Kirsten Gillibrand - Law Career

Law Career

In 1991, Gillibrand joined the Manhattan-based law office of Davis Polk & Wardwell as an associate. In 1992, she took a leave from Davis Polk to serve as a law clerk to Judge Roger Miner on the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit in Albany. It was at this time she dropped the childhood nickname Tina; Judge Miner refused to call her by a nickname, and "Kirsten" stuck.

Gillibrand's tenure at Davis Polk is best known for her work as a defense attorney for Tobacco company Philip Morris during major litigation, including both civil lawsuits and U.S. Justice Department criminal and civil racketeering probes. She became a senior associate while working on the Philip Morris case. While this time in her career has proven controversial, Gillibrand indicates her work for Philip Morris allowed her to take on multiple pro bono cases defending abused women and their children, as well as other cases defending tenants seeking safe housing after lead paint and unsafe conditions were found in their homes.

While working for Davis Polk, Gillibrand became involved in—and later the leader of—the Women's Leadership Forum, a program of the Democratic National Committee. Gillibrand states that a speech to the group by then-First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton left an impressionable mark on her: " was trying to encourage us to become more active in politics and she said, 'If you leave all the decision-making to others, you might not like what they do, and you will have no one but yourself to blame.' It was such a challenge to the women in the room. And it really hit me: She's talking to me."

Following her time at Davis Polk, Gillibrand served as Special Counsel to Secretary of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Andrew Cuomo during the last year of the Clinton administration. Gillibrand worked on HUD's Labor Initiative and its New Markets Initiative as well as on TAP's Young Leaders of the American Democracy, on strengthening Davis–Bacon Act enforcement.

In 1999, Gillibrand began working on Hillary Clinton's 2000 US Senate campaign; there, she focused on campaigning to young women and encouraging them to join the effort. Many of those women would end up working on Gillibrand's future campaigns. Gillibrand and Clinton became close during the election, with Clinton becoming something of a mentor to the young attorney. Gillibrand's fondness for Clinton has seen her donate more than $12,000 to Clinton's senate campaigns.

In 2001, Gillibrand became a partner at the Manhattan office of Boies, Schiller & Flexner, where one of her clients was the Altria Group, Philip Morris' parent company. In 2002 she informed Boies of interest in running for office and was allowed to transfer to the firm's Albany office. She left Boies in 2005 to begin her 2006 campaign for Congress.