We are pleased to announce that Emma Leheny has joined the Washington D.C. office of Potomac Law as a Partner in the firm’s Education practice.
Ms. Leheny comes to the firm from the U.S. Department of Education where she was the Principal Deputy General Counsel and Acting General Counsel. In these roles, she oversaw a large, diverse litigation and regulatory portfolio and managed a 120-attorney office. Her tenure with the Biden Administration focused on Title IX litigation and rulemaking, federal student aid policy, the distribution of emergency pandemic funding, and the re-opening of K-12 schools nationwide.
Ms. Leheny’s 25-year career spans private practice and public service and includes a decade in senior executive leadership positions, including Chief Counsel for the California Teachers Association. She has wide-ranging experience in federal education policy, appellate litigation, and employee/employer relations. During a decade in private practice, she led large-scale litigation matters through trial and appeal in state and federal courts and provided daily advice and counsel to local, statewide, and national associations.
She began her career as a judicial clerk for the Hon. Warren J. Ferguson of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, after which she was awarded a Skadden Fellowship at the Western Center on Law & Poverty in Los Angeles.
Ms. Leheny received her J.D. from Northeastern University School of Law and her A.B., with honors, from Brown University.
