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Brian W. Jones is the U.S. Department of Education's General Counsel. He was nominated by President Bush on April 30, 2001 and confirmed by the United States Senate on September 14, 2001. As General Counsel, Jones is the fourth-ranking officer of the Department and serves as principal adviser to the secretary on all legal matters affecting Departmental programs and activities. He also serves as a member of the Secretary's Executive Team, which is the principal policymaking body of the Department.

In addition to his responsibilities as general counsel, Jones currently serves as cochairman of the president's Brown v. Board of Education 50th Anniversary Commission, which was established to plan events commemorating the landmark Supreme Court decision.

Prior to his appointment as General Counsel, Jones was an attorney in private practice with the San Francisco law firm of Curiale Dellaverson Hirschfeld Kelly & Kraemer, LLP. His practice involved the representation of public and private employers in all aspects of employment litigation. He also provided employment and education law counseling and training to public and private employers, including a number of colleges and universities.

Jones has experience in both federal and state government and in the nonprofit sector. Before returning to private practice in 1999, Jones served as Deputy Legal Affairs Secretary to California Governor Pete Wilson and as counsel to the United States Senate Judiciary Committee in Washington, D.C, where he worked on nominations, constitutional law and civil rights issues for then-Chairman Orrin Hatch (R-UT).

Jones also served as president of the Center for New Black Leadership (CNBL), a national public policy think tank in Washington, D.C, where he frequently wrote and lectured on a wide array of issues, and testified before the U.S. Senate Committees on the Judiciary and Labor and Human Resources. He also served during his tenure at CNBL as a contributor to the MSNBC television network, where he provided on-air political and news analysis.

While in law school, Jones served as a Judicial Extern to the Honorable Edward A. Panelli of the California Supreme Court. He began his legal career as a litigator at Sheppard, Mullin, Richter & Hampton in San Francisco.

Jones received a bachelor of science degree in Business Administration with a major in finance from Georgetown University and his juris doctor degree from the University of California at Los Angeles School of Law.