Loretta Collins Argrett was Assistant Attorney General, Tax Division, in the Justice Department during the Clinton Administration and was the first African American to serve in that position. During her six years at the Department, Ms. Argrett restructured the Division not only to increase its effectiveness and efficiency, but to provide advancement opportunities for legal support personnel. At one point during her tenure at Justice, the three top positions in the Division were held by women.
In 1954, the year the U.S. Supreme Court issued the Brown vs. Board of Education decision, Ms. Argrett left home at the age of 16 to enter
After graduation, she entered private practice and then moved to Capitol Hill to become the first African American staff member of the Joint Committee on Taxation. Later, Ms. Argrett became the first African American woman partner at Wald, Harkrader and Ross in
Ms. Argrett’s professional excellence has been widely recognized. She is an elected Life Fellow of the American Bar Foundation and an elected member of the American Law Institute. She served on the governing council of the ABA Section of Taxation and was a member of the ABA Standing Committee on Legal Ethics and Professional Responsibility. She currently serves on the ABA Joint Commission to Evaluate the Model Code of Judicial Conduct, the ABA Task Force on Gatekeeper Regulation and the Profession, and the Board of Directors of the American Bar Retirement Association.
Ms. Argrett has been honored with numerous awards, including the Harvard Black Law Students Association’s "Lifetime Achievement Award for Black Alumni" in 1997; the U.S. Department of Treasury "Chief Counsel’s Award" in 1999; "Special Recognition for Contributions to the Tax System" from the ABA Section of Taxation in 2000; and the "Charlotte E. Ray Award" from the Greater Washington Area Chapter of the National Bar Association’s Women Lawyers Division in 2004.
