1938-
Attorney General of the United States

Beginnings.

Janet Reno was born 21 July 1938 in Miami, Florida, the daughter of Danish immigrants, both of whom were reporters. She graduated from Cornell University in 1960 and from Harvard Law School in 1963, one of only sixteen women in a class of more than five hundred. After graduation, Reno was denied a position with a major Miami law firm because she was a woman. After being in private practice for several years, she was named staff director of the Judiciary Committee of the Florida House of Representatives in 1971. In this position she helped to rewrite the state constitution and reform the court system. The following year she lost a bid for a seat in the state legislature. Reno then took a position in the state attorney's office, where she was assigned to the juvenile division. In 1978 she became the first woman...