List of Yale Law School alumni

• Gerald Ford (1941), 38th President of the United States, 1974–1977
• Bill Clinton (1973), 42nd President of the United States, 1993–2001

• Herbert Brownell Jr. (1927), 62nd U.S. Attorney General, 1953–1957^[1]
• Homer Stille Cummings (1893), 55th U.S. Attorney General, 1933–1939^[2]
• Nicholas Katzenbach (1947), 65th U.S. Attorney General, 1965–1966^[3]
• Peter Keisler (1985), acting U.S. Attorney General, 2007^[4]
• Edward H. Levi (1938), 71st U.S. Attorney General, 1975–1977^[5]
• Wayne MacVeagh (1856), 36th U.S. Attorney General, 1881^[6]
• Michael B. Mukasey (1967), 81st U.S. Attorney General, 2007–2009^[7]
• Edwards Pierrepont (1840), 33rd U.S. Attorney General, 1875–1876^{[citation needed]}
• Alphonso Taft (1838), 34th U.S. Attorney General, 1876–1877^[8]

• Drew S. Days, III (1966), 40th U.S. Solicitor General, 1993–1996
• Walter E. Dellinger III (1966), Acting Solicitor General, 1996–1997
• Neal Katyal (1995), Acting Solicitor General, 2010–2011
• Thomas D. Thacher (did not graduate), 21st U.S. Solicitor General, 1930–1933
• Seth P. Waxman (1977), 41st U.S. Solicitor General, 1997–2001

• Clifford Alexander Jr. (1958), 13th Secretary of the Army, 1977–1981
• Alex Azar (1991), 24th Secretary of Health and Human Services, 2018–2021
• John R. Bolton (1974), 25th U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations, 2005–2006
• John Bryson (1969), 37th Secretary of Commerce, 2011–2012
• Hillary Clinton (1973), 67th Secretary of State, 2009–2013
• Greg Craig (1972), 33rd White House Counsel, 2009–2010
• Lloyd Cutler (1939), 25th White House Counsel, 1994
• John Danforth (1963), 24th U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations, 2004–2005
• Richard Danzig (1971), 71st Secretary of the Navy, 1998–2001
• Henry H. Fowler (1932), 58th Secretary of the Treasury, 1965–1968
• Gordon Gray (1933), 2nd Secretary of the Army, 1949–1950
• Carla Anderson Hills (1958), 5th Secretary of Housing and Urban Development, 1975–1977
• John King Jr., Secretary of Education, 2015–2017^[9]
• Victor H. Metcalf (1876), 2nd Secretary of Commerce and Labor, 1904–1906; 38th Secretary of the Navy, 1906–1908
• Robert Reich (1973), 22nd Secretary of Labor, 1993–1997
• Stanley Rogers Resor (1942), 9th Secretary of the Army, 1965–1971
• Robert Rubin (1964), 70th Secretary of the Treasury, 1995–1999
• Gene Sperling (1985), Director of the National Economic Council, 1996–2000, 2011–2014
• Alphonso Taft (1838), 31st Secretary of War, 1876
• Cyrus Vance (1942), 57th Secretary of State, 1977–1980
• Christopher A. Wray (1992), 8th Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, 2017–present^[10]
• Eugene M. Zuckert (1936), 7th Secretary of the Air Force, 1961–1965
• Jake Sullivan (2003), 28th National Security Advisor, 2021-present^[11]

• Raymond E. Baldwin (1921), U.S. Senator (R-Connecticut), 1946–1949^[12]
• Thomas F. Bayard, Jr. (1893), U.S. Senator (D-Delaware), 1922–1929^[13]
• Michael Bennet (1993), U.S. Senator (D-Colorado), 2009–present^[14]
• Richard Blumenthal (1973), U.S. Senator (D-Connecticut), 2011–present^[15]
• Cory Booker (1997), U.S. Senator (D-New Jersey), 2013–present, 36th mayor of Newark, New Jersey, 2006–2013
• James L. Buckley (1950), U.S. Senator (R-New York), 1971–1977^[16]
• Hillary Clinton (1973), U.S. Senator (D-New York), 2001–2009^[17]
• Chris Coons (1992), U.S. Senator (D-Delaware), 2010–present^[18]
• John A. Danaher (1922), U.S. Senator (R-Connecticut), 1939–1945^{[citation needed]}
• John Danforth (1961), U.S. Senator (R-Missouri), 1976–1995^[19]
• David Davis (1835), U.S. Senator (R-Illinois), 1877–1883^{[citation needed]}
• Thomas J. Dodd (1933), U.S. Senator (D-Connecticut), 1959–1971^[20]
• Peter H. Dominick (1940), U.S. Senator (R-Colorado), 1963–1975^[21]
• Charles Goodell (1951), U.S. Senator (R-New York), 1968–1971^[22]
• Gary Hart (1964), U.S. Senator (D-Colorado), 1975–1987^[23]
• Josh Hawley (2006), U.S. Senator (R-Missouri), 2019–present
• Estes Kefauver (1927), U.S. Senator (D-Tennessee), 1949–1963^{[citation needed]}
• Alfred B. Kittredge, U.S. Senator (R-South Dakota), 1901–1909^[24]
• Joseph Lieberman (1967), U.S. Senator (D/I-Connecticut), 1989–2012^[25]
• Augustine Lonergan (1902), U.S. Senator (D-Connecticut), 1933–1939^[26]
• Brien McMahon (1927), U.S. Senator (D-Connecticut), 1945–1952^{[citation needed]}
• Trusten Polk (1831), U.S. Senator (D-Missouri), 1857–1862^[27]
• Julius Rockwell (1826), U.S. Senator (D-Massachusetts), 1854–1855^[28]
• Arlen Specter (1956), U.S. Senator (D-Pennsylvania), 1981–2011^[29]
• Paul Tsongas (1967), U.S. Senator (D-Massachusetts), 1979–1985^[30]
• J. D. Vance (2013), U.S. Senator (R-Ohio), 2023-present^[31]
• Harris Wofford (1954), U.S. Senator (D-Pennsylvania), 1991–1995^[32]

• Lewis Beach (1856), U.S. Representative (D-New York), 1881–1886^[33]
• Carroll L. Beedy (1906), U.S. Representative (R-Maine), 1921–1935^[34]
• Jackson Edward Betts (1929), U.S. Representative (R-Ohio), 1951–1973^[35]
• Jonathan Brewster Bingham (1939), U.S. Representative (D-New York), 1965–1983^[36]
• Clay Stone Briggs (1899), U.S. Representative (D-Texas), 1919–1933^[37]
• C. Pope Caldwell (1899), U.S. Representative (D-New York), 1915–1921^[38]
• Charles T. Canady (1979), U.S. Representative (R-Florida), 1993–2001^[39]
• James Colgate Cleveland (1948), U.S. Representative (R-New Hampshire), 1963–1981^[40]
• Thomas C. Coffin, U.S. Representative (D-ID), 1933-1934^[41]
• Sam Coppersmith (1982), U.S. Representative (D-Arizona), 1993–1995^[42]
• Albert W. Cretella (1921), U.S. Representative (R-Connecticut), 1953–1959^[43]
• Peter Deutsch (1982), U.S. Representative (D-Florida), 1993–2005^[44]
• Allen Ertel (1965), U.S. Representative (D-Pennsylvania), 1977–1983^[45]
• Elizabeth Esty (1985), U.S. Representative (D-Connecticut), 2013–2018^[46]
• Richard P. Freeman (1894), U.S. Representative (R-Connecticut), 1915–1933^[47]
• Peter Frelinghuysen Jr. (1941), U.S. Representative (R-New Jersey), 1953–1975^[48]
• Foster Furcolo (1936), U.S. Representative (D-Massachusetts), 1949–1952^[49]
• Edwin W. Higgins (1897), U.S. Representative (R-Connecticut), 1905–1913^[50]
• Peter Hoagland (1968), U.S. Representative (D-Nebraska), 1989–1995^[51]
• Colin M. Ingersoll, U.S. Representative (D-Connecticut), 1851–1855^[52]
• Donald J. Irwin (1954), U.S. Representative (D-Connecticut), 1959–1961^[53]
• Stephen Wright Kellogg (1848), U.S. Representative (R-Connecticut), 1869–1875^[54]
• Ro Khanna (2001), U.S. Representative (D-California), 2017–present^[55]
• Franklin F. Korell (did not graduate), U.S. Representative (R-Oregon), 1927–1931^[56]
• William Lemke, U.S. Representative (R-North Dakota), 1932–1936^{[citation needed]}
• John Lindsay (1948), U.S. Representative (R-New York), 1959–1965^[57]
• Dwight Loomis (1847), U.S. Representative (R-Connecticut), 1859–1863^[58]
• Allard K. Lowenstein (1954), U.S. Representative (D-New York), 1969–1971^[59]
• John Miller (1964), U.S. Representative (R-Washington), 1985–1993^[60]
• Bruce Morrison (1973), U.S. Representative (D-Connecticut), 1983–1991^[61]
• Eleanor Holmes Norton (1964), Congressional delegate (D-Washington, D.C.), 1991–present^[62]
• Miner G. Norton (1880), U.S. Representative (D-Ohio), 1921–1923^[63]
• George M. O'Brien (1947), U.S. Representative (R-Illinois), 1973–1986^[64]
• Tom Perriello (2001), U.S. Representative (D-Virginia), 2009–2011^[65]
• Aaron F. Perry, U.S. Representative (R-Ohio), 1871–1872^[66]
• William Scranton, U.S. Representative (D-Pennsylvania), 1961–1963^[67]
• David Skaggs (1967), U.S. Representative (D-Colorado), 1987–1999^[68]
• J. Joseph Smith (1927), U.S. Representative (D-Connecticut), 1935–1941^[69]
• Wint Smith (1922), U.S. Representative (R-Kansas), 1947–1961^[70]
• John Spratt (1969), U.S. Representative (D-South Carolina), 1983–2011^[71]
• Joseph E. Talbot (1925), U.S. Representative (R-Connecticut), 1942–1947^[72]
• Frank Tejeda (LL.M. 1989), U.S. Representative (D-Texas), 1993–1997^[73]
• John Q. Tilson (1893), U.S. Representative (R-Connecticut), 1909–1913, 1915–1932^[74]
• William H. Upson (1845), U.S. Representative (R-Ohio), 1869–1873^[75]
• Stuyvesant Wainwright (1947), U.S. Representative (R-New York), 1953–1961^[76]
• Mel Watt (1970), U.S. Representative (D-North Carolina), 1993–present^[77]
• Washington F. Willcox (1862), U.S. Representative (D-Connecticut), 1889–1893^[78]
• David Wu (1982), U.S. Representative (D-Oregon), 1999–2011^[79]
• Dick Zimmer (1969), U.S. Representative (R-New Jersey), 1991–1997^[80]

• Samuel Alito (1975), Associate Justice, 2006–present
• Henry Billings Brown (did not graduate), Associate Justice, 1891–1906
• David Davis (1835), Associate Justice, 1862–1877
• Abe Fortas (1933), Associate Justice, 1963–1969
• Brett Kavanaugh (1990), Associate Justice, 2018–present
• Sherman Minton (1916), (also graduated from Indiana University Maurer School of Law), Associate Justice, 1949–1956
• George Shiras Jr. (1853), Associate Justice, 1892–1903
• Sonia Sotomayor (1979), Associate Justice, 2009–present
• Potter Stewart (1941), Associate Justice, 1958–1981
• Clarence Thomas (1974), Associate Justice, 1991–present
• Byron White (1946), Associate Justice, 1962–1993

• Robert P. Anderson (1929), Judge for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, 1964–1978^[81]
• Herschel W. Arant (1915), Judge for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit, 1939–1941^[82]
• Edward R. Becker (1957), Judge for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit, 1998–2003; Chief Judge of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit, 1998–2003^[83]
• Duane Benton (1975), Judge for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit, 2004–present^[84]
• Stephanos Bibas (1994), Judge for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit, 2017–present^[85]
• Wilbur F. Booth (1888), Judge for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit, 1925–1932^[86]
• José A. Cabranes (1965), Judge for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, 1994–present^[87]
• Guido Calabresi (1958), Judge for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, 1994–2009^[88]
• Charles Edward Clark (1913), Judge for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, 1939–1963^[89]
• Eric L. Clay (1972), Judge for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit, 1997–present^[90]
• Richard Clifton, Judge for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, 2002–present^[91]
• R. Guy Cole Jr. (1975), Judge for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit, 1995–present; Chief Judge of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit, 2014–2021^[92]
• Steven Colloton (1988), Judge for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit, 2003–present^[93]
• Richard Cudahy (1955), Judge for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit, 1979–1994^[94]
• Conrad K. Cyr (1956), Judge for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit, 1989–1997^[95]
• William A. Fletcher (1975), Judge for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, 1998–present^{[citation needed]}
• Susan P. Graber (1972), Judge for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, 1998–present^{[citation needed]}
• Morton Ira Greenberg (1957), Judge for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit, 1987–present^[96]
• Pamela Harris (1990), Judge for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit, 2014–present^[97]
• David Hamilton (1983), Judge for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit, 2009–present^[98]
• A. Leon Higginbotham Jr. (1952), Judge for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit, 1977–1993^{[citation needed]}
• Stephen A. Higginson (1987), Judge for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, 2011–present^[99]
• Carroll C. Hincks, Judge for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, 1954–1964^[100]
• Andrew D. Hurwitz (1972), Judge for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, 2012–present^[101]
• Robert Katzmann (1980), Judge for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, 1999–2020^[102]
• Carolyn Dineen King (1962), Judge for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, 1979–2013^[103]
• Kermit Lipez (1967), Judge for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit, 1998–2011^[104]
• Scott Matheson Jr. (1980), Judge for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit, 2010–present^[105]
• William Ernest Miller (1933), Judge for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit, 1970–1976^[106]
• Jon O. Newman (1956), Judge for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, 1979–1997^[107]
• Barrington Daniels Parker Jr. (1969), Judge for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, 2001–2009^[108]
• Jill A. Pryor (1988), Judge for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit, 2012–present^{[citation needed]}
• Stephen Reinhardt (1954), Judge for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, 1980–2018^{[citation needed]}
• Roger Robb (1931), Judge for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, 1969–1982^[109]
• Oliver Seth (1940), Judge for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit, 1962–1984; Chief Judge of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit, 1977–1984^[110]
• Richard G. Taranto (1981), Judge for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, 2013–present
• Albert Tate Jr. (1947), Judge for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, 1979–1986^[111]
• William H. Timbers, Judge for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, 1971–1981
• William Kneeland Townsend, Judge for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, 1902–1907
• Patricia Wald (1951), Judge for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, 1979–1999; Chief Judge of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, 1986–1991
• George Thomas Washington (1932), Judge for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, 1949–1965^[112]
• Ralph Winter (1960), Judge for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, 1981–2020^[113][114]

• Ronnie Abrams (1993), Judge for the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, 2012–present
• William Acker (1952), Judge for the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Alabama, 1982–1996
• Roy Altman (2007), Judge for the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida, 2019–present
• Cecilia Altonaga (1986), Judge for the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida, 2003–present
• Harold Baer Jr. (1957), Judge for the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, 1994–2014
• David Barlow, Judge for the U.S. District Court for the District of Utah, 2020–present
• James E. Boasberg (1990), Judge for the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, 2011–present
• Paul D. Borman (LL.M. 1964), Judge for the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan, 1994–present
• Howard C. Bratton (1947), Judge for the U.S. District Court for the District of New Mexico, 1964–1987; Chief Judge of the U.S. District Court for the District of New Mexico, 1978–1987
• Philip A. Brimmer (1985), Judge for the U.S. District Court for the District of Colorado, 2008–present
• Ellen Bree Burns (1923), Judge for the U.S. District Court for the District of Connecticut, 1978–1992; Chief Judge of the U.S. District Court for the District of Connecticut, 1988–1992
• Edward N. Cahn (1958), Judge for the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, 1974–1998
• Charles Hardy Carr (1926), Judge for the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of California, 1962–1966; Judge for the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California, 1966–1973
• Paul Charlton, Judge for the U.S. District Court for the District of Puerto Rico, 1911–1913
• Frank C. Damrell Jr. (1964), Judge for the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of California, 1997–2008
• Joseph A. Diclerico Jr. (1966), Judge for the U.S. District Court for the District of New Hampshire, 1992–2007; Chief Judge of the U.S. District Court for the District of New Hampshire, 1992–1997
• Jan DuBois (1957), Judge for the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, 1988–2002
• Warren William Eginton (1951), Judge for the U.S. District Court for the District of Connecticut, 1979–1992
• David A. Faber (1967), Judge for the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of West Virginia, 1991–2008
• Eldon E. Fallon (LL.M. 1963), Judge for the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana, 1995–present
• A. Joe Fish (1968), Judge for the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas, 1983–2007; Chief Judge of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas, 2002–2007
• Dabney L. Friedrich (1992), Judge for the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, 2017–present
• Jesse Furman (1998), Judge for the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, 2012–present
• Nina Gershon (1965), Judge for the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York, 1996–2008
• Nancy Gertner (1971), Judge for the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts, 1994–2011
• Gerhard Gesell (1935), Judge for the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, 1967–1993
• James Tyrone Giles (1967), Judge for the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, 1979–2008
• Charles Haight (1955), Judge for the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, 1976–1995
• Jean Constance Hamilton (LL.M. 1982), Judge for the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Missouri, 1990–present; Chief Judge of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Missouri, 1990–present, 1995–2002
• A. Andrew Hauk (1942), Judge for the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of California, 1966; Judge for the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California, 1966–1982; Chief Judge of the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California, 1980–1982
• Truman McGill Hobbs (1948), Judge for the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Alabama, 1980–1991; Chief Judge of the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Alabama, 1984–1991
• Marvin Katz (1954), Judge for the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, 1983–2010
• Bruce William Kauffman (1959), Judge for the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, 1997–2009
• Samuel Pailthorpe King (1940), Judge for the U.S. District Court for the District of Hawaii, 1972–1984
• John A. Kronstadt (1976), Judge for the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California, 2011–present
• Morris E. Lasker (1941), Judge for the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, 1968–1983
• Victor Marrero (1968), Judge for the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, 1999–2010
• Frank Hampton McFadden (1955), Judge for the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Alabama, 1969–1982
• Richard Wellington McLaren (1942), Judge for the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, 1972–1976
• Louis F. Oberdorfer (1946), Judge for the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, 1977–present
• James Francis Thaddeus O'Connor (1909), Judge for the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of California, 1940–1949
• J. Paul Oetken (1991), Judge for the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, 2011–present
• Jill Parrish (1985), Judge for the U.S. District Court for the District of Utah, 2015–present
• James Perry Platt (1875), Judge for the U.S. District Court for the District of Connecticut, 1902–1913
• Thomas Collier Platt Jr. (1950), Judge for the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York, 1974–2001
• Louis H. Pollak (1948), Judge for the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, 1978–1991
• Michael Ponsor (1975), Judge for the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts, 1994–2011
• Michael Shea (1993), Judge for the U.S. District Court for the District of Connecticut, 2012–present
• Oliver Perry Shiras (1856), Judge for the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Iowa, 1882–1903
• Dominic J. Squatrito (1965), Judge for the U.S. District Court for the District of Connecticut, 1994–2004
• Leonard P. Stark (1996), Judge for the U.S. District Court for the District of Delaware, 2010–present
• Edwin DeHaven Steel Jr. (1931), Judge for the U.S. District Court for the District of Delaware, 1958–1969
• Sidney Stein (1969), Judge for the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, 1995–2010
• Richard J. Sullivan (1990), Judge for the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, 2007–2019;
• Robert Sweet (1948), Judge for the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, 1978–1991
• Robert Taylor (1924), Judge for the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Tennessee, 1950–1984; Chief Judge of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Tennessee, 1961–1969
• Charles Henry Tenney (1936), Judge for the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, 1963–1979
• Edwin Stark Thomas (1895), Judge for the U.S. District Court for the District of Connecticut, 1913–1939
• Alvin Thompson (1978), Judge for the U.S. District Court for the District of Connecticut, 1994–present
• Myron H. Thompson (1972), Judge for the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Alabama, 1980–1998; Chief Judge of the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Alabama, 1991–1998
• Stefan R. Underhill (1982), Judge for the U.S. District Court for the District of Connecticut, 1999–present
• William H. Walls (1957), Judge for the U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey, 1994–2005
• Henry Travillion Wingate (1972), Judge for the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Mississippi, 1985–present; Chief Judge of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Mississippi, 2003–present
• Caleb Merrill Wright (1933), Judge for the U.S. District Court for the District of Delaware, 1955–1973; Chief Judge of the U.S. District Court for the District of Delaware, 1957–1973
• William H. Yohn Jr. (1960), Judge for the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, 1969–1980
• Robert Carmine Zampano (1954), Judge for the U.S. District Court for the District of Connecticut, 1964–1994

• Gary S. Katzmann (1979), Judge for the United States Court of International Trade, 2016–present
• J. Rich Leonard (1976), U.S. Bankruptcy Judge for the Eastern District of North Carolina, 1992–present
• Albert Levitt (1923), Judge for the District Court of the Virgin Islands, 1935–1968
• Lyman E. Munson (1851), Justice of the Territorial Montana Supreme Court^[115][116]
• William Josiah Tilson (1896, LL.M. 1897), Judge for the United States Court of International Trade

• Jerry Brown (1964), 34th and 39th Governor of California, 1975–1983, 2011–2019^[117]
• Foster Furcolo (1936), 60th Governor of Massachusetts, 1957–1961^[118]
• Bibb Graves (1896), 38th Governor of Alabama, 1927–1931^[119]
• Henry Baldwin Harrison, 52nd Governor of Connecticut, 1885–1887^{[citation needed]}
• William W. Hoppin, 24th Governor of Rhode Island, 1854–1857^[120]
• William J. Mills (1877), 19th Governor of New Mexico Territory, 1910–1912^{[citation needed]}
• Gina Raimondo (1998), 75th Governor of Rhode Island, 2015–2021,^[121] United States Secretary of Commerce 2021–present.
• Raymond P. Shafer (1941), 39th Governor of Pennsylvania, 1967–1971^[122]

• Peter H. Behr (1940), member of the California State Senate, 1970–1978
• Asa S. Bloomer (1916), member of the Vermont House of Representatives, 1937–1945, and Speaker of the House, 1943–1945; member of the Vermont Senate, 1947–1963, and President Pro Tem, 1949, 1955, 1959–1963
• Rob Bonta (1998), Attorney General of California, 2021–present
• James M. Brown (1967), Attorney General of Oregon, 1980–1981
• Eliphalet Adams Bulkeley (1824), Connecticut State Senator, 1838–1840, Connecticut State Representative, 1834–1838
• John A. Busterud (1949), member of the California State Assembly, 1956–1962
• Kimberly B. Cheney (1964), Attorney General of Vermont, 1973–1975
• Robert E. Cooper Jr. (1983), Attorney General of Tennessee, 2006–2014
• Robert Del Tufo (1958), Attorney General of New Jersey, 1990–1993
• Nelson Antonio Denis (1980), member of the New York State Assembly from the 68th district, 1997–2001
• Matthew Denn (1991), lieutenant governor of Delaware, 2009–present
• Tilton E. Doolittle (1846), Speaker of the House of the Connecticut House of Representatives, and US Attorney for the district of Connecticut
• John R. Dunne (1954), member of the New York Senate from the 6th district, 1966–1989
• Daniel C. Esty (1986), commissioner of the Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection, 2011–2014
• Shirley Adele Field, member of the Oregon House of Representatives, 1956–1960, 1962–1966
• Tom Foley, Secretary of Labor and Industry of Pennsylvania, 1991–1994
• Ammi Giddings, member of the Connecticut Senate, 1858–1864
• Harrison Goldin (1960), member of the New York Senate, 1966–1973
• Cyrus Habib, 16th Lieutenant Governor of Washington, former State Senator from Washington state, 2014–2016, former member of the Washington House of Representatives, 2012–2014
• L. W. Housel (1900), member of the Connecticut House of Representatives, 1900–1902
• Michael Johnston, member of the Colorado Senate from the 33rd district, 2009–present
• Daniel Kagan, member of the Colorado House of Representatives, 2009–present
• Jeff King, member of the Kansas Senate from the 15th district, 2011–present
• Kris Kobach (1995), 31st Secretary State of Kansas, 2001–present
• John Latta (1859), 1st Lieutenant Governor of Pennsylvania, 1875–1879
• Frederick Lippitt (1946), member of the Rhode Island House of Representatives, 1961–1983
• J. Edward Meyer (1961), member of the Connecticut Senate, 2005–present
• Robert W. Naylor (1969), member of the California State Assembly for the 20th district, 1978–1986; chair of the California Republican Party, 1987–1989
• Charles R. Nesbitt (1947), 9th Attorney General of Oklahoma, 1963–1967; Secretary of Energy of Oklahoma, 1991–1995
• Larry Obhof, President of the Ohio Senate from 2017 to 2020, State Senator for the 22nd district, 2011–2020^[123]
• Edwin Archer Randolph, the first African-American to graduate from the law school, Randolph served in both houses of the Virginia Legislature
• James Paull, president of the West Virginia Senate, 1943–1945
• Jamie Pedersen, member of the Washington House of Representatives from the 43rd district, 2007–present
• Charles B. Perry, Speaker of the Wisconsin State Assembly, 1929
• Stephen Sachs, Attorney General of Maryland, 1979–1987
• Shirley Adelson Siegel (1941), Solicitor General of New York, 1979–1982
• Bryan Townsend, member of the Delaware Senate, 2012–present
• Francis W. Treadway (1892), 30th Lieutenant Governor of Ohio, 1909–1911
• Ralph E. Van Norstrand (1961), minority leader of the Connecticut General Assembly, 1979–1985; Speaker of the Connecticut House of Representatives, 1985—1987^[124]
• Anthony Van Wyck (1844), member of the Wisconsin State Senate 1864–1865, 1868–1869
• John Wesley Wescott, Attorney General of New Jersey, 1914–1919

• William B. Chandler III, Chancellor, Delaware Court of Chancery, 1985–1996
• John M. Comley (1920), Associate Justice of the Connecticut Supreme Court, 1963–1965^[125][126]
• Rick Haselton, Chief Judge, Oregon Court of Appeals, 2012–present; Judge, Oregon Court of Appeals, 1994–2012
• Ernest A. Inglis, Chief Justice, Connecticut Supreme Court, 1953–1957; Associate Justice, Connecticut Supreme Court, 1950–1953
• Jeffrey W. Johnson (1985), Judge, California Court of Appeal, 2009–present
• Leondra Kruger (2001), Associate Justice, California Supreme Court, 2015–present
• Hans A. Linde (1966), Justice, Oregon Supreme Court, 1977–1990; correspondent for CBS Evening News
• Goodwin Liu (1998), Associate Justice, California Supreme Court, 2011–present
• William M. Maltbie (1905), Chief Justice, Connecticut Supreme Court, 1930–1950; Judge, Connecticut Supreme Court, 1925–1930
• Monica Márquez (1997), Associate Justice, Colorado Supreme Court, 2010–present
• Margaret H. Marshall, Chief Justice, Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court, 1999–2010 (first woman to hold this position); Associate Justice, Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court, 1996–1999
• Marshall F. McComb (1919), Associate Justice, California Supreme Court, 1955–1977
• Walter Myers Jr. (1938), Associate Justice, Indiana Supreme Court, 1963-1967
• George W. Wheeler (1883), Chief Justice, Connecticut Supreme Court, 1920–1930
• J. Craig Wright (1954), Associate Justice, Ohio Supreme Court, 1985–1996

• Jane Bolin (1931), judge for the New York City Domestic Relations Court, 1939–1979; also the first African–American woman to serve as a judge in the United States
• Luke Bronin (2006), 67th mayor of Hartford, Connecticut
• Richard Buery (1997), former deputy mayor of New York City
• George Williamson Crawford (1903), second black graduate of the Law School and Corporation Counsel of the City of New Haven
• David Hansell (1983), commissioner of the New York City Administration for Children's Services^[127]
• Bruce Harris, mayor of Chatham Borough, New Jersey, 2012–present
• Robert J. Harris, mayor of Ann Arbor, Michigan, 1969–1973
• John Lindsay (1948), 103rd mayor of New York City, New York, 1966–1973
• Robert M. Morgenthau (1948), New York County District Attorney, 1975–2009
• Charles Phelps Taft II (1921), mayor of Cincinnati, Ohio, 1955–1957
• Caroline Van Zile (2012), 3rd solicitor general of Washington, D.C., 2022–present

• Winthrop G. Brown (1930), 16th U.S. Ambassador to South Korea, 1964–1967
• William Smith Culbertson (1910), president of the United States Tariff Commission, 1922–1925
• Richard N. Gardner (1951), U.S. Ambassador to Spain, 1993–1997; U.S. Ambassador to Italy, 1977–1981
• Ulric Haynes (1956), 6th U.S. Ambassador to Algeria, 1977–1981
• David Huebner (1986), 17th U.S. Ambassador to New Zealand, 2009–present
• Eugene M. Locke (1940), 9th U.S. Ambassador to Pakistan, 1966–1967
• Robert McCallum Jr. (1973), 23rd U.S. Ambassador to Australia, 2006–2009
• John O'Leary (1969), 48th U.S. Ambassador to Chile, 1998–2001
• Sargent Shriver (1941), 44th U.S. Ambassador to France, 1968–1970; also the driving force behind the Peace Corps
• Gerard C. Smith (1938), Chief Delegate to the Strategic Arms Limitation Talks and Director, Arms Control and Disarmament Agency, 1969–1972
• R. Douglas Stuart Jr. (1946), 22nd U.S. Ambassador to Norway, 1984–1989
• Peter Tufo, U.S. Ambassador to Hungary, 1997–2001

• Mark D. Agrast (1985), Deputy Assistant Attorney General for the Office of Legislative Affairs of the United States Department of Justice, 2009–present
• Meade Alcorn, chairman of the Republican National Committee, 1957–1959
• Dillon Anderson (1929), 2nd National Security Advisor, 1955–1956
• Joe Andrew (1985), chairman of the Democratic National Committee, 1999–2001
• Michael Barr (1992), Assistant Secretary for Financial Institutions of the U.S. Department of the Treasury
• Rubén Berríos (1961), Puerto Rico senator at large, 1972–1976, 1984–1988, 1993–1996
• Matthew Berry, Republican primary challenger in Virginia's 8th congressional district election, 2010
• Boris Bershteyn (2004), Associate White House Counsel, 2010–present
• William L. Borden (1947), executive director of United States Congress Joint Committee on Atomic Energy, 1949–1953
• Beth Brinkmann (1985), Assistant to the U.S. Solicitor General, 1993–2001
• Antonia Handler Chayes (did not graduate), 14th Under Secretary of the Air Force, 1979–1981
• William Thaddeus Coleman III, 17th General Counsel of the Army, 1994–1999
• Mathea Falco (1968), 1st Assistant Secretary of State for International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs, 1979–1981
• Roswell Gilpatric (1931), Deputy Secretary of Defense, 1961–1964
• Fred T. Goldberg Jr. (1973), Commissioner of Internal Revenue, 1989–1992
• Stephen Hadley (1972), 21st National Security Advisor, 2005–2009
• Coleman Hicks (1968), General Counsel of the Navy, 1979–1981
• Steven S. Honigman (1973), General Counsel of the Navy, 1993–1998
• Jerry MacArthur Hultin (1972), 27th Under Secretary of the Navy, 1997–2000
• Reed Hundt (1974), chairman of the Federal Communications Commission, 1993–1997
• Rashad Hussain (2005), 2nd Special Envoy to the Organisation of the Islamic Conference, 2010–present
• Harrison Loesch (1939), Assistant Secretary of the Interior, 1969–1972
• Malcolm A. MacIntyre, 5th Under Secretary of the Air Force, 1957–1959
• Burke Marshall (1951), Assistant Attorney General for the Civil Rights Division of the United States Department of Justice, 1961–1964
• Joe Miller (1995), Republican Senate candidate from Alaska, 2010
• Roderic L. O'Connor (1947), 2nd Assistant Secretary of State for Security and Consular Affairs, 1957–1958
• Stephen A. Oxman, 19th Assistant Secretary of State for European and Canadian Affairs, 1993–1994
• Troy A. Paredes, commissioner of the Securities and Exchange Commission, 2008–2013
• Michael Pertschuk (1959), chairman of the Federal Trade Commission, 1977–1981
• Randal Quarles (1984), 15th Under Secretary for Domestic Finance, 2005–2006
• Vivek Ramaswamy (2013), candidate for president of the United States in 2024
• Eugene Rostow (1937), Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs, 1966–1969
• Kevin K. Washburn (1993), 12th Assistant Secretary of Indian Affairs for the U.S. Department of the Interior, 2012–2015
• Neal S. Wolin, Deputy Secretary of the Treasury, 2009–present
• R. James Woolsey Jr. (1968), 16th Director of the Central Intelligence Agency, 1993–1995
• Adam Yarmolinsky, political appointee who served in numerous capacities in the Kennedy, Johnson and Carter administrations
• David Yassky, member of the New York City Council from the 33rd District, 2002–2009

• Karl Carstens (LL.M. 1949), 5th President of Germany, 1979–1984
• Jose P. Laurel (J.S.D. 1920), 3rd President of the Philippines, 1943–1945
• Salvador Laurel (J.S.D. 1960), 10th Vice President of the Philippines, 1986–1992; 5th Prime Minister of the Philippines, 1986
• Peter Mutharika (LL.M., J.S.D.), President of the Republic of Malawi, 2014–present; former Minister of Foreign Affairs of Malawi, 2011–2012

• Ron Atkey (LL.M. 1966), member of the House of Commons of Canada, 1972–1974, 1979–1980
• Kwesi Botchwey (LL.M.), Minister of Finance of Ghana, 1982–1995
• Irwin Cotler (LL.M. 1966), Minister of Justice of Canada, 2003–2006
• Wan Exiang (LL.M. 1987), Vice Chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress of the People's Republic of China, 2013–present
• Francisco Afan Delgado (LL.M. 1909), Senator of the Philippines, 1951–1957
• Philip S. Deloria, founder and 1st Secretary-General of the World Council of Indigenous Peoples
• Eoghan Fitzsimons (LL.M. 1966), Attorney General of Ireland, 11 November to 15 December 1994
• David Howarth (LL.M. 1983), Member of Parliament for Cambridge, 2005–2010
• S. Jayakumar (LL.M. 1966), Senior Minister of Singapore, 2009–2011
• Antonio La Viña, Undersecretary of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources of the Philippines
• Stavros Lambrinidis (1988), Member of the European Parliament, 2004–2009; Vice President of the European Parliament, 2009–2011; 23rd Minister for Foreign Affairs of Greece, 2011; European Union Special Representative for Human Rights, 2012–2019; European Union Ambassador to the United States, 2019–present
• Jovito Salonga (J.S.D. 1949), 14th President of the Senate of the Philippines, 1987–1992
• Lebbeus R. Wilfley (1892), 1st Attorney General of the Philippines, 1901–1906
• Michael Yaki, commissioner on the United States Commission on Civil Rights, 2005–2016

• Rosalyn Higgins (J.S.D. 1962), English judge, 1995–2009, and president, 2006–2009, of the International Court of Justice
• Philip Jessup (1924), American judge for the International Court of Justice, 1961–1970
• Shigeru Oda (J.S.D. 1953), Japanese judge for the International Court of Justice, 1976–2003
• Ksenija Turkoviç, Croatian judge at the European Court of Human Rights 2015–present

• Luís Roberto Barroso (LL.M. 1989), Judge for the Supreme Court of Brazil, 2013–present
• Leo Barry (LL.M. 1968), Justice for the Supreme Court of Newfoundland and Labrador, 2007–present
• Daryl Dawson (LL.M. 1956), Justice of the High Court of Australia, 1982–1997
• Todd Ducharme (LL.M. 1991), Judge for the Ontario Superior Court of Justice
• Enrique Fernando (1948), Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of the Philippines
• Stephan Harbarth (LL.M. 2000), President of the Federal Constitutional Court of Germany, 2020–present
• Gérard La Forest (LL.M. 1965), Puisne Justice of the Supreme Court of Canada, 1985–1997
• Johnnie Lewis (LL.M. 1971), 18th Chief Justice of Liberia, 2006–present
• Cecilia Muñoz-Palma (LL.M. 1954), first woman appointed to the Supreme Court of the Philippines

• Stavros Lambrinidis (J.D. 1988), European Union Special Representative for Human Rights (since 2012)
• Johan C. Verbeke (LL.M. 1978), head of the United Nations Observer Mission in Georgia (UNOMIG)
• Josefina Phodaca-Ambrosio (LL.M. 1957), first Asian and only Filipino to become President of Federacion Internacional de Abogadas

• Floyd Abrams (1960), attorney at Cahill Gordon & Reindel who has had a substantial influence on constitutional law in the United States through the argument of important cases
• Douglas Arant (1923), attorney in Birmingham, Alabama
• Michael F. Armstrong, attorney
• Francis N. Bangs (1847), founding partner of Bangs & Stetson, a precursor to the modern firm of Davis, Polk & Wardwell
• Thomas D. Barr (1931–2008), prominent lawyer at Cravath, Swaine & Moore
• Bouvier Beale, attorney and first cousin of Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis and Lee Radziwill
• Dana Berliner, public interest attorney at the Institute for Justice
• Hunter Biden, founding partner of Oldaker, Biden & Belair, LLP; son of President Joe Biden
• David Boies (1966), chairman of Boies, Schiller & Flexner
• Ralph Cavanagh, environmental attorney and co–director of the Air/Energy Program at the Natural Resources Defense Council
• William Coblentz (1947), attorney and power broker who played an important role in California politics in the years after World War II
• Julien Davies Cornell, attorney noted for his defense of Ezra Pound following Pound's indictment for treason
• J. Richardson Dilworth (1942), attorney for the Rockefeller family
• Tali Farhadian (born 1974 or 1975), former US federal prosecutor
• Peter E. Fleming Jr. (1958), criminal defense attorney
• Bob Giuffra (1987), partner, Sullivan & Cromwell
• Charles Halpern (1964), co-founder of the Center for Law and Social Policy, the first public interest law firm in the United States
• James Hamilton (1969), assistant chief counsel for the United States Senate Watergate Committee
• Whitfield Jack (1932), attorney in his native Shreveport, Louisiana; United States Army colonel in World War II under General Matthew Ridgway, and United States Army Reserve major general
• David Kendall (1971), attorney who advised President Bill Clinton during the Lewinsky scandal and Clinton's subsequent impeachment proceedings
• George Kern (1952), partner of Sullivan & Cromwell
• Ernest Knaebel (1896, LL.M. 1897), 11th Reporter of Decisions of the Supreme Court, 1916–1944
• Arthur Kramer, founding partner of Kramer Levin
• Dawn Johnsen (1986), attorney twice nominated by President Barack Obama to head the Office of Legal Counsel
• Mark I. Levy (1975), appellate attorney who argued 16 cases before the Supreme Court
• Arthur Mag, legal counsel to Harry S. Truman
• Bessie Margolin (1933), labor attorney who argued numerous cases before the Supreme Court
• Arvo Mikkanen (1986), attorney nominated by President Barack Obama to the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Oklahoma
• Ann Olivarius (1986), Chair of McAllister Olivarius, plaintiff in Alexander v. Yale, and notable sexual harassment lawyer
• Jesselyn Radack (1995), ethics adviser to the Department of Justice who disclosed that the FBI committed an ethics violation in their interrogation of John Walker Lindh
• Robert Raymar (1972), attorney nominated by President Bill Clinton to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit
• Stephen Shulman (1958), attorney most notable for representing Egil Krogh during the Watergate scandal
• John Thomas Smith (1901), first general counsel and a director of General Motors, 1910 – 1947
• Paul M. Smith (1979), attorney at Jenner & Block who argued many notable cases including Lawrence v. Texas
• Leonard Weinglass (1958), notable criminal defense attorney and constitutional law advocate
• Andrea R. Wood (1998), senior counsel for the United States Securities and Exchange Commission
• Gregory Howard Woods (1995), general counsel of the United States Department of Energy
• Arnold M. Zack (1956), notable arbitrator and mediator of labor management disputes

• Deborah Archer (1996), President of the American Civil Liberties Union and Professor at NYU School of Law, Archer is the first African-American to lead the ACLU.
• John P. Hannah, senior fellow at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy
• Carla Anderson Hills, 5th chairwoman of the Council on Foreign Relations
• Bruce J. Katz (1985), vice president of the Brookings Institution
• Bayless Manning (1949), 1st president of the Council on Foreign Relations
• Krish O'Mara Vignaraja, President and CEO of Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service, former Senior Policy Director to Michelle Obama

• Michelle Anderson (born 1967), President of Brooklyn College, and a scholar on rape law
• Nancy Y. Bekavac (1973), president of Scripps College, 1990–2007
• Alfred Benjamin Butts (1930), chancellor of the University of Mississippi, 1935–1946
• Gerhard Casper (LL.M. 1962), president of Stanford University, 1992–2000
• Hiram Chodosh (1990), president of Claremont McKenna College, 2013–present
• Ronald J. Daniels (1988), president of Johns Hopkins University, 2009–present
• JoAnne A. Epps (1976), provost Temple University, 2016-2021
• William R. Greiner, president of the University at Buffalo, 1991–2004
• Robert S. Harrison, chairman of the Cornell University Board of Trustees
• Ira Michael Heyman (1956), chancellor of the University of California, Berkeley, 1980–1990
• Robert Hutchins (1925), president of the University of Chicago, 1929–1945; chancellor of the University of Chicago, 1945–1951
• Joseph S. Iseman (1941), acting president of Bennington College, 1976
• Thomas H. Jackson (1975), president of University of Rochester, 1994–2005
• Marvin Krislov (1988), president of Oberlin College, 2007–present
• Ted Landsmark (1973), president of the Boston Architectural College, present
• Frederick M. Lawrence (1980), president of Brandeis University, 2011–present
• Edward H. Levi (1938), president of the University of Chicago, 1968–1975
• Wallace Loh, president of the University of Maryland, College Park, 2010–present
• Linda Lorimer, vice president of Yale University; president of Randolph-Macon Woman's College, 1986–1993
• Cyrus Northrop, president of the University of Minnesota, 1884–1911
• Russell K. Osgood (1974), president of Grinnell College, 1998–2010
• Louis H. Pollak (19433), federal judge and dean of Yale Law School and the University of Pennsylvania Law School
• Ariel Porat (1990), president of Tel Aviv University
• Robert Prichard (LL.M. 1976), president of the University of Toronto, 1990–2000
• L. Song Richardson (1966/67), President of Colorado College, 2021 - PRESENT
• Michael H. Schill (1984), president of the University of Oregon, 2015–
• Clayton Spencer (1985), president of Bates College, 2012–present
• Stephen Joel Trachtenberg (1962), president of George Washington University, 1988–2007
• Louis Vogel (LL.M. 1982), president of Panthéon-Assas University, 2006–2012
• Nora Demleitner (1992), president of St. John's College - Annapolis, 2022–present^[128]

• T. Alexander Aleinikoff (1977), dean of Georgetown University Law Center, 2004–2009
• Nicholas Allard (1979), Dean and President of Brooklyn Law School
• Michelle Anderson (1994), dean of City University of New York Law School, 2006–2016
• Evan Caminker (1986), dean of the University of Michigan Law School, 2003–2013
• Nora Demleitner (1992), dean of the Washington and Lee University School of Law, 2012–2015
• John Hart Ely (1963), dean of Stanford Law School, 1982–1987
• JoAnne A. Epps (1976) dean of Temple Law School, 2008- 2016
• Sarah Harding, dean of Schulich School of Law, Dalhousie University, 2023–present
• Robert Klonoff (1979), dean of Lewis & Clark Law School, 2007–2014
• Anthony T. Kronman (1975), dean of Yale Law School, 1994–2004
• Saul Levmore (1980), dean of the University of Chicago Law School, 2001–2009
• Paul Mahoney (1984), dean of the University of Virginia School of Law, 2008–2016
• Earl F. Martin (LL.M. 1996), dean of Gonzaga University School of Law, 2005–2010
• Michael Meltsner (JD 1960), dean of Northeastern University School of Law, 1979–1984
• Martha Minow (1979), dean of Harvard Law School, 2009–present
• Jennifer Mnookin (1995), dean of UCLA Law School, 2015—present
• Russell D. Niles (LL.M. 1931), dean of New York University School of Law, 1948–1963
• Robert Post (1977), dean of Yale Law School, 2009–2017
• Wendell Pritchett, Chancellor of Rutgers University–Camden, Interim Dean and Presidential Professor at the University of Pennsylvania Law School, and Provost of the University of Pennsylvania
• Norman Redlich (1950), dean of New York University School of Law, 1974–1988
• Richard Revesz (1983), dean of New York University School of Law, 2002–2013
• Michael H. Schill (1984), dean of UCLA Law School (2004–2009) and University of Chicago Law School (2010–2015)
• David Schizer (1993), dean of Columbia Law School, 2004–2014
• Aviam Soifer (1972), dean of the William S. Richardson School of Law, 2003–present^[129]
• William Treanor (1985), dean of Georgetown University Law Center, 2010–present
• Frans Vanistendael (LL.M.), dean of Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, 1999–2005
• Kevin K. Washburn (1993), dean of the University of New Mexico School of Law, 2009–2012
• Joan Wexler, Dean and President of Brooklyn Law School
• Thomas C. Athur, Dean of Emory Law School, 2002-2005

• Bruce Ackerman (1967), professor at Yale Law School and author of Social Justice in the Liberal State, 1987–present; regarded as one of the most frequently cited legal academics in the United States
• Akhil Amar (1984), professor at Yale Law School
• Vikram Amar (1988), professor at the University of California Davis School of Law
• C. Edwin Baker, professor at the University of Pennsylvania Law School, 1981–present; considered one of the country's foremost authorities on the First Amendment
• Charles Black, professor at Yale Law School, 1956–1987
• Philip Bobbitt (1975), professor at Columbia Law School and author of The Shield of Achilles: War, Peace, and the Course of History, 2007–present
• William Eskridge (1978), professor at Yale Law School, 1998–present
• Noah Feldman (1997), professor at Harvard Law School, 2007–present; scholar on Islamic law and the intersection of religion and politics
• Paul W. Kahn (1980), professor at Yale Law School
• Kermit Roosevelt III (1997), professor at the University of Pennsylvania Law School, 2002–present
• Reva Siegel (1986), professor at Yale Law School, 1994–present
• Carol M. Swain (M.S.L. Law), Professor of Political Science and Law at Vanderbilt University
• Charles Alan Wright (1949), professor at University of Texas School of Law, 1995–2000; considered to be one of the foremost authorities in the United States on constitutional law
• Kenji Yoshino (1996), professor at New York University School of Law, 2006–present; focused on anti-discrimination law, civil and human rights law, and law and literature
• Johannes Reich (Rechtswissenschafter) (1975), Professor at the University of Zurich, 2018-present; scholar on constitutional law, energy law and environmental law ^[130]

• Barbara Babcock (1963), professor at Stanford Law School, 1972–present
• Alan Dershowitz (1962), professor at Harvard Law School, 1964–present; also a prolific attorney, jurist, and legal commentator and author of The Case for Israel
• Don Kates, professor at Saint Louis University School of Law and author of numerous books on gun control
• Mark Osler (1990), professor at the University of St. Thomas School of Law,^[131] clemency advocate,^[132] and critic of capital punishment

• David D. Cole (1984), professor at Georgetown University Law Center
• Lani Guinier (1974), professor at Harvard Law School, 2001–present; also the first tenured female African–American professor at Harvard Law School and well-known civil rights activist
• Christof Heyns (LL.M.), professor at the Institute for International and Comparative Law in Africa at the University of Pretoria
• Randall Kennedy (1982), professor at Harvard Law School
• Andrew Koppelman (1989), professor at Northwestern University, 2007–present
• Catharine MacKinnon (1977), professor at the University of Michigan Law School, 1989–present; feminist scholar focused on sexual harassment and pornography
• Tobias Barrington Wolff (1997), professor at the University of Pennsylvania Law School; notable for his legal advocacy on same-sex marriage and other LGBT-related issues

• Lori Andrews, professor at Chicago–Kent College of Law
• Susan P. Crawford, professor at the Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law
• Lawrence Lessig, professor at Harvard Law School, 2008–present; professor at Stanford Law School, 2000–2008, where he founded its Center for Internet and Society, candidate for the Democratic Party's nomination for president in the 2016 U.S. presidential election
• Eben Moglen (1985), professor at Columbia Law School and founder of the Software Freedom Law Center
• Ryan Abbott, professor at the University of Surrey School of Law

• Harold J. Berman (1947), professor at Harvard Law School, 1948–1985; professor at Emory Law School, 1985–2007
• George Bermann (1971), professor at Columbia Law School, 1975–present
• Rosa Brooks (1996), professor at Georgetown University Law Center, 2011–present
• Steve Charnovitz (1998), professor at George Washington University Law School, 2004–present
• Jerome Cohen (1955), professor at New York University School of Law, 1990–present
• Jack Goldsmith (1989), professor at Harvard Law School; also head of the Office of Legal Counsel 2003–2004
• David O'Keeffe (LL.M. 1978), Professor of European Law at University of Durham, 1990–1993; professor of European Law at University College London 1993–2005;, emeritus professor of European Law at University of London 2005–present; part-time European administrative law judge
• John Yoo (1992), professor at the University of California, Berkeley, School of Law, 1993–present; primarily known for authoring the Torture Memos

• Peter Berkowitz, professor at George Mason University School of Law, 1999–2007; senior fellow at Stanford University's Hoover Institution, 2007–present
• Jules Coleman (1976), professor at Yale Law School
• Arthur Corbin (1899), professor at Yale Law School and one of the progenitors of legal realism
• Jan Deutsch (1962), professor at Yale Law School
• Richard Epstein (1968), professor at New York University Law School, 2010–present; considered one of the most influential legal thinkers in the United States
• Duncan Kennedy (1970), professor at Harvard Law, 1976–present; founder of the critical legal studies movement
• Karl Llewellyn, professor at Columbia Law School, 1925–1951; professor at the University of Chicago Law School, 1951–1962; leading proponent of legal realism

• Matthew Adler (1991), law professor
• Ian Ayres (1986), professor at Yale Law School and the Yale School of Management, 1994–present
• David C. Baldus (1964, LL.M. 1969), professor at the University of Iowa College of Law
• Boris Bittker (1941), professor at Yale Law School, 1946–2005
• Peter A. Bradford (1964), professor at Vermont Law School and former member of the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission
• Tomiko Brown-Nagin, professor at Harvard Law School
• Stephen Carter, professor at Yale Law School, 1982–present
• John C. Coffee (1969), professor at Columbia Law School
• Arthur Linton Corbin (1899), professor at Yale Law School, 1903–1943
• Omar Dajani, professor at McGeorge School of Law at the University of the Pacific
• Harlon L. Dalton, professor at Yale Law School
• Stuart L. Deutsch (1969), professor at Rutgers School of Law–Newark, 1999–2009
• Bill Dodge (1991), professor at the University of California, Hastings College of the Law
• Elizabeth Emens (2002), professor at Columbia Law School, 2005–present
• Cynthia Estlund (1983), professor at New York University School of Law
• Bill Felstiner (1958), professor at Cardiff University, 1995–2005; specializes in law and sociology
• Claire Finkelstein (1993), professor at the University of Pennsylvania Law School
• Nicole Garnett (1995), professor at Notre Dame Law School, 1999–present
• Richard Garnett (1995), professor at Notre Dame Law School, 1999–present
• Michael Gottesman, professor at Georgetown University Law Center
• Daniel Halberstam, professor at the University of Michigan Law School
• Clarence Halbert (1897), co–founder of William Mitchell College of Law
• Kermit L. Hall, legal historian and member of the Assassination Records Review Board
• Philip Hamburger (1982), professor at Columbia Law School
• Samuel Issacharoff (1983), professor at New York University School of Law
• Brian Kalt (1997), professor at Michigan State University College of Law
• Michael I. Krauss (LL.M. 1978), professor at George Mason University School of Law, 1987–present
• Ethan Leib (2003), professor at Fordham Law School
• Louis Loss (1937), professor at Harvard Law School, considered the intellectual father of modern securities law
• Jonathan R. Macey (1982), professor at Yale Law School
• Robert T. Miller (1997), professor at the University of Iowa College of Law
• Eric L. Muller (1987), professor at the University of North Carolina School of Law
• H. Jefferson Powell (1982), professor at George Washington University School of Law, 2010–present
• Jedediah Purdy (2001), professor at Duke University Law School
• Charles A. Reich (1952), professor at Yale Law School and author of The Greening of America
• Glenn Reynolds, professor at the University of Tennessee College of Law
• Deborah Rhode (1977), professor at Stanford Law School
• Daniel Richman (1984), Paul J. Kellner Professor of Law at Columbia Law School
• Fred Rodell, professor at Yale Law School
• Joel Rogers, professor at the University of Wisconsin Law School
• Chris William Sanchirico (1994), professor at the University of Pennsylvania Law School
• Brett Scharffs (1992), professor at the J. Reuben Clark Law School of Brigham Young University, 1997–present
• Wesley Alba Sturges (1923), professor at Yale Law School
• Eleanor Swift, professor at the UC Berkeley School of Law
• Donald F. Turner (1950), professor at Harvard Law School
• Mark Tushnet, professor at Harvard Law School
• Steven Walt (1988), professor at the University of Virginia School of Law
• Matthew Waxman, professor at Columbia Law School
• Rivka Weill, professor at Harry Radzyner Law School, Interdisciplinary Center^[133]
• Mark S. Weiner, professor at Rutgers School of Law–Newark
• Charles Whitebread, professor at the University of Southern California Law School
• Steven Wilf, professor at the University of Connecticut School of Law
• Michael Wishnie, professor at Yale Law School
• Theodore Salisbury Woolsey, professor at Yale Law School
• Katra Zajc (LL.M.), professor at the University of Ljubljana

• Peter Berkowitz, professor of political science at Harvard University, 1990–1999
• Scott Boorman (1978), professor of sociology at Yale University
• Lawrence Douglas (1989), professor at Amherst College
• Murray Gerstenhaber (1948), mathematician and lawyer, professor at the University of Pennsylvania
• Austin Sarat (1988), professor of political science at Amherst College
• Ian Shapiro (1987), professor of political science at Yale University
• Ruth Wedgwood, professor of international relations at the School of Advanced International Studies at Johns Hopkins University
• Michael Woodford, professor of economics at Columbia University
• Kyu Ho Youm (M.S.L.), professor of journalism at the University of Oregon

• Jasper Alston Atkins (1922), civil rights activist and the first black editor of the Yale Law Journal
• D'Army Bailey (1967), civil rights activist and founder of the National Civil Rights Museum
• Mark Barnes (1984), attorney and AIDS activist
• Craig Becker, labor attorney and a member of the National Labor Relations Board, 2010–2011
• Cornell William Brooks, civil rights activist, attorney, and former President & CEO, NAACP
• Kathleen Neal Cleaver, prominent member of the Black Panther Party
• Bill Drayton (1970), founder of Ashoka: Innovators for the Public, a global social entrepreneurship organization
• Marian Wright Edelman (1963), president and founder of the Children's Defense Fund
• Robert Gnaizda, co-founder of the Greenlining Institute
• Seth Green, founder of Americans for Informed Democracy
• Michael Harrington, chairman of Democratic Socialists of America, 1982–1989
• Kenneth Hecht, public interest attorney and advocate for improved access to affordable, nutritious food
• Louis Clayton Jones, civil rights activist and founder of the National Conference of Black Lawyers
• Van Jones (1993), environmental activist, civil rights activist, and attorney; founder of Green For All
• Henry T. King (1943), prosecutor at the Nuremberg trials, 1946–1947
• Gay McDougall, civil rights activist and executive director of Global Rights, 1994–2006
• Michael Meltsner, civil rights litigator First Asst.Counsel NAACP Legal Defense Fund, 1961–1970
• Creighton Miller, founder of the National Football League Players Association labor union
• Lisa Richette, child welfare activist
• Catherine Roraback (1948), civil rights attorney best known for representing the plaintiffs in the landmark 1965 Supreme Court case Griswold v. Connecticut
• Kenneth Roth (1980), executive director of Human Rights Watch, 1993–present
• Linda Rottenberg, founder of Endeavor
• Andrew Shapiro, founder of GreenOrder, an environmental sustainability consulting firm
• James Speth (1969), attorney and environmental activist
• Gregory Stanton, founder and president of Genocide Watch, 1999–present
• R. Douglas Stuart Jr. (1946), founder of the America First Committee, the foremost non-interventionist pressure group against the American entry into World War II, while a student at Yale Law
• Neera Tanden (1996), president of the Center for American Progress, 2011–present
• William Taylor (1954), civil rights activist

• Lon Babby (1976), President of the Phoenix Suns
• Jeff Ballabon, senior vice president of CBS News; also an Orthodox Jewish lobbyist and the founder of Coordinating Council on Jerusalem
• Alfred Wellington Carter (1893), prominent landowner in Hawaii
• Dick Cass (1971), president of the Baltimore Ravens from 2004 to 2022^[134]
• Sam Cohn (1956), co-founder of International Creative Management and talent agent to Paul Newman, Woody Allen, and Meryl Streep, among others
• E. Virgil Conway (1956), chairman and CEO of the New York State Metropolitan Transportation Authority
• Michael R. Eisenson (1981), co-founder, managing director, and CEO of Charlesbank Capital Partners, a private equity investment firm based in Boston and New York City
• Charles E. Fraser, real estate developer
• Arthur Frommer (1953), publisher of Frommer's travel guidebook series
• Tom Glocer, CEO of Thomson Reuters and Reuters
• Najeeb Halaby (1940), businessman and father of Queen Noor of Jordan
• Joel Hyatt, co-founder of Current TV with Al Gore
• Eli Jacobs (1964), financier and owner of the Baltimore Orioles, 1989–1993
• William M. Jennings, executive in the National Hockey League and president of the New York Rangers
• Victor S. Johnson, Jr., president of Aladdin Industries
• John Koskinen, non-executive chairman of Freddie Mac, 2008–2011
• Michael E. Levine (1965), airline executive
• Larry Lucchino (1971), president and CEO of the Boston Red Sox
• J. Howard Marshall (1931), oil magnate, known for his marriage to Anna Nicole Smith
• Mark McCormack, founder of IMG, an international sports and media company
• Nicolas D. Muzin (1975), Politico and founder of Stonington Global.
• Neal Pilson (1963), former president of CBS Sports^[135]
• Robert Pozen (1972, J.S.D. 1973), vice chairman and president of Fidelity Investments
• Ken Stern, CEO of National Public Radio
• John Butler Talcott (1846), industrialist and founder of the New Britain Museum of American Art
• Brooks Thomas, CEO of Harper & Row
• Raymond S. Troubh, independent financial consultant who served as a general partner at Lazard, 1961–1974; interim chairman of Enron, 2002–2004
• Hubertus van der Vaart, Dutch businessman and co-founder and chairman of SEAF
• Fay Vincent (1963), 8th Commissioner of Major League Baseball, 1989–1992
• John P. Wheeler III (1975), chairman of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund
• Tim and Nina Zagat (1966), co-founders and publishers of Zagat
• John E. Zuccotti (1963), real estate developer and namesake of Zuccotti Park
• C. Montgomery Burns

• Lisa Bloom (1986), anchor of Lisa Bloom: Open Court on Court TV
• Katy Chevigny, documentary filmmaker.^[136]
• La Carmina, Canadian fashion blogger, author, journalist, and host on CNNGo^{[137][138][139]}
• Jeff Greenfield (1967), senior political correspondent for CBS Evening News
• Yul Kwon (2000), host of American Revealed on PBS and winner of Survivor: Cook Islands
• D. G. Martin, host of North Carolina Bookwatch on UNC-TV
• Gene Sperling (1985), writer on The West Wing
• Ben Stein (1970), actor and host of Win Ben Stein's Money

• Renata Adler (1979), novelist, staff writer for The New Yorker, and film critic for The New York Times
• Joseph Amiel (1962), attorney and writer of popular fiction
• Aditi Banerjee, co-author and editor of Invading the Sacred
• Chesa Boudin (2011), progressive writer
• Lan Cao, author of the 1997 novel Monkey Bridge and 2014 novel The Lotus and the Storm (Viking)
• Stephen Carter (1979), novelist
• Ken Chen, poet
• Nelson Denis (1980), editorial director of El Diario/La Prensa, author of War Against All Puerto Ricans (Nation Books, 2015)
• Heidi W. Durrow (1995), novelist
• Robin Goldstein (2002), food and wine critic
• Adam Haslett (2003), short story writer
• Julie Hilden (1992), novelist
• Laura Chapman Hruska, novelist and co-founder and editor-in-chief of Soho Press
• Jamil Jivani (2013), author of Why Young Men
• Bruce Judson (1984), author of business and public policy books
• Edward Lazarus (1987), author of the 1998 non-fiction book Closed Chambers
• He Li (2003), Chinese-language poet
• Walter Lord (1948), author of the 1955 book A Night to Remember, considered a definitive account of the Titanic disaster
• Daniyal Mueenuddin (1996), short story writer
• David Orr (1999), poet
• Matthew Pearl, novelist
• Daniel Pink, author
• Gretchen Rubin (1995), author of the 2009 book The Happiness Project
• David Stewart (1978), non-fiction writer
• Julius Taranto (2016), novelist^[140]
• Alina Tugend (M.S.L.), columnist for The New York Times
• Qian Julie Wang (2012), author of Beautiful Country
• Clement Wood, poet
• Elizabeth Wurtzel (2008), author of the 1994 memoir Prozac Nation
• Monica Youn, poet

• Michael Barone (1969), conservative political analyst, pundit, and journalist; principal author of The Almanac of American Politics
• Lanny Davis (1970), political commentator and author of Scandal: How "Gotcha" Politics Is Destroying America
• Van Jones (1993), political analyst for CNN
• Jonathan Kay (1997), editor-in-chief of The Walrus
• Mark Levine, progressive political pundit and radio host

• Emily Bazelon (2000), staff writer, The New York Times Magazine, former senior editor of Slate
• Bob Cohn, executive editor of Wired, 2001–2008
• Nelson Antonio Denis (1980), editorial director of El Diario/La Prensa, former member of the New York State Assembly
• Ronan Farrow (2009), contributor to The New Yorker and Pulitzer Prize winner
• Craig Forman, foreign correspondent and bureau chief for The Wall Street Journal
• Jack Fuller, Pulitzer Prize–winning journalist and president of the Tribune Company
• Linda Greenhouse (M.S.L. 1978), Supreme Court correspondent for The New York Times
• Patrick Radden Keefe, staff writer for The New Yorker, appointed as a Guggenheim Fellow in 2006
• David Lat (1999), founder and managing editor of Above the Law, a blog about the legal profession
• Adam Liptak (1988), Supreme Court correspondent for The New York Times
• Victor Navasky (1959), editor of The Nation, 1978–1995; publisher of The Nation, 1995–2005; chairman of the Columbia Journalism Review, 2005–present
• Viveca Novak (M.S.L.), political correspondent for Time
• Charlie Savage (2003), reporter for The New York Times
• Luiza Savage, Washington bureau chief, Maclean's magazine

• Edward J. Stackpole (1915), newspaper publisher, author, U.S. Army major general^[141]
• Alfred Terry, general of the Union Army during the American Civil War

• Rodney Aller, masters skier
• Al Hessberg (1941), college football player
• William G. Norton, college football coach
• Fay Moulton, Olympic sprinter and college football player
• Jim O'Rourke (1887), Major League Baseball player and manager
• Tom Shevlin (1906), four-year track star (broke school record in hammer throw); All-American end and captain; post-grad volunteer coach of football team
• Ted St. Germaine (1914), professional football player in the National Football League

• T. Bill Andrews, abstract impressionist painter, author, federal ALJ
• Dyke Brown (1941), founder of The Athenian School
• John Anthony Flood, sociologist, legal academic, consultant, author and a researcher
• Richard Green (1987), psychiatrist specializing in homosexuality and transsexualism
• Stewart Rhodes (2004), founder of the Oath Keepers, convicted for seditious conspiracy in the January 6 United States Capitol attack
• Pat Robertson (1955), televangelist and founder of Regent University
• Vanessa Selbst (2012), professional poker player
• Sherman Day Thacher (1886), founder of The Thacher School
• Iwan Tirta (1964), fashion designer
• Louis W. Tompros, academic and lawyer
• Yona Reiss (1991), Chief Rabbinical judge of the Chicago Rabbinical Council

These students attended Yale Law but, for various reasons, did not graduate.

• Judah P. Benjamin, Secretary of State of the Confederate States; U.S. Senator from Louisiana
• Henry Billings Brown, Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States, 1890–1906
• Henry Louis Gates, professor of history at Harvard University
• Alexander T. Hawthorn, Confederate States Army general^[142]
• Michael Medved, author, film critic, and radio talk show host
• David Milch (expelled), television writer and producer
• Robert B. Silvers, co-founder and editor of The New York Review of Books

• Arthur Branch, character on the TV series Law & Order
• Alexis Davis, character on the TV series General Hospital
• Greg Foster, character on the TV series The Young and the Restless
• Amy Gardner, character on the TV series The West Wing
• Judge Chamberlain Haller, character in the film My Cousin Vinny
• Josh Lyman, character on the TV series The West Wing
• Jordan McDeere, character on the TV series Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip
• Selina Meyer, character on the TV series Veep
• Wayne Palmer, character on the TV series 24
• Bruce Wayne, alter ego of Batman, as disclosed in Detective Comics 439