Nora R. Dannehy was appointed Acting United States Attorney

United States Attorney

United States Attorneys represent the United States federal government in United States district court and United States court of appeals. There are 93 U.S. Attorneys stationed throughout the United States, Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands, Guam, and the Northern Mariana Islands...

 for the District of Connecticut

United States District Court for the District of Connecticut

The United States District Court for the District of Connecticut is the Federal district court whose jurisdiction is the state of Connecticut. The court has offices in Bridgeport, Hartford and New Haven. Appeals from the court are heard by the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit...

 on April 4, 2008. She is the first woman to hold the office, which was established in 1789. Dannehy, who graduated from Harvard Law School

Harvard Law School

Harvard Law School is one of the professional graduate schools of Harvard University. Located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, it is the oldest continually-operating law school in the United States and is home to the largest academic law library in the world. The school is routinely ranked by the U.S...

 in 1986, joined the United States Department of Justice

United States Department of Justice

The United States Department of Justice , is the United States federal executive department responsible for the enforcement of the law and administration of justice, equivalent to the justice or interior ministries of other countries.The Department is led by the Attorney General, who is nominated...

 in 1991. Prior to her appointment, she had served as Professional Responsibility Officer for the District.

On September 29 2008, Dannehy was appointed by United States Attorney General

United States Attorney General

The United States Attorney General is the head of the United States Department of Justice concerned with legal affairs and is the chief law enforcement officer of the United States government. The attorney general is considered to be the chief lawyer of the U.S. government...

 Michael B. Mukasey

Michael B. Mukasey

Michael Bernard Mukasey is a lawyer and former judge who served as the 81st Attorney General of the United States. Mukasey, an American lawyer, was appointed following the resignation of Alberto Gonzales. Mukasey also served for 18 years as a judge of the United States District Court for the...

 to continue an investigation into the dismissals of nine federal prosecutors

Dismissal of U.S. attorneys controversy

The dismissal of U.S. Attorneys controversy was initiated by the unprecedented midterm dismissal of seven United States Attorneys on December 7, 2006 by the George W. Bush administration's Department of Justice. Congressional investigations focused on whether the Department of Justice and the White...

 in 2006. She is to determine if anyone should be prosecuted following the investigation by the Inspector General and Office of Professional Responsibility

Office of Professional Responsibility

The Office of Professional Responsibility is part of the United States Department of Justice responsible for investigating attorneys employed by the DOJ who have been accused of misconduct or crimes in their professional functions...

 of the Department of Justice, which concluded that political pressure drove the dismissals of at least three federal prosecutors in 2006.

On December 10, 2100, Dannehy was named by Connecticut Attorney General elect George Jepsen

George Jepsen

George Jepsen is an American lawyer, politician, and incumbent Attorney General of Connecticut.George Jepsen was a State Senator from Connecticut's 27th Senate District, representing Stamford and part of Darien, and served in the Connecticut Senate from 1991 to 2003. During his time in the Senate,...

to the post of Deputy Attorney General of the state.