Alumni-in-Residence: Sign Up for Office Hours with Julia Rhodes ’90 of the Civil Rights Law Practice Group in the Office of General Counsel, Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)
Come meet Julia Rhodes ’90 for an informal, 1-on-1 conversation about her work and career, as well as your own aspirations.
Julia is currently the Assistant General Counsel for the Civil Rights Law Practice Group in the Environmental Protection Agency's Office of General Counsel. Overall, she has served the federal government as an attorney for 26 years with stints in each of the three branches of the government.
You can ask Julia a wide range of questions. After reading her bio below, what do you want to know about her, her work, or her career path that will help you gain clarity in your own career exploration or decisions? She’s well-positioned to answer questions about: the variety of her work as an attorney for the federal government, what federal employers are looking for when they evaluate candidates for jobs, the joys and realities of working for the federal government, her experience living in D.C., her experience at Amherst and in law school, and why she chooses to run up and down the steps of the Supreme Court with her dog as part of her regular exercise routine!
Julia graduated from Amherst with degrees in English and Political Science. One of her favorite memories from her time at Amherst was an egg-roll-making party organized by one of her roommates! Her first job post-graduation / pre-law school was at Bed, Bath, & Beyond.
Since she graduated from William and Mary law school in 1993, she has worked with the judicial branch as a Staff Attorney for the U.S. Court of Appeals in the Third Circuit, the Executive branch at three different federal agencies (Department of Transportation, Federal Aviation Administration, and the EPA, where she has worked since 2011). Her current portfolio includes providing legal counsel about complaints of employment discrimination, EPA financial assistance in violation of federal non-discrimination statutes, and constitutional issues.
While working at the EPA, she was selected to be a Brookings Institute Fellow and detailed to the professional office of a Senator on the Judiciary Committee, where she was fortunate to explore completely new areas of law, including immigration. Having spent a significant portion of her career defending management’s employment and personnel decisions, as well as having counseled neutral decision makers regarding employment discrimination complaints, she believes that the federal government can do -- and often does -- great things, and federal attorneys can have a positive impact.
Submit your resume today to sign up for a time slot!
To book appointments instantly, students must submit a Loeb Center-approved resume. (Learn about this approval process here.) To book without an approved resume, please upload / submit your pending document, then e-mail careers@amherst.edu with your availability.