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Resume of William J. Jefferson

U.S. Representative William Jennings Jefferson is now serving his ninth term as a Member of the United States House of Representatives. Representing the 2nd District of Louisiana since 1991, he is the first African-American to be elected to Congress in Louisiana since Reconstruction. He has served as a member of the House Committees on Ways and Means, Small Business, Budget and Education and Labor. Also, in the past he has served as Co-Chair of the Africa Trade and Investment Caucus as well as the Congressional Caucuses on Brazil and Nigeria. Jefferson is also a former Chairperson of the Board of Directors for the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation, a non-partisan, non-profit, public policy, research and educational institute founded by members of the Congressional Black Caucus in 1976.

A lifelong resident of Louisiana, Congressman Jefferson is a graduate of Southern University A&M College and of Harvard University Law School. In February of 1996, Jefferson received his Master of Laws in Taxation from Georgetown University, making him only the second Member of Congress to do so while serving in the U.S. House of Representatives.

Prior to his service in Congress, Congressman Jefferson was elected to three terms in the Louisiana State Senate and served on the State Bond Commission, the Senate Finance Committee, and served as Chairman of the Senate and Governmental Affairs Committee. As a State Senator, he was twice named, “Legislator of the Year” by the prestigious Alliance for Good Government.

Congressman Jefferson’s public service also included a stint as an officer in the Judge Advocate General’s (JAG) Corps; as law clerk to the late Honorable Alvin B Rubin of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana; and as legislative assistant to U.S. Senator J. Bennett Johnston. Prior to running for elected office, Jefferson founded the law firm, Jefferson, Bryan and Gray (now Bryan and Jupiter), which became the largest predominately African-American firm in the South. He is a member of several civic and religious boards and serves as a Trustee of the Greater St. Stephen Full Gospel Church.

Congressman Jefferson is well-known and respected by his colleagues on both sides of the aisle as an expert on trade and tax issues. His work throughout his Congressional career has focused on expanding trade opportunities in under-utilized trade markets – such as Africa and Brazil – which provides enormous job creation and economic benefits for the New Orleans and Louisiana trade industry. Jefferson has also worked extensively on tax issues, providing innovative ideas for tax reform that benefits working, middle-class families.

Congressman Jefferson and his wife, Dr. Andrea Green-Jefferson, are the proud parents of five daughters: Jamila, a graduate of Harvard College and Law School, is a practicing attorney; Jalila, also a graduate of Harvard College and Law School is a practicing attorney; Jelani, the third graduate of Harvard College and Law School, is teaching at the University of Kansas; Nailah is a documentary filmmaker and is a graduate of Boston University and Emerson College in Boston; and Akilah graduated from Brown University and is attending Tulane Medical School.