News Release
April 10, 2019
Contact: Office of Legislative and Public Affairs
(202) 502-4500 | pubaffairs@ussc.gov
Appointment of James T. Strawley as Deputy Staff Director
WASHINGTON, D.C. ― The United States Sentencing Commission announced the appointment of James T. Strawley as Deputy Staff Director
“James Strawley brings extensive expertise, skillful analysis and tremendous commitment to this new role as Deputy Staff Director. The Commission will benefit from his positive, pragmatic and strategic approach,” said Kenneth P. Cohen, Staff Director of the Commission. “He has been an outstanding Deputy General Counsel, working collaboratively and effectively with Commissioners, agencies and all staff to advance the agency’s mission.”
Strawley has been serving as Deputy General Counsel in the Commission’s Office of General Counsel since May 2014. Among other responsibilities, he led several high priority multi-disciplinary policy teams, including the team responsible for preparing the Commission’s 2017 Overview of Mandatory Minimum Penalties in the Federal Criminal Justice System and subsequent five reports in the Mandatory Minimum series. Previously, he served as Assistant General Counsel of the Commission for three years.
Prior to his work at the Commission, Strawley served as Senior Associate of Blank Rome LLP in Philadelphia from 2008-2011, and as a Trial Attorney for the Department of Justice’s Tax Division from 2006-2008. He also worked as Special Assistant United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia. Strawley received his Juris Doctor, summa cum laude, from Villanova University Law School and a Bachelor of Arts degree from Villanova University.
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The United States Sentencing Commission, an independent agency in the judicial branch of the federal government, was organized in 1985 to develop a national sentencing policy for the federal courts. The resulting sentencing guidelines provide structure for the courts’ sentencing discretion to help ensure that similar offenders who commit similar offenses receive similar sentences.