Carlos Felipe Uriarte L’05, a distinguished Legislative Clinic alum and former Assistant Attorney General for the Office of Legislative Affairs in the Biden Administration, returned to Penn Carey Law as the 2025 Public Interest Week Honorary Fellow. In February, Uriarte engaged with students, faculty, and Law School leadership, reflecting on his career and his journey—from being the grandson of immigrants from Central and South America to shaping national policy at the highest levels of government.
Hosted by the Toll Public Interest Center (TPIC), Public Interest Week brings together members of the local, national, and international public interest community to explore a timely theme. Throughout the week, student pro bono projects, student groups, and institutional partners lead engaging discussions, panels, and networking opportunities, strengthening dialogue on pressing public interest issues. As part of this annual event, TPIC selects a distinguished leader in public service as the Public Interest Week Honorary Fellow, to share insights from their career and the impact of their work.
During his visit, Uriarte met with students in small group discussions, offering perspectives from his extensive experience in public service. The day culminated in the Honorary Fellow Dinner, held in the Levy Conference Center, where Uriarte delivered remarks on the role of law and policy in driving meaningful change.
Uriarte’s Impactful Career Path
Uriarte credits the skills he built at Penn with helping him to make an impact on public policy. After law school, Uriarte pursued a clerkship for the Honorable Juan R. Sánchez of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania and two stints in private practice. Still harboring an interest in government from his time in the Legislative Clinic — and inspired by friends working on Capitol Hill—he soon joined California Congresswoman Judy Chu’s team, supporting her work on the House Judiciary Committee.
That move opened the door to a career at the intersection of law, policy, and investigations. In the following years, Uriarte worked for the lead Democrat on the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, Maryland Congressman Elijah Cummings. Cummings served as an inspirational role model and mentor to Uriarte, championing public service and the importance of Congressional oversight in ensuring an efficient and effective federal government. Uriarte took those lessons to heart as he transitioned to roles at the Departments of the Interior and Justice during the Obama Administration.
In May 2022, recognizing the value of those experiences, President Joe Biden nominated him to lead the Department of Justice’s Office of Legislative Affairs as Assistant Attorney General.
“The Office of Legislative Affairs has a specific role to play in shaping the Department’s policy and legislative priorities,” Uriarte said. “We worked with the Department and Congress to draft legislation, communicate with members and their staffs in support of Administration or Departmental positions, provide subject matter expertise, help prepare witnesses for hearings, and respond to oversight requests.”
Uriarte’s deep understanding of congressional oversight, as well as the DOJ’s role in helping to preserve constitutional democracy through its long history of keeping prosecutorial decisions separate from political interference, uniquely suited him for the position. As Assistant Attorney General, he acted as a translator between DOJ and Congress on a range of issues—from high-profile oversight matters to national security legislation. As Uriarte described it, the position required him to wear several different hats, sometimes over the course of a single day. He spent much of his time engaging with leaders both on Capitol Hill and within the DOJ, ensuring that the Department understood the priorities and goals of various Congressional stakeholders and that Congress understood the impact of their work on the Department and its mission to protect the American people.
“I really enjoyed the proactive problem-solving and strategy development that was necessary to be successful in the role,” Uriarte said. “It was a remarkable opportunity to understand how the Department operates and thinks about oversight, not only in how Congress and the Executive Branch interact but also as a way to improve the Department through transparency.”
Under Uriarte’s leadership, the Department saw success on Capitol Hill, including the reauthorization of Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act. A contentious issue across Washington, the Department worked with a group of bipartisan lawmakers to reform the national security tool while protecting civil liberties and keeping Americans safe. That effort, he noted, underscored how substantive progress often depended on collaboration across legislative chambers and party lines.
Discussing the far-reaching implications of his work, Uriarte emphasized that the DOJ played a crucial role in interpreting constitutional questions.
“When the Attorney General swore me in, my oath opened with a pledge to support and defend the Constitution,” Uriarte said. “For many of my colleagues at the Department, that commitment meant protecting the rule of law through criminal prosecutions or defending the executive branch in civil litigation. As Assistant Attorney General, that meant ensuring the separation of powers, the principle at the core of our constitutional design that protects Americans’ liberty today and for future generations.”
An Interdisciplinary Foundation for Law and Policy
Uriarte has dedicated most of his career to public service, a path that began during his time at Penn. As a student, his first opportunity to engage with the legislative process came through the Legislative Clinic. Directed by Practice Professor of Law Lou Rulli, the clinic is part of the Gittis Legal Clinics, where students develop and apply their legal skills through practical experience under the guidance of experienced faculty.
“With the clinic, I had my first role on Capitol Hill as an intern for the Senate Judiciary Committee, under the then-Chairman Arlen Specter,” Uriarte said. “That was my first window into the ‘sausage-making’ of Washington, D.C., and partly why, after law school, I ended up back in D.C.”
He recalled first “feeling like a D.C. lawyer” as he traveled back and forth between Philadelphia and Washington to complete his work at the Senate. He noted that breaking into the D.C. policymaking space can be financially and logistically challenging for many law students and young lawyers. By providing both the opportunity for meaningful work on the Hill and financial support for his travel, Penn Carey Law opened a door that helped launch his career in public service.
Another key factor that attracted Uriarte to Penn was its interdisciplinary approach to legal education. As a student, Uriarte appreciated the ability to take courses outside of the Law School and engage in conversations in Law School classrooms that transcended the bounds of traditional legal education.
“The interdisciplinary nature of the Penn curriculum is such a great educational background for someone interested in this intersection of law and policy because we are asking multiple questions simultaneously,” Uriarte said. “Seeing the law through the lens of history, political science, or economics helps you develop problem-solving skills to analyze what the law says, what it enables, and the underlying problem it is actually trying to solve.”
Thriving in a Welcoming Environment
Uriarte appeared before the Senate Judiciary Committee as part of the confirmation process as part of the Senate’s important “advice and consent” role in presidential nominations. Uriarte reflected that had someone asked him as a law student if he would ever be comfortable telling his story in such a public way, he would have been highly uncomfortable with the idea. However, he credited the support he found in student groups and Law School leadership with helping him build confidence in his sense of self.
“A lot of the experiences I had at Penn—in particular, the supportive environment for students—helped me be able to see my experiences as a member of the Latino and LGBTQ+ communities as a strength and not a weakness.”
“During my Senate confirmation hearing, I talked about my upbringing and being the grandson of immigrants from Central and South America. I was able to introduce my partner and felt very proud and comfortable doing so in a way that I couldn’t have imagined when I was younger. I don’t think I could have done that without that supportive environment that Penn fostered,” Uriarte said. “It was a very special part of the Law School experience.”
Original source can be found here.