Susan Sher was the first woman to head Chicago's law department. Mayor Daley appointed her in 1993.
Swamp: Barack Obama is taking another Chicagoan with him to the White House and this one happens to be his wife's former boss.
A transition aide said this afternoon that Susan Sher will be named associate counsel to the president. Sher is now a vice president for legal and government affairs at the University of Chicago Medical Center, where she is also general counsel.
The aide said Sher's duties will include providing legal advice to future First Lady Michelle Obama and working on legal issues associated with health care policy.
Michelle Obama had been on unpaid leave of absence at the medical center for all of 2008 as she helped her husband campaign for the presidency. She had worked there as a vice president for community and external affairs.
A little bit about Sher from Obama's
transition site:
Sher will be Associate Counsel to the President. Her duties will include providing legal advice to the First Lady and working on legal issues associated with health care policy. Sher is currently the Vice President for Legal and Governmental Affairs and General Counsel of the University of Chicago Medical Center and is responsible for all legal, government, regulatory, and community affairs at the Medical Center. She also works on governance and many other Board related issues. From 1993 through 1997 she was the Corporation Counsel for the City of Chicago, the City of Chicago's chief lawyer, reporting to the Mayor and responsible for representing the Mayor, city departments, boards, and commissions on all legal matters. She was the first Assistant Corporation Counsel from 1989-1993. Previously she was Associate General Counsel of the University of Chicago, and earlier, was a partner at Mayer Brown & Platt, specializing in Labor and Litigation. She is a cum laude graduate of Loyola University of Chicago School of Law. She is currently on the following Boards of Directors: Vice Chair of the Board of Trustees of Mt. Sinai Hospital Medical Center & Schwab Rehabilitation Hospital & Care Network; the Board of Directors of High Jump; the Board of Directors of YWCA of Greater Chicago. She is Past Chair of the University of Chicago Laboratory Schools and of The Chicago Network. She is on a variety of task forces and committees involving not-for-profit corporations and healthcare, including the Illinois Hospital Association, the Attorney General's Charitable Advisory Task Force and the Donor's Public Trust Task Force.
