Former United States Attorney General Ms. Janet Reno

As the nation's first female attorney general, Janet Reno headed the world's largest law office (125,000 employees) for nearly eight years. In this capacity she was responsible for the enforcement of federal laws and for defending the government in court. During her watch, crime was dramatically reduced and heightened professionalism became the order of the day in the law enforcement community.

Known for her integrity, independence and respect for the rules of law and evidence, Ms. Reno worked ceaselessly to bring "justice" to the Department of Justice. She used the authority of her office to enforce civil rights, environmental and health statutes with the same professionally innovative approaches that achieved conventional crime rate reductions throughout her tenure. Her courage, vision and dedication to both duty and principle are legendary - and have made her one of the country's most admired women.

The longest serving attorney general since before the civil war, Ms. Reno promotes lawyers as problem solvers . "A good lawyer must try to resolve a client's problem in a way that does not make the problem worse. A good lawyer has a duty to assist the client in maintaining continuing, positive relationships". During her tenure she established a dispute resolution program in the Department of Justice that emphasizes consensual resolution based on negotiation, and where appropriate, the use of mediation and other forms of dispute resolution. Within three years the number of cases where some form of dispute resolution was used was tripled.

A native of South Florida, Ms. Reno graduated from Coral Gables High School, Cornell University and Harvard Law School. Prior to her appointment as attorney general she served for 15 years as the State Attorney for Dade County. Ms. Reno is involved with issues important to her, including advocacy for children, problem solving, law enforcement, and elder justice. She lives at the family's home in South Florida.