News Release

January 8, 2016

Contact: Office of Legislative and Public Affairs

(202) 502-4500 | pubaffairs@ussc.gov

 

UNITED STATES SENTENCING COMMISSION NAMES KATHLEEN COOPER GRILLI GENERAL COUNSEL

WASHINGTON, D.C. ― The United States Sentencing Commission announced the appointment of Kathleen Cooper Grilli as its General Counsel. Grilli has served the Commission as Deputy General Counsel since 2007, having joined the agency as an assistant general counsel in 2003. She succeeds former General Counsel Kenneth P. Cohen, who was named Staff Director of the Commission in April 2013.

“Kathleen Grilli is an excellent choice to lead the legal and policy development work of the Commission,” said Judge Patti B. Saris, chair of the Commission. “The knowledge she has gained through extensive and diverse experience with challenging federal sentencing issues, combined with the energy that she has brought to the Office of General Counsel for the past decade, will serve the Commission well.”

During Grilli’s tenure at the Commission, she has played an instrumental role in the drafting of key Commission publications including the Commission’s 2006 report to Congress on the impact of the Booker decision on the federal sentencing guidelines and its comprehensive 2011 report to Congress on mandatory minimum penalties. In addition, Grilli co-chaired the Commission’s symposium on economic crime last month and a symposium on alternatives to incarceration in 2008, and she has conducted training on white collar crime and the organizational guidelines at numerous Commission training events.

Prior to joining the Commission in 2003, Grilli served as staff counsel at the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit, in Richmond, Virginia. Previously she worked in private practice and as an assistant federal public defender in Miami, Florida. Grilli holds a bachelor’s degree from Florida International University and a juris doctor from University of Miami School of Law.

The U.S. 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, which went into effect November 1, 1987, structure the courts’ sentencing discretion to ensure that similar offenders who commit similar offenses receive a similar sentence. The Commission has ongoing responsibility to monitor and amend the guidelines.

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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.