after beginning his...

Herman Phleger February 2, 1953 April 1, 1957 Dwight D. Eisenhower
Dwight D. Eisenhower
Dwight David "Ike" Eisenhower was the 34th President of the United States, from 1953 until 1961. He was a five-star general in the United States Army...

Loftus Becker
Loftus Becker
Loftus E. Becker Jr. is a law professor at the University of Connecticut School of Law, where he teaches criminal law, constitutional law, and a seminar on the Supreme Court. In 1965, he graduated from Harvard College, and in 1969 from the University of Pennsylvania Law School, where he served as...

June 13, 1957 August 15, 1959 Dwight D. Eisenhower
Dwight D. Eisenhower
Dwight David "Ike" Eisenhower was the 34th President of the United States, from 1953 until 1961. He was a five-star general in the United States Army...

Eric H. Hager September 9, 1959 January 20, 1961 Dwight D. Eisenhower
Dwight D. Eisenhower
Dwight David "Ike" Eisenhower was the 34th President of the United States, from 1953 until 1961. He was a five-star general in the United States Army...

Abram Chayes
Abram Chayes
Abram Chayes was an American scholar of international law closely associated with the administration of John F. Kennedy. He is best known for his “legal process” approach to international law, which attempted to provide a new, less formalistic way of understanding international law and how it...

February 6, 1961 June 27, 1964 John F. Kennedy
John F. Kennedy
John Fitzgerald "Jack" Kennedy , often referred to by his initials JFK, was the 35th President of the United States, serving from 1961 until his assassination in 1963....

Leonard C. Meeker May 18, 1965 July 13, 1969 Lyndon B. Johnson
Lyndon B. Johnson
Lyndon Baines Johnson , often referred to as LBJ, was the 36th President of the United States after his service as the 37th Vice President of the United States...

John R. Stevenson
John R. Stevenson
John R. Stevenson is the writer of Bloody Murder and its sequel Bloody Murder 2: Closing Camp.- References :...

July 14, 1969 January 1, 1973 Richard Nixon
Richard Nixon
Richard Milhous Nixon was the 37th President of the United States, serving from 1969 to 1974. The only president to resign the office, Nixon had previously served as a US representative and senator from California and as the 36th Vice President of the United States from 1953 to 1961 under...

Carlyle E. Maw
Carlyle E. Maw
Carlyle Elwood Maw was Under Secretary of State for International Security Affairs from July 10, 1974 to September 17, 1976. Born in Provo, Utah, he graduated from Brigham Young University and from Harvard Law School....

November 27, 1973 July 9, 1974 Richard Nixon
Richard Nixon
Richard Milhous Nixon was the 37th President of the United States, serving from 1969 to 1974. The only president to resign the office, Nixon had previously served as a US representative and senator from California and as the 36th Vice President of the United States from 1953 to 1961 under...

Monroe Leigh
Monroe Leigh
Monroe Leigh was a prominent American political philosopher and diplomat. He was born in Halifax, Virginia, in 1919. He graduated from Hampden-Sydney College in 1940 and earned a law degree from the University of Virginia, serving as editor of the Virginia Law Review. His time in law school was...

January 21, 1975 January 20, 1977 Gerald Ford
Gerald Ford
Gerald Rudolph "Jerry" Ford, Jr. was the 38th President of the United States, serving from 1974 to 1977, and the 40th Vice President of the United States serving from 1973 to 1974...

Herbert J. Hansell April 8, 1977 September 20, 1979 Jimmy Carter
Jimmy Carter
James Earl "Jimmy" Carter, Jr. is an American politician who served as the 39th President of the United States and was the recipient of the 2002 Nobel Peace Prize, the only U.S. President to have received the Prize after leaving office...

Roberts Bishop Owen October 4, 1979 February 16, 1981 Jimmy Carter
Jimmy Carter
James Earl "Jimmy" Carter, Jr. is an American politician who served as the 39th President of the United States and was the recipient of the 2002 Nobel Peace Prize, the only U.S. President to have received the Prize after leaving office...

Davis Rowland Robinson July 30, 1981 February 27, 1985 Ronald Reagan
Ronald Reagan
Ronald Wilson Reagan was the 40th President of the United States , the 33rd Governor of California and, prior to that, a radio, film and television actor....

Abraham D. Sofaer June 10, 1985 June 15, 1990 Ronald Reagan
Ronald Reagan
Ronald Wilson Reagan was the 40th President of the United States , the 33rd Governor of California and, prior to that, a radio, film and television actor....

 and George H. W. Bush
George H. W. Bush
George Herbert Walker Bush is an American politician who served as the 41st President of the United States . He had previously served as the 43rd Vice President of the United States , a congressman, an ambassador, and Director of Central Intelligence.Bush was born in Milton, Massachusetts, to...

Edwin D. Williamson September 20, 1990 January 20, 1993 George H. W. Bush
George H. W. Bush
George Herbert Walker Bush is an American politician who served as the 41st President of the United States . He had previously served as the 43rd Vice President of the United States , a congressman, an ambassador, and Director of Central Intelligence.Bush was born in Milton, Massachusetts, to...

Conrad K. Harper
Conrad K. Harper
Conrad K. Harper is a New York City lawyer, a partner at Simpson Thacher & Bartlett LLP, and a former president of the New York City Bar Association.-Early life and education:Conrad Harper was born in Detroit, Michigan on December 2, 1940...

May 24, 1993 June 30, 1996 Bill Clinton
Bill Clinton
William Jefferson "Bill" Clinton is an American politician who served as the 42nd President of the United States from 1993 to 2001. Inaugurated at age 46, he was the third-youngest president. He took office at the end of the Cold War, and was the first president of the baby boomer generation...

David Andrews
David Andrews
David Andrews is a former Irish Fianna Fáil politician and barrister.Andrews was first elected to Dáil Éireann in 1965 as a Fianna Fáil deputy for the Dún Laoghaire and Rathdown constituency. From 1970 to 1973 he served as Parliamentary Secretary to the Taoiseach with special responsibility as...

September 2, 1997 April 25, 2000 Bill Clinton
Bill Clinton
William Jefferson "Bill" Clinton is an American politician who served as the 42nd President of the United States from 1993 to 2001. Inaugurated at age 46, he was the third-youngest president. He took office at the end of the Cold War, and was the first president of the baby boomer generation...

William Howard Taft IV
William Howard Taft IV
William Howard Taft IV is an attorney who has served in the United States government under several Republican administrations. He is the son of William Howard Taft III and the great-grandson of U.S. President William Howard Taft....

April 16, 2001 March 2005 George W. Bush
George W. Bush
George Walker Bush is an American politician who served as the 43rd President of the United States, from 2001 to 2009. Before that, he was the 46th Governor of Texas, having served from 1995 to 2000....

John B. Bellinger III
John B. Bellinger III
John B. Bellinger, III was the Legal Adviser to the United States Secretary of State. He was sworn in on April 8, 2005. He was the principal adviser on all domestic and international law matters to the Department of State, the Foreign Service, and the diplomatic and consular posts abroad...

April 6, 2005 March 23, 2009 George W. Bush
George W. Bush
George Walker Bush is an American politician who served as the 43rd President of the United States, from 2001 to 2009. Before that, he was the 46th Governor of Texas, having served from 1995 to 2000....

, Barack Obama
Barack Obama
Barack Hussein Obama II is the 44th and current President of the United States. He is the first African American to hold the office. Obama previously served as a United States Senator from Illinois, from January 2005 until he resigned following his victory in the 2008 presidential election.Born in...

Harold Hongju Koh
Harold Hongju Koh
Harold Hongju Koh is an Korean American lawyer and legal scholar. He currently serves as the Legal Adviser of the Department of State. He was nominated to his current position by President Barack Obama on March 23, 2009, and confirmed by the Senate on June 25, 2009.In public service, Koh...

June 25, 2009 present Barack Obama
Barack Obama
Barack Hussein Obama II is the 44th and current President of the United States. He is the first African American to hold the office. Obama previously served as a United States Senator from Illinois, from January 2005 until he resigned following his victory in the 2008 presidential election.Born in...

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