WASHINGTON D.C. – President Biden announced the appointment of three members to the Council of the Administrative Conference of the United States (ACUS):
- Leslie B. Kiernan
- Funmi Olorunnipa Badejo
- Nitin Shah
ACUS is an independent federal agency charged with convening expert representatives from the public and private sectors to recommend improvements to administrative process and procedure. ACUS initiatives promote efficiency, participation, and fairness in the promulgation of federal regulations and in the administration of federal programs. The ten-member ACUS Council is composed of government officials and private citizens.
Leslie B. Kiernan
Leslie B. Kiernan was sworn in on June 15, 2021, as the General Counsel at the Department of Commerce. She serves as the Chief Legal Officer of the Department and as legal advisor to the Secretary, Secretarial Officers, and the Department’s operating units.
During the Obama-Biden Administration, Ms. Kiernan served in the White House as Deputy Counsel to the President from 2011-14, where she advised on a wide range of compliance, risk-management, policy, and oversight issues. She also worked with the White House Council on Women and Girls, and later served as a senior advisor to the U.S. Mission to the United Nations. Recently, Ms. Kiernan served as a senior advisor on the Biden-Harris Transition, and as Special Counsel in the Office of the White House Counsel. In addition to her government service, Ms. Kiernan has over 20 years’ experience as a litigation partner at national law firms in Washington, D.C. Ms. Kiernan is a graduate of Brown University and Georgetown University Law Center.
Funmi Olorunnipa Badejo
Funmi Olorunnipa Badejo currently serves as Special Assistant to the President and Associate Counsel in the White House Counsel’s Office. Her prior government service includes General Counsel of the U.S. House of Representatives Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Crisis, Counsel for Policy to the Assistant Attorney General in the Civil Division at the U.S. Department of Justice, Ethics Counsel at the White House Counsel’s Office, and Attorney Advisor at the Administrative Conference of the United States. Olorunnipa Badejo began her legal career as an associate with the law firm of Manatt, Phelps & Phillips, LLP and previously served as Legal Counsel at Palantir Technologies Inc. She is a graduate of the University of California, Berkeley, School of Law, Harvard University’s John F. Kennedy School of Government, and the University of Florida. The proud daughter of Nigerian immigrants and raised in Tallahassee, Florida, Olorunnipa Badejo lives in Washington D.C. with her husband and son.
Nitin Shah
Nitin Shah currently serves as General Counsel of the U.S. General Services Administration. He oversees all legal matters arising before the agency, is GSA’s Designated Agency Ethics Official and Chief FOIA Officer, and manages a nationwide office of approximately 170 attorneys and staff. During his career, Mr. Shah has focused on administrative law issues from various perspectives. He previously served in the Department of Justice in several capacities, including as Chief of Staff of the Civil Division and as an attorney in the Office of Legal Counsel. He also served as senior counsel at a nonprofit organization focused on administrative litigation and was a legal director for the Biden-Harris Transition Team.
Mr. Shah clerked for Hon. Judith W. Rogers of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit and for Hon. T.S. Ellis III of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia. Born and raised in San Diego, he is a graduate of Harvard College and the University of Virginia School of Law.
