List of Penn Law School alumni

This is a list of notable people affiliated with the University of Pennsylvania Law School by virtue of attending or graduating from Penn Law. For a list of notable people who matriculated at, graduated from, taught at or governed the University of Pennsylvania as a whole, see List of University of Pennsylvania people

Law and government

U.S. government

President of The United States

The 3 Presidents who were awarded honorary doctorate of law degrees by Penn (in chronological order of being granted the honorary doctorate degrees) are:

• George Washington, Honorary Doctor of Law, Class of 1783: 1st president of the United States
• Franklin Delano Roosevelt, Honorary Doctor of Law, Class of 1940: 32nd president of the United States
• Dwight David Eisenhower, Honorary Doctor of Law, Class of 1947: 34th president of the United States

Executive branch

• Philip Werner Amram, Asst. Attorney General of the United States, 1939–42
• Marshall Jordan Breger, chairman, Administrative Conference of the United States; United States Solicitor of Labor
• William H. Brown, III, chairman, EEOC
• Jonathan Z. Cannon, EPA Deputy Administrator, 2009–
• Gilbert F. Casellas, chairman, EEOC and General Counsel of the Air Force
• Walter Joseph "Jay" Clayton III (Penn Law Class of 1993), chair of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, May 4, 2017, through December 23, 2020
• Josiah E. DuBois Jr., U.S. State Department official, instrumental in Holocaust rescue
• Thomas K. Finletter (Penn Law Class of 1920): United States Secretary of the Air Force 1950–1953; United States Ambassador to NATO 1961–65
• Lindley M. Garrison (Penn Law Class of 1885, LLB): served as secretary of war under President Woodrow Wilson (1913-1916) U.S.
• William B. Gray, United States Attorney for Vermont, 1977-1981
• Earl G. Harrison, Commissioner of the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service, 1942–44
• Henry Hoyt: Penn Law class of 1881: US solicitor general, 1903–1909 tor.org/stable/3307164?seq=1</ref>
• Shira Perlmutter (Penn Law Class of 1983) is the 14th Register of Copyrights and previously was the (a) chief policy officer and director for international affairs at the United States Patent and Trademark Office and (b) first Associate Register for Policy and International Affairs at the U.S. Copyright Office
• Melissa Rogers: Penn Law class of 1991- director of the White House Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives under President Joe Biden
• Heath Tarbert Nominee for Assistant Secretary of the Treasury for International Markets and Development in the U.S. (2017)
• Katherine "Kathi" Vidal (nee Kelly) (Penn Law Class of 1996) serves as Under Secretary of Commerce for Intellectual Property and Director of the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO)
• Robert J. Walker, U.S. Secretary of the Treasury, 1840–45
• George W. Wickersham, Attorney General of the United States, 1909–1913; instrumental in the breakup of Standard Oil; President of the Council on Foreign Relations (1933–36)
• George Washington Woodruff, Class of 1895, Acting U.S. Secretary of the Interior under President Theodore Roosevelt

Federal Supreme Court

• Owen J. Roberts, Justice, Supreme Court of the United States
• James Wilson, Justice, Supreme Court of the United States (Hon. LL.D); Penn's first law professor (1790-92); signer of the Declaration of Independence, and major participant in first and subsequent drafts of U.S. Constitution, which he signed (becoming one of only six people to sign both documents)

Federal Circuit Courts

• Arlin Adams, Penn Law class of 1947, Judge, U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit, 1969–1987
• George M. Dallas (1839-1917), Penn Law Professor of Torts and Evidence: Judge, U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit, 1892–1909
• John Warren Davis, Penn Law class of 1906, former judge for both the U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey and the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit
• James Hunter III, Penn Law class of 1939, Judge, U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit, 1971–1989
• Harry Ellis Kalodner, Penn Law class of 1917, Chief Judge, U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit, 1946–1977
• Phyllis A. Kravitch (August 23, 1920 – June 15, 2017) Penn Law class of 1943, Judge, U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit
• John Bayard McPherson Penn Law Professor, Judge, U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit, 1912–1919
• Max Rosenn, Penn Law class of 1932, Judge, U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit, 1970–2006
• Patty Shwartz, Penn Law class of 1986, Judge, United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit, assumed office April 10, 2013
• Dolores Sloviter, Penn Law Class of 1956, Judge, U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit
• Joseph Whitaker Thompson, Judge, U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit, 1931–1946
• Helene White, Penn Law class of 1978, Judge, U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit (Regular: 2008 - 2022) (Senior: 2022- )

Federal District Courts

• Guy K. Bard, Judge, U.S. Dist. Court, E.D. Pa.
• Harvey Bartle III, Judge, U.S. Dist. Court, E.D. Pa.
• Michael Baylson, Judge, U.S. Dist. Court, E.D. Pa.
• Ralph C. Body, Judge, U.S. Dist. Court, E.D. Pa., 1965–73
• Raymond J. Broderick, Judge, U.S. Dist. Court, E.D. Pa.
• Margo Kitsy Brodie, Judge, U.S. Dist. Court, E.D. NY
• Allison D. Burroughs, Judge District of Massachusetts
• A. Richard Caputo, Judge, U.S. Dist. Court, M.D. Pa.
• Tanya S. Chutkan, class of 1987, Judge, U.S. Dist. Court, D.C.
• Rudolph Contreras, Judge, U.S. Dist. Court, D.C.
• James Harry Covington, Judge, U.S. Dist. Court, D.C.; Co-founder of Covington & Burling
• Stewart Dalzell (September 18, 1943 – February 18, 2019), who graduated from the University of Pennsylvania, Wharton School of Business with a Bachelor of Science degree in 1965 and received his Juris Doctor from the University of Pennsylvania Law School in 1969, was a United States district judge of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania.
• John Morgan Davis, Judge, U.S. Dist. Court, E.D. Pa., 1964–84
• John Warren Davis Penn Law Class of 1906, former judge for both the U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey and the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit
• Paul S. Diamond, Judge, U.S. Dist. Court, E.D. Pa.
• John William Ditter Jr., Judge, U.S. Dist. Court, E.D. Pa.
• Herbert Allan Fogel, Judge, U.S. Dist. Court, E.D. Pa., 1973–78
• Jennifer L. Hall, Penn Law Class of 2004: United States district judge of the United States District Court for the District of Delaware since 2024 who previously served as a United States magistrate judge of the same court from 2019 to 2024
• James Halpern, Judge, U.S. Tax Court, 1990–2005
• Daniel Henry Huyett III, Judge, U.S. Dist. Court, E.D. Pa., 1970–98
• Abdul Kallon, Judge, U.S. Dist. Court, N.D. Al.
• William Huntington Kirkpatrick, Judge, U.S. Dist. Court, E.D. Pa, 1927–58
• John C. Knox, Judge, U.S. Dist. Court, S.D.N.Y., 1948–55
• Charles William Kraft Jr., Judge, U.S. Dist. Court, E.D. Pa., 1956–2002
• Robert Lowe Kunzig, Judge, U.S. Court of Claims, 1971–82
• Caleb Rodney Layton III, Judge, U.S. Dist. Court, D.E., 1957–88
• Paul Conway Leahy, Judge, U.S. Dist. Court, D.E., 1942–66
• James Russell Leech, Judge, U.S. Tax Court, 1932–52
• Joseph Simon Lord III, Judge, U.S. Dist. Court, E.D. Pa., 1961–92
• Alfred Leopold Luongo, Judge, U.S. Dist. Court, E.D. Pa., 1961–86
• Thomas Ambrose Masterson, Judge, U.S. Dist. Court, E.D. Pa, 1967–73
• James Focht McClure Jr., Judge, U.S. Dist. Court, M.D. Pa.
• Barron Patterson McCune, Judge, U.S. Dist. Court, W.D. Pa.
• Joseph Leo McGlynn Jr., Judge, U.S. Dist. Court, E.D. Pa., 1974–99
• Gerald Austin McHugh Jr., Judge, U.S. Dist. Court, E.D. Pa., 2014–
• Charles Louis McKeehan, Judge, U.S. Dist. Court, E.D. Pa., 1923–25
• Roderick R. McKelvie, Judge, U.S. Dist. Court, D.E., 1991–2002
• Mary A. McLaughlin, Judge, U.S. Dist. Court, E.D. Pa.
• John W. Murphy, Judge, U.S. Dist. Court, M.D. Pa., 1946–62
• Thomas Newman O'Neill Jr., Judge, U.S. Dist. Court, E.D. Pa.,
• Peter Delome Overfield (April 12, 1874 – July 1, 1959) Penn Law class of 1900: Judge for District Court for the Territory of Alaska (serving Fairbanks, Valdez and Anchorage) appointed in 1909 by President William Howard Taft: All-American college football player and professional football player for 1901 Homestead Library & Athletic Club football team
• Gene E. K. Pratter, Judge, U.S. Dist. Court, E.D. Pa.
• Arthur Raymond Randolph, Judge, U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit
• Sue Lewis Robinson, Judge, U.S. Dist. Court, D.E.
• Juan Ramon Sánchez, Judge, U.S. Dist. Court, E.D. Pa.
• Ralph Francis Scalera, Judge, U.S. Dist. Court, W.D. Pa.
• Allen G. Schwartz, Judge, U.S. Dist. Court, S.D.N.Y., 1993–2003
• Murray Merle Schwartz, Chief Judge, U.S. Dist. Court, D.E, 1974–
• Norma Levy Shapiro, Judge, U.S. Dist. Court, E.D. Pa.
• Jerome B. Simandle, Judge, U.S. Dist. Court N.J.
• Charles Swayne, Judge, U.S. Dist. Court, N.D. Florida, 1890–1907
• Donald West VanArtsdalen, Judge, U.S. Dist. Court, E.D. Pa., 1970–85
• Jay Waldman, Judge, U.S. Dist. Court, E.D. Pa., 1988–2003
• Gerald Joseph Weber, Judge, U.S. Dist. Court, W.D. Pa.
• Harold Kenneth Wood, Judge, U.S. Dist. Court, E.D. Pa, 1959–71

Other Federal Courts

• Bruce E. Reinhart (Penn Law Class of 1987) Magistrate Judge Southern District of Florida

Legislative branch (US)

US Senate

• Joseph Maull Carey, U. S. Senator from Wyoming, 1890–1895; Governor of Wyoming, 1911–1915; Wyoming delegate to the U.S. Congress, 1885–1890, and Justice on Wyoming Supreme Court
• Joseph Sill Clark, U.S. Senator from Pennsylvania, 1957–69
• George Wharton Pepper, U.S. Senator from Pennsylvania, chronicler of the Senate

US House of Representatives

• Ephraim Leister Acker, LL.B., (Penn Law Class of 1886) and M.D., (Penn Med Class of 1852): elected as a Democrat to Pennsylvania representative to the Forty-second Congress (March 4, 1871 – March 3, 1873)
• Wilbur L. Adams, Delaware representative to the U.S. Congress, 1933–35
• George F. Brumm, Pennsylvania representative to the U.S. Congress, 1929–34
• Matt Cartwright, (born May 1, 1961) Penn Law Class of 1986: first elected in 2012, for term starting in January 2013, as a member of the Democratic Party, to the United States representative from Pennsylvania's 8th congressional district, which district was numbered as the 17th district from 2013 through 2019 (and includes a large swath of northeastern Pennsylvania, anchored by Scranton, Wilkes-Barre, and the Poconos) when he defeated 10-term incumbent Blue Dog Tim Holden, the then Dean of the Pennsylvania Congressional delegation, in the Democratic primary and went on to defeat Republican Laureen Cummings in the general election
• Bernard G. Caulfield, Illinois representative to the U.S. Congress, 1874–77
• E. Wallace Chadwick, Pennsylvania representative to the U.S. Congress, 1947–49
• Joel Cook, Pennsylvania representative to the U.S. Congress, 1907–11
• James Harry Covington, Maryland representative to the U.S. Congress, 1909–14
• Willard S. Curtin: (Class of 1932) Pennsylvania representative to the U.S. Congress, 1957–1967, having been elected as a Republican to the Eighty-fifth and to the four succeeding Congresses (and his election triumphs included defeating noted author James A. Michener in the 1962 election) and respected for voting in favor of the Civil Rights Acts of 1957, 1960, and 1964, as well as the 24th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution and the Voting Rights Act of 1965
• John Burrwood Daly, Pennsylvania Representative to the U.S. Congress, 1939–35
• James Henderson Duff, U.S. Senator from Pennsylvania, 1951–57
• Clare G. Fenerty, Pennsylvania representative to the U.S. Congress, 1935–37
• Oliver Walter Frey, Pennsylvania representative to the U.S. Congress, 1933–39
• Benjamin Golder, Pennsylvania representative to the U.S. Congress, 1925–33
• George Scott Graham, Pennsylvania representative to the U.S. Congress, 1913–31
• Francis Hopkinson, New Jersey delegate to the Continental Congress; Signer of the Declaration of Independence, (1737–1791)
• Everett Kent, Pennsylvania representative to the U.S. Congress, 1923–25, 1927–29
• William Huntington Kirkpatrick, Pennsylvania representative to the U.S. Congress, 1921–23
• Conor Lamb (born June 27, 1984) Penn Law Class of 2009: a member of Democratic Party who was elected in January 2019 to serve as U.S. Representative from Pennsylvania's 17th congressional district (a district serving most of the northwestern suburbs of Pittsburgh), but was first elected to Congress in March 2018 from the neighboring 18th district in a special election that attracted national attention
• James Russell Leech, Pennsylvania representative to the U.S. Congress, 1927–32
• William Eckart Lehman, Pennsylvania representative to the U.S. Congress, 1860–62
• John Thomas Lenahan, Pennsylvania representative to the U.S. Congress, 1907–09
• Lloyd Lowndes Jr., Maryland representative to the U.S. Congress, 1873–75
• James McDevitt Magee, Pennsylvania representative to the U.S. Congress, 1923–27
• Levi Maish, Pennsylvania representative to the U.S. Congress, 1875–79 and 1887–91
• Joseph M. McDade, Pennsylvania representative to the U.S. Congress, 1963–99
• Thomas C. McGrath Jr., New Jersey representative to the U.S. Congress
• Edward de Veaux Morrell, Pennsylvania representative to the U.S. Congress, 1900–07
• John Murphy, Pennsylvania representative to the U.S. Congress, 1943–46
• Leonard Myers, Pennsylvania representative to the U.S. Congress, 1863–75
• Robert N.C. Nix Sr., Pennsylvania representative to the U.S. Congress, 1958–79
• Cyrus Maffet Palmer, Pennsylvania representative to the U.S. Congress, 1927–29
• Albert G. Rutherford, Pennsylvania representative to the U.S. Congress, 1937–41
• Leon Sacks, Pennsylvania representative to the U.S. Congress, 1937–41
• Mary Gay Scanlon (born August 30, 1959) Penn Law Class of 1984: a Democratic Party member of the United States House of Representatives, representing Pennsylvania's 5th congressional district, (based in Delaware County, a mostly suburban county south of Philadelphia, and includes a sliver of Philadelphia itself) but spent the final two months of 2018 as the member for Pennsylvania's 7th congressional district as she was elected to both positions on November 6, 2018, in a special election in the old 7th to serve out the term of her predecessor, Pat Meehan and in a regular election for a full two-year term in the new 5th, was sworn in as the member for the 7th on November 13, 2018, and transferred to the 5th on January 3, 2019
• Hardie Scott, Pennsylvania representative to the U.S. Congress, 1947–53
• John Roger Kirkpatrick Scott, Pennsylvania representative to the U.S. Congress, 1915–19
• William Biddle Shepard, North Carolina representative to the U.S. Congress, 1829–37
• Edward J. Stack, Florida representative to the U.S. Congress, 1979–81
• William I. Troutman, Pennsylvania representative to the U.S. Congress, 1943–45
• William H. Wilson, Pennsylvania representative to the U.S. Congress, 1935–37
• Charles A. Wolverton, New Jersey representative to the U.S. Congress, 1927–59

Diplomatic

Penn Law Alumni have served as (a) United States ambassadors to 11 different nations and (b) foreign Ambassadors to 7 different nations (as detailed below):

• George Charles Bruno, United States Ambassador to Belize (1994–1997)
• David L. Cohen (Class of 1981): Nominated on July 21, 2021, to be United States Ambassador to Canada
• Thomas K. Finletter (Penn Law Class of 1920): United States Ambassador to NATO 1961–65
• Lloyd Carpenter Griscom (November 4, 1872 – February 8, 1959) (Penn Law Class of 1891, LLB, and Penn Law Class of 1907, Doctor of Laws): US Ambassador to (a) Persia, (b) Japan, (c) Brazil, and (d) Italy
• Charles A. Heimbold, Jr. (1933 -) (Penn Law Class of 1960 (LLB converted to JD in 1975): served as United States Ambassador to Sweden (2001 -2004)
• Morton Charles Hill (diplomat) (April 28, 1936 – March 27, 2021) (Penn Law Class of 1960, JD, Penn Graduate School Class of 1961, MA) Yale University Diplomat in Residence and Lecturer and United States State Department Foreign Service diplomat
• Alfredo Toro Hardy (Penn Law LLM Class of 1979), former Ambassador of Venezuela to the United States, the United Kingdom, Spain, Brazil, Chile, Ireland and Singapore and former director of Venezuela's Diplomatic Academy
• Stuart E. Jones, Class of 1986, United States Ambassador to Iraq from 2014 to 2016, and United States Ambassador to Jordan from July 21, 2011, to July 28, 2014.
• Martin J. Silverstein, United States Ambassador to Uruguay
• Faith Ryan Whittlesey, United States Ambassador to Switzerland
• Fisseha Yimer (August 2, 1940) Penn Law LLM Class of 1972: Permanent Representative of Ethiopia to the United Nations in (a) New York (from 2000) (b) Geneva (from 1996 -2000) and (v) Vienna (from 1992 - 1996); Judge on the High Court of Ethiopia (1975)

State government

Executive

• John Cromwell Bell Sr., Class of 1884 (father of Penn Law Alumni, former Pennsylvania governor and chief justice of Pennsylvania Supreme Court John C. Bell, Jr. and former NFL commissioner DeBenneville Bert Bell and son-in-law of Penn Law alumnus and former United States House of Representatives member Leonard Myers) District Attorney of Philadelphia (1903–1907) and 49th attorney general of Pennsylvania (January 17, 1911 – January 19, 1915); also served as director of Penn's athletic program, chairman of its football committee, and from 1911 onwards, was a trustee where he helped found the NCAA
• John C. Bell, Jr., Class of 1917, (October 25, 1892 – March 18, 1974) was the 18th lieutenant governor of Pennsylvania (1943–1947) before becoming the 33rd and shortest-serving governor of Pennsylvania, serving for nineteen (19) days in 1947, 1937–37
• Raymond J. Broderick (May 29, 1914 – August 6, 2000) Penn Law Class of 1935: Lt. Governor of Pennsylvania
• Francis Shunk Brown (June 9, 1858 – May 6, 1940) Penn Law Class of 1879 50th Pennsylvania Attorney General, January 19, 1915, to January 21, 1919
• Joseph M. Carey, Class of 1864, Governor of Wyoming, 1911–1915
• Hampton L. Carson, (February 21, 1852 – July 18, 1929) Penn College Class of 1971, Penn Law Class of 1874: served as (a) Professor of Penn Law School, 1895 - 1901, (b) Attorney General of Pennsylvania, 1903 - 1907 (appointed by Governor Samuel Pennypacker) and (c) president of the American Bar Association, 1919 - 1921
• John Morgan Davis, Lt. Governor of Pennsylvania, 1959–63
• Paula Dow, Attorney General of New Jersey, 2010–2012
• John Hanger, Secretary of the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection, 2008–2011; Commissioner of the Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission, 1993–1998
• James Henderson Duff, Governor of Pennsylvania, 1947–51
• William F. Hyland, Attorney General of New Jersey, 1974–1978
• Lloyd Lowndes, Governor of Maryland, 1896–1900
• John G. McCullough, Attorney General of California during the American Civil War; Governor of Vermont, 1902–1904
• Charles R. Miller, Governor of Delaware, 1913–17
• Samuel W. Pennypacker, Governor of Pennsylvania, 1903–07
• David Samson, Attorney General of New Jersey, 2002–03
• William A. Schnader, Attorney General of Pennsylvania (1930–34); a drafter of the Uniform Commercial Code

Judicial - State Supreme Court

• Alexander F. Barbieri (July 6, 1907 – January 1993) Penn College Class of 1929, Penn Law Class of 1932: Justice of the Pennsylvania Supreme Court and Judge of Commonwealth Court of Pennsylvania- one of the original members of the Commonwealth Court in 1970 who was then appointed to the Pennsylvania Supreme Court in 1971 (but was defeated for election in 1971 and returned to the Commonwealth Court as a senior judge (1983 to 1993)
• John C. Bell Jr. (October 25, 1892 – March 18, 1974), Class of 1917, was a Justice of the Pennsylvania Supreme Court (1950–1972), serving as Chief Justice from 1961 to 1972
• Joseph M. Carey served as Justice on Wyoming Supreme Court (also Mayor of Cheyenne, Wyoming, U.S. Attorney for the Territory of Wyoming, Governor of Wyoming, U.S. Representative for Wyoming, U.S. Senator for Wyoming)
• James Harry Covington, Chief Justice of the District of Columbia Supreme Court (and co-founder of Covington & Burling)
• Arthur J. England, Jr. (BS in Economics, 1955 from Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania and JD, magna cum laude, 1961) from University of Pennsylvania School of Law) served on the Florida Supreme Court (1975–1981) and was the Chief Justice of the Florida Supreme Court (1978–1980)
• Richard L. Gabriel, Class of 1987, (born March 3, 1962) was appointed in 2015 (and continues to serve after being retained in 2018) as an Associate Justice of the Colorado Supreme Court. Justice Gabriel previously served on the Colorado Court of Appeals from 2008 to 2015
• Randy J. Holland, Justice of the Delaware Supreme Court, 1986–present (left bench in 2017)
• William H. Lamb, (born 1940) Penn Law Class of 1965: former justice of the Pennsylvania Supreme Court (January 29, 2003, until January of 2004)
• Daniel J. Layton, Chief Justice of the Delaware Supreme Court, 1933–45 and Attorney General of Delaware, 1932–33
• James T. Mitchell (November 9, 1834 – July 4, 1915) Penn Law Class of 1860: Associate Justice (1889 to 1903) and Chief Justice (1903 to 1910) of the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania
• Robert N. C. Nix Jr., Chief Justice of the Pennsylvania Supreme Court, 1984–96; the first African-American Chief Justice of any state's highest court; Justice of the Pa. Supreme Court, 1971–84
• Joseph B. Perskie (1885–1957; class of 1907), Associate Justice of the New Jersey Supreme Court from 1933 to 1947.
• Deborah T. Poritz, Chief Justice of the New Jersey Supreme Court, 1996–2006
• Horace Stern, Chief Justice of the Pennsylvania Supreme Court, 1952–56
• Leo E. Strine Jr., class of 1988, Chief Justice, Delaware Supreme Court (left bench in 2019)
• Karen L. Valihura (Penn Law Class of 1986) Justice of the Delaware Supreme Court (appointed June 6, 2014)

Judicial - Other State Judges

• Thomas J. Baldrige, Pennsylvania Attorney General, Judge and President Judge of Superior Court of Pennsylvania
• Harold L. Ervin, Pennsylvania Superior Court judge from 1954 to 1967.
• Gerald Garson, NY Supreme Court Justice, convicted of bribery
• Carl Goldstein (College Class of 1960 and Penn Law Class of 1963) Retired Judge, the New Castle Delaware Superior Court (Full time: 1990 to 2003; part time 2003 to 2013)
• Raymond Headen (Penn Law Class of 1987), Judge on the 8th District Court of Appeals of Ohio
• Joseph L. Kun, Judge, Court of Common Pleas of Philadelphia.
• Peter B. Krauser, Chief Judge on the Court of Special Appeals for the state of Maryland and past Chair of the Maryland Democratic Party
• Steve P. Leskinen, Judge Pennsylvania Court of Common Pleas (Fayette County)
• Louis E. Levinthal, Judge of the Pennsylvania Court of Common Pleas (Philadelphia County)
• Albert Dutton MacDade, Pennsylvania State Senator, 1921–1929, Judge Pennsylvania Court of Common Pleas (Delaware County), 1942–1948
• John W. Noble, Vice Chancellor, Delaware Court of Chancery

Legislative - State

• Joseph F.M. Baldi (1893- 1970) Wharton class of 1916 (B.S. in economics) Penn Law class of 2019 (did not graduate): elected and served as a Republican in the Pennsylvania House of Representatives (1929 through 1933)
• Harry W. Bass, (Penn Law Class of 1896) first African American member of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives, 1911–1914
• John C. Grady, (Penn Law Class of 1870) Pennsylvania Senator for the 7th district from 1877 to 1903 and President Pro Tempore of the Pennsylvania Senate from 1887 to 1890
• Bernard M. Gross May 22, 1935 - September 20, 2024 (Penn Law Class of 1959, Wharton Undergrad Class of 1956) Pennsylvania House of Representatives 200th District (1969-1970)
• Bruce Marks (Penn Law Class of 1984) Pennsylvania Senator for 2nd senatorial district from 1994 to 1995

Other

• David Norcross, past Chairman of the New Jersey Republican State Committee

City government

• Joseph M. Carey served as the 14th Mayor of Cheyenne, Wyoming (also U.S. Attorney for the Territory of Wyoming, Governor of Wyoming, U.S. Representative for Wyoming, U.S. Senator for Wyoming, and Justice on Wyoming Supreme Court)
• John Cromwell Bell, Sr., Class of 1884, was District Attorney of Philadelphia (1903–1907)
• Joseph S. Clark, Mayor of Philadelphia, 1952–56
• Mark Farrell: (Class of 2001) Mayor of San Francisco in 2018
• Shirley Franklin: Mayor of Atlanta, 2002–10
• Judith Flanagan Kennedy (Class of 1987) was the 56th mayor of Lynn, Massachusetts (2010 through 2018) who launched a write-in campaign for mayor after the death of candidate Patrick J. McManus and defeated incumbent Edward J. Clancy, Jr. on November 3, 2009, and became Lynn's first female mayor and in 2013 was elected to a second, four-year term.
• Oscar Goodman, Mayor of Las Vegas, 1999–2011
• Henry W. Sawyer, Philadelphia City Council, 1956–1960
• Ken Trujillo (Penn Law Class of 1986) served as Philadelphia City Solicitor and an Assistant U.S. Attorney winning a historic settlement against gun manufacturers

Non-United States government

Politics

• Donald Duke, former Commissioner for Finance of Cross River State, Nigeria; former presidential candidate; Governor of Cross River State, Nigeria (1999–2007)
• John Wallace de Beque Farris, (Penn Law Class of 1900) member of the senate of Canada (1937–1970); Attorney General of Vancouver (1917–1920)
• Raul Roco, former presidential candidate; Secretary of Education in the Philippines (Fellow)

Judicial (Supreme Court)

• Sir Ronald Wilson Penn Law LLM class of 1957, from May 21, 1979 through February 13, 1989, was 28th Justice of the High Court of Australia, the highest court in the nation
• Gerard Hogan Penn Law LLM class of 1982, since 2021 has served as a justice on the Supreme Court of Ireland, and previously served as Advocate General of the European Court of Justice from 2018 to 2021 and the Court of Appeal of Ireland from 2014 to 2018obtained a John F. Kennedy memorial scholarship to study for an LLM, which he earned in 1982 from the University of Pennsylvania Law School.
• Yvonne Mokgoro, Penn Law LLM class of 1990, former Justice of the Constitutional Court of South Africa, the Supreme Constitutional Court of South Africa
• Fisseha Yimer (August 2, 1940) Penn Law LLM class of 1972: Judge on the High Court of Ethiopia (1975), from May of 2000 the Permanent Representative of Ethiopia to the United Nations in (a) New York (May of 2000 to), (b) Geneva (from 1996 until 2,000, and (c) in Vienna (from 1991 to 1996)

Diplomatic

• Alfredo Toro Hardy (Penn Law LLM Class of 1979), former Ambassador of Venezuela to the United States, the United Kingdom, Spain, Brazil, Chile, Ireland and Singapore
• Andrea Canepari, Ambassador of Italy to the Dominican Republic, where in 2017, he reopened the Embassy of Italy and inaugurated a new Diplomatic Chancery and left in 2021. From 2013 to 2017 he was appointed Consul General of Italy in Philadelphia (Pennsylvania, USA).

Academia

University Presidents

• Janice R. Bellace, first president of Singapore Management University
• Fred Hilmer, Vice-Chancellor of the University of New South Wales
• Peter J. Liacouras, Chancellor of Temple University
• Mark Yudof, President of the University of California System

Legal academics

• Khaled Abou El Fadl, professor of law at UCLA School of Law; scholar of Islamic law, immigration, human rights, international and national security law
• Azizah Y. al-Hibri, Professor of Law at the University of Richmond; founding editor of Hypatia: a Journal of Feminist Philosophy; founder and president of KARAMAH: Muslim Women Lawyers for Human Rights
• Anthony G. Amsterdam, professor of law at NYU Law School
• Loftus Becker, professor of law the University of Connecticut School of Law
• Janice R. Bellace, Director of the Huntsman Program in International Studies and Business at the Wharton School of Business
• Francis Bohlen (1868–1942), Algernon Sydney Biddle professor of law at the University of Pennsylvania Law School
• Goler Teal Butcher University of Pennsylvania Law School LLM Class of 1958, Professor Howard University Law School and attorney-adviser in the United States Department of State's office of the legal adviser (1963 to 1971) as the first black person to serve in the legal unit of the State Department legal affairs office
• Robert Butkin, Dean of the University of Tulsa College of Law; State Treasurer of Oklahoma
• Jonathan Z. Cannon, Blaine T. Phillips Distinguished Professor of Environmental Law at the University of Virginia School of Law; Deputy Administrator of the EPA
• Jesse H. Choper, Earl Warren Professor of Public Law at the University of California, Berkeley Law School
• George M. Cohen, Brokaw Professor of Corporate Law at the University of Virginia School of Law
• Debra W. Denno, Arthur A. McGivney Professor of Law at Fordham Law School
• Theodore Eisenberg, Henry Allen Mark Professor of Law at Cornell Law School
• Douglas Frenkel, Morris Shuster Practice Professor of Law at the University of Pennsylvania Law School
• Marci Hamilton, Paul R. Verkuil Chair of Public Law at the Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law; constitutional law scholar
• Maryam Jamshidi, Assistant Professor of Law, University of Florida Levin College of Law
• Kimberly Kessler Ferzan, Professor of Law and Philosophy, University of Pennsylvania Law School
• Noyes Leech (1921–2010), law professor at the University of Pennsylvania Law School
• A. Leo Levin (1919–2015), law professor at the University of Pennsylvania Law School
• Robert J. Levy, former William L. Prosser Professor of Law at the University of Minnesota
• Beverly I. Moran, Professor of Law, Vanderbilt Law School
• David G. Owen, Carolina Distinguished Professor of Law, University of South Carolina Law School
• Curtis Reitz (born c. 1930), Algernon Sydney Biddle Professor of Law at the University of Pennsylvania Law School
• Jennifer Rosato Perea, Class of 1987, Dean, DePaul University College of Law
• Alan Miles Ruben (born 1931), Penn College Class of 1953, A.B., University of Pennsylvania School of Arts and Sciences graduate school Class of 1956, M.A. and Penn Law Class of 1956, LL.B. where he was an editor of the University of Pennsylvania Law Review; serves as the editor-in-chief of the standard treatise “How Arbitration Works”; serves as professor emeritus Cleveland-Marshall College of Law (1970 to 2003) and earned a Guggenheim Fellowship, selected as a Fulbright Scholar (1993) and as an Advisory Professor of Law Fudan University in Shanghai, China; Member Greater Cleveland Sports Hall of Fame (Class of 1976) as fencer who captained both the U.S. team at 1972 Olympics and 1971 Pan-American games; made $500,000 commitment in will to create the Alan Miles Ruben and Betty Willis Ruben Endowed Professorship in the Cleveland-Marshall College of Law
• Stephen A. Saltzburg, Wallace and Beverley Woodbury University Professor of Law at the George Washington University Law School
• Louis B. Schwartz (1913–2003), law professor at the University of Pennsylvania Law School
• M. Michael Sharlot, Wright C. Morrow Professor of Law, University of Texas Law School
• Karen Tani, Professor of Law, University of California, Berkeley School of Law; legal historian
• Jonathan D. Varat, professor of law; Dean of the UCLA School of Law (1998–2003); author of popular constitutional law casebook
• Tess Wilkinson-Ryan, Professor of Law and Psychology, University of Pennsylvania Law School
• James Wilson (1742–1798), First Professor of Law at University of Pennsylvania, 1789 through 1798, the only person who signed the Declaration of Independence, the United States Constitution, and served as a Supreme Court Justice, during the Constitutional Convention, successfully proposed a unitary executive elected through an electoral college system and negotiated the Three-Fifths Compromise, delivered a series of lectures on law to President George Washington, Vice President John Adams, Secretary of State Thomas Jefferson, Secretary of the Treasury Alexander Hamilton, and numerous members of Congress with Wilson's first lecture on law being given to aforementioned government leaders on December 15, 1789
• Bernard Wolfman (1924–2011), Dean of the University of Pennsylvania Law School and its Gemmill Professor of Tax Law and Tax Policy, Fessenden Professor of Law Emeritus at Harvard Law School
• Michael Yelnosky, Class of 1987, Dean, Roger Williams University School of Law, the law school of Roger Williams University

Other academics

• Morton Charles Hill (diplomat) (April 28, 1936 – March 27, 2021) (Penn Law Class of 1960, JD, Penn Graduate School Class of 1961, MA) Yale University Diplomat in Residence and Lecturer and United States State Department Foreign Service diplomat
• Scott Nearing (August 6, 1883 – August 24, 1983) Penn Law Class of 1904 (dropped out) Wharton Class of 1905 (BS) and Class of 1909 (Ph.D.): 20th-century conservationist, peace activist, educator, writer and economist

Activists

• Sadie Tanner Mossell Alexander, first African-American woman to receive a Ph.D. in Economics in the United States; first African-American woman to graduate from Penn Law; first African-American woman to be admitted to the Pennsylvania Bar; civil rights activist; appointed to the Civil Rights Commission by President Harry S. Truman
• Stuart F. Feldman, co-founder of Vietnam Veterans of America
• Caroline Burnham Kilgore (LL.B.), first woman to graduate from Penn with a law degree; first woman to practice law in Pennsylvania; argued for a woman's right to vote before the Pennsylvania Supreme Court.

Arts and entertainment

• Benjamin Glazer (Penn Law Class of 1905), Academy Award-winning screenwriter and producer who in 1927 won the first Academy Award for Best Writing (Adapted Screenplay) for 7th Heaven
• Moe Jaffe, songwriter and bandleader
• Pam Jenoff, novelist
• Kimberly McCreight, author and lawyer
• El McMeen, guitarist
• Henry Chapman Mercer, archaeologist
• Tom Rapp, songwriter, Pearls Before Swine.
• Lisa Scottoline, author of legal thrillers; New York Times best-selling author
• Michael A. Smerconish, Class of 1987, (born March 15, 1962), broadcasts The Michael Smerconish Program on SiriusXM POTUS Channel (124), hosts a CNN and CNN International program, Smerconish, at 9:00 a.m. ET on Saturdays, writes a column for The Philadelphia Inquirer, and authored seven books
• Jan Buckner Walker, cruciverbalist (crossword puzzle creator), author and games creator
• Natalie Wexler, novelist and legal scholar

Business

• Randall Boe, Class of 1987, CGC of AOL
• Safra A. Catz, Class of 1986, CFO, Oracle Corporation; Forbes' list of Most Powerful Women
• David N. Feldman, Class of 1985, Wall Street financial legal expert; author of Reverse Mergers: Taking a Company Public Without an IPO
• Sam Hamadeh, co-founder of Vault.com
• Charles A. Heimbold, Jr., former chairman and CEO, Bristol-Myers Squibb
• Murray Kushner, Class of 1976, real estate developer
• Gerald Levin, former CEO of AOL Time Warner
• Albert Theodore Powers, chairman and chief executive officer of the Allied Pacific Group
• Herman Albert Schaefer (born in 1921 in Philadelphia, PA and died on December 6, 2012, in Southampton, NY) Wharton School of Finance Class of 1943, B.S. in Econ., and Penn Law Class of 1948, joined the Marine Corps, where he volunteered for bomb disposal and became an officer in the Navy during World War 2 on a battle ship in the Pacific, practiced law and then earned a C.P.A. and joined an accounting firm; joined Pepsi-Cola Company, where he was executive vice president and CFO responsible for making the initial contact with Frito-Lay, Inc., and implementing the merger that formed PepsiCo; played fronton tennis (which was a demo sport) at 1968 Summer Olympics

Media and journalism

• Renee Chenault-Fattah, co-anchor of NBC 10 News in Philadelphia
• Adrian Cronauer, former radio disc jockey; special assistant to the director of the POW/MIA Office at the Department of Defense; inspiration for the film Good Morning, Vietnam
• Mark Haines, host of CNBC's Squawk Box
• Alberto Ibarguen, president and CEO of the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation; former publisher of The Miami Herald and El Nuevo Herald
• Norman Pearlstine, Chief Content Officer of Bloomberg L.P.; former editor-in-chief of Time
• Michael A. Smerconish, Class of 1987, (born March 15, 1962), broadcasts The Michael Smerconish Program on SiriusXM POTUS Channel (124), hosts a CNN and CNN International program, Smerconish, at 9:00 a.m. ET on Saturdays, writes a column for The Philadelphia Inquirer, and authored seven books.
• Van Toffler, Class of 1983, former president, MTV Networks
• Lynn Toler, judge of the television series Divorce Court

Sports

• Irving Baxter (March 25, 1876, through June 13, 1957), Penn Law Class of 1901, won the gold medal in both the men's high jump and the pole vault at the 1900 Summer Olympics, in Paris, France, and silver medals in all three of the standing jumps (long, triple, and high) at the 1900 Paris Olympics
• Meredith Colket (November 19, 1878, through June 7, 1947): (College Class of 1901 and Penn Law Class of 1904) winner of a silver medal in the Pole vault at the 1900 Summer Olympics in Paris and won the silver medal in the men's pole vault just behind his fellow Penn Law alumnus, Irving Baxter, who won the gold medal
• Anita DeFrantz (born October 4, 1952) (Penn Law Class of 1977), 1976 women's eight-oared shell bronze medalist; first woman and first African-American to represent the United States on the International Olympic Committee; IOC's first female vice president; chair of the Commission on Women and Sports
• Augustus Goetz (August 21, 1904, through December 7, 1976), Penn College Class of 1925 and Penn Law Class of 1929, competed in the men's coxed pair event at the 1928 Summer Olympics
• William John Billy Goeckel (September 3, 1871, to November 1, 1922) Penn Law Class of 1895: played for Penn's varsity baseball team from 1893 through 1895 where he was "considered the finest collegiate first baseman of his day" and played portion of one season (in 1899) for the Philadelphia Phillies; organizer and attorney for the Wilkes-Barre South Side Bank and Trust Company and chairman of Wilkes-Barre's Democratic City Committee; wrote “The Red and Blue,” which has since become the Penn theme song and was leader of University of Pennsylvania Glee Club
• Marvin Goldklang (born 1942), Wharton School of Finance Class of 1964 and Penn Law Class of 1967, owns a minority interest in the Major League Baseball team, New York Yankees, and majority interests in minor league baseball teams including Charleston, South Carolina, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, and St. Paul, Minnesota
• Thomas Truxtun Hare (October 12, 1878 – February 2, 1956) (Undergraduate Class of 1901 and Penn Law Class of 1903): who at (a) 1900 Summer Olympic Games won silver medal in hammer throw and (b) 1904 Summer Olympic Games won (1) bronze medal in the 'all-rounder' (now known as the decathlon) which consisted of 100 yard run, shot put, high jump, 880 yard walk, hammer throw, pole vault, 120 yard hurdles, weight throw, long jump and one mile run, and (2) gold medal as part of tug of war team (also a charter member of the College Football Hall of Fame)

John Heisman, a University of Pennsylvania Law School class of 1892 alumnus and rugby football player, posing at Penn in 1891 holding elongated ellipsoidal rugby ball and gestures resembling the famed "Heisman Pose"

• John Heisman (October 23, 1869 – October 3, 1936), Class of 1892: football and rugby football player and coach of football, basketball, and baseball, namesake of the Heisman Trophy who was instrumental in the first decade of the 20th century in changing the rules of rugby football to more closely relate to present rules of American football
• Sarah Elizabeth Hughes, Class of 2018, (born May 2, 1985) a former American competitive figure skater who is the 2002 Winter Olympics Gold Medalist Champion and the 2001 World bronze medalist in ladies' singles
• Harry Arista Mackey (June 26, 1869 – October 17, 1938) Penn Law Class of 1893: Captain of Penn Football Team who served as Mayor of Philadelphia from 1928 to 1932
• David Micahnik (born November 5, 1938) Penn College Class of 1960 and Penn Law Class of 1964, fenced for the University of Pennsylvania where he was a first-team All-Ivy selection in épée as a senior and the 1960 U.S. National Champion and competed in the individual and team épée events at the 1960, 1964 and 1968 Summer Olympics
• Peter Delome Overfield (April 12, 1874 – July 1, 1959) Penn Law Class of 1900: All-American at Penn and professional football player for Homestead L. & A. C., which defeated Blondy Wallace's Philadelphia professionals 18 to 0 for the professional football championship of the United States (played at the Philadelphia park); in 1909, was appointed by President William Howard Taft to be a Federal Judge in United States District Court for the District of Alaska (serving Fairbanks, Valdez and Anchorage)
• Alan Miles Ruben (born 1931) Penn College Class of 1953, A.B., University of Pennsylvania School of Arts and Sciences graduate school Class of 1956, M.A. and Penn Law Class of 1956, LL.B. where he was an Editor of the University of Pennsylvania Law Review; serves as the editor-in-chief of the standard treatise “How Arbitration Works”; serves as Professor Emeritus Cleveland-Marshall College of Law (1970 to 2003) and Guggenheim Scholar Fulbright Scholar (1993) and subsequently Advisory Professor of Law FuDan University in Shanghai, China; Member Greater Cleveland Sports Hall of Fame (Class of 1976) as fencer who captained both the U.S. team at 1972 Olympics and 1971 Pan-American games; made $500,000 commitment in will to create the Alan Miles Ruben and Betty Willis Ruben Endowed Professorship in the Cleveland-Marshall College of Law
• Herman Albert Schaefer (born in 1921 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and died on December 6, 2012, in Southampton, New York) Wharton School of Finance Class of 1943, B.S. in Econ., and Penn Law Class of 1948, joined the Marine Corps, where he volunteered for bomb disposal and became an officer in the Navy during World War 2 on a battle ship in the Pacific, practiced law and then earned a C.P.A. and joined an accounting firm; joined Pepsi-Cola Company, where he was executive vice president and CFO responsible for making the initial contact with Frito-Lay, Inc., and implementing the merger that formed PepsiCo; played fronton tennis (which was a demo sport) at 1968 Summer Olympics
• Andrew Towne, Class of 2015: won the Intercollegiate Rowing Association national championship regatta as the four-seat on the Yale varsity lightweight crew and was a member of the team that completed the first human-powered transit of the Drake Passage.
• Elwood Otto Woody Wagenhorst (June 3, 1863 – February 12, 1946) Penn Law Class of 1892: played Major League Baseball as a third baseman for the Philadelphia Quakers in 1888 (in two career games, he had one hit in eight at-bats), served as the head football coach at the Penn from 1888 to 1891, compiling a record of 39–18, while a student at Penn Law
• George Washington Woodruff (February 22, 1864 – March 24, 1934) Penn Law Class of 1895, Coach of Penn Crew (1892 through 1896) and Penn Football (1896 through 1901); as football coach (who originated “guards back,” “delayed pass,” and “flying interference” tactics) he compiled 124-15-2 record, including three undefeated seasons in 1894, 1895 and 1897 earning him election to the College Football Hall of Fame and his teams being recognized as national champions in 1894, 1895, and 1897; also served on number of government positions, chief law officer in the National Forest Service, Acting United States secretary of the interior under President Theodore Roosevelt, Pennsylvania Attorney General, federal judge for Territory of Hawaii

Other

• Daniel Barringer, first person to prove the existence of a meteorite crater on earth, and namesake of the Barringer Meteor Crater in Arizona
• James Harry Covington, co-founder of Covington & Burling; Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of the District of Columbia
• John G. Johnson, lawyer (noted by many to be one of the greatest attorneys in U.S. history) who argued 168 cases before the Supreme Court; twice turned down an appointment to the U.S. Supreme Court
• William Draper Lewis, founder and first director of the American Law Institute
• Edward J. Normand, Counsel, Lloyd's of London
• George Wharton Pepper, founder of Pepper Hamilton LLP, a firm with more than 500 lawyers
• Bernard Segal, past President of the American Bar Association
• Gigi Sohn, Class of 1986, founder of Public Knowledge who also worked for the Ford Foundation.
• John Thomas Taylor, congressional lobbyist for the American Legion
• George W. Wickersham, co-founder of Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft; Attorney General of the United States; President of the Council on Foreign Relations

Fictional alumni

• Andrew Beckett: gay, HIV-positive lawyer portrayed by Tom Hanks in the 1993 movie Philadelphia; his former boss says he hired him upon his graduation from the law school
• Anthony "Tony" Judson Lawrence portrayed by Paul Newman, a graduate of University of Pennsylvania Law School, in the 1959 film, The Young Philadelphians based on 1956 novel The Philadelphian by Richard P. Powell

Attended but did not graduate

• Thomas Clinton, executive at Deutsche Bank; key figure in the formation of the US Presbyterian Church
• William Radford Coyle, Pennsylvania representative to the U.S. Congress, 1925–27, 1929–33
• George B. McClellan, U.S. Civil War General; Governor of New Jersey
• George Washington who attended lectures by James Wilson who taught law class in 1789 to President Washington (who had previously received Honorary Doctor of Law, Class of 1783) and all the members of his cabinet, which at that time included;
• Thomas Jefferson as first Secretary of State
• Alexander Hamilton as first Secretary of Treasury
• Henry Knox as first Secretary of War
• Edmund Randolph as first United States Attorney General