Community Relations Service

COMMUNITY RELATIONS SERVICE
DIRECTOR SHAREE FREEMAN SWORN IN

          Washington, D.C. -- Today, Sharee M. Freeman was sworn in as the Director of the Community Relations Service, a unique U.S. Department of Justice agency responsible for community racial and ethnic conflict resolution and prevention. The oath was administered by Judge Sharon Prost, U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, Washington, D.C.

          "As Director of the Community Relations Service, Sharee Freeman will use her expertise in civil rights matters to serve communities across America dealing with racial and ethnic conflict. She is a dedicated public servant and I am honored to welcome her to the Department," said Attorney General John Ashcroft.

     Sharee M. Freeman was confirmed by the Senate on November 6, 2001.

     Since April 2001, she served as counsel to the U.S. House of Representatives International Relations Committee. From 1997 to 2001, she served as counsel on the House Judiciary Committee where she drafted legislation for the full committee on constitutional law, civil rights, fair housing, crime, and religion.

     Ms. Freeman served at the Department of the Interior as the Acting Assistant Solicitor for General Indian Legal Activities and as an Attorney-Advisor. She was at the Department of Interior from 1984 to 1997. During this period she worked extensively with Indian tribes across the country on issues of civil rights, education, disabilities, housing, welfare, and social services. From 1982 to 1984, she was an Assistant District Attorney in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. A native New Yorker, Ms. Freeman received a Bachelor of Arts Degree from St. Lawrence University in Canton, New York, and a Juris Doctor Degree from Georgetown University Law Center. Immediately following law school, she clerked for the Honorable Norma Holloway Johnson, Senior Judge, U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia.

     Ms. Freeman is an advocate of community service and is active with the Step Ahead program which serves dinner for the homeless of the metropolitan D.C. area.

     For more information about the Community Relations Service, please see its web page at: www.usdoj.gov/crs

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