Rudolph W. Giuliani took the oath of office as the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York on June 3, 1983. He was nominated for the position by President Ronald Reagan on April 26, and confirmed by the U.S. Senate a week later.
As a U.S. attorney, Giuliani represents the United States in all criminal and civil court proceedings in the southern district of New York, which includes Bronx, Dutchess, New York (Manhattan), Orange, Putnam, Rockland, Sullivan and Westchester counties.
He supervises 133 assistant attorneys within the criminal and civil divisions. The criminal division deals with organized crime, narcotics, public corruption, major crimes and securities and commodities frauds; while the civil division, in addition to representing the United States in an array of legal matters such as contracts, torts, labor law and constitutional issues, has units specializing in civil rights, tax and environmental litigation.
Prior to becoming a U.S. attorney, Giuliani was the associate attorney general of the United States, the third highest position in the U.S. Department of Justice. He was nominated for that position by President Reagan shortly after the administration shortly after he took office in 1981. He was responsible for supervising a wide range of criminal enforcement activities, including the Drug Enforcement Administration, Immigration and Naturalization Service, Bureau of Prisons, Marshals Service, Interpol, the Criminal Division of the Department of Justice and the 94 U.S. attorney offices.
Giuliani, 43, received his Bachelor of Arts degree in 1965 from Manhattan College and his juris doctorate degree in 1968 from New York University School of Law, where he was an editor of the Law Review. He was a law clerk to U.S. District Judge Lloyd F. McMahon in the Southern District of New York from 1968-70, after which he joined the Justice Department as an assistant U.S. attorney in that New York district.
After rising to the rank of executive assistant U.S. attorney in 1975, he was appointed as an associate deputy attorney general by U.S. Attorney General Edward H. Levi, a post Giuliani held until 1977. He then returned to New York City, where he practiced private law until he was named associate attorney general.
