Susan Carney, a Washington, D.C. attorney who most recently served as legal counselor for the United States Peace Corps, has been named an associate general counsel at the University.
"Susan Carney brings to Yale wide-ranging knowledge and legal expertise," says Dorothy K. Robinson, University vice president and general counsel. "She has had experience in both the corporate and nonprofit sectors, and through the years has been a valuable counselor to a number of universities and large organizations. We welcome her and her many talents to the General Counsel's office."
Carney worked as associate general counsel for the United States Peace Corps from 1996 until coming to the University. In addition to counseling and litigation, Carney was responsible for legal issues related to the Rehabilitation and Americans with Disabilities Acts.
Prior to her Peace Corps post, Carney was an attorney from 1994 to 1996 for the Washington, D.C. firm of Bredhoff & Kaiser, P.L.L.C., where she worked in the areas of employment and labor law, and federal litigation. She handled special legal projects for George Washington University 1995-96.
Carney was as an independent attorney during the years 1989 through 1993, working on projects for the university counsel's office at Georgetown University, the firm of Swidler & Berlin, and the D.C. Bar Circuit Task Force on Race, Gender and Ethnic Bias. She also served as reporter for the D.C. Bar Task Force on Court Funding, for which her report was named the "Best Bar Report" in 1993.
Carney was a partner from 1986 to 1988 in the Los Angeles firm of Tuttle & Taylor, where she was involved in transactional and corporate counseling. She worked from 1979 to 1986 as an associate and later partner in the firm of Rogovin, Huge & Lenzner in Washington, where her work included litigation and counseling for various nonprofit organizations.
A graduate of Radcliffe College, Harvard University, where she majored in Russian history and literature, Carney earned her J.D. degree from Harvard Law School. After graduating, she served as a law clerk to the Honorable Levin H. Campbell of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit in Boston before joining the firm of Ropes & Gray in that city as an associate. While at that firm, Carney performed work for Harvard University and Smith College.
In addition to her work as an attorney, Carney has been involved in recruiting and interviewing students for her alma mater. From 1995 until her move to New Haven, she was the area cochair of the Harvard-Radcliffe Schools and Scholarships Committee, for which she and her cochair coordinated the alumni interview process involving more than 500 applicants to Harvard from the Washington, D.C. area. She was the D.C. cochair of the committee from 1992 until 1995. In addition, she has been an officer and president of the Harvard Law School Association in Washington, D.C.
Carney's husband, Lincoln Caplan, is joining the Yale Law School faculty as Knight Senior Journalist. She also has a 10-year-old daughter.