Underwood Barbara

Barbara Dale Underwood (born August 16, 1944) is an American lawyer serving as the New York State Attorney General since May 8, 2018. She previously served as the Solicitor General of New York, first appointed to the position by New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo in January 2007, and reappointed in 2011 by New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman. On May 8, 2018, she became Acting Attorney General following her predecessor's resignation. On May 22, 2018, the New York State Legislature appointed her Attorney General. Prior to the appointment, Underwood announced she would not run as a candidate for a full term and thus she will serve until December 31, 2018. 

Underwood was born in Evansville, Indiana, to Dr. Robert Underwood and Mildred Kinstein Underwood. She grew up in Belleville, New Jersey, and is the eldest of three daughters. Underwood earned an A.B. magna cum laude from Radcliffe College of Harvard University in 1966 and received her J.D. from Georgetown University Law Center in 1969. While Underwood was a student at Radcliffe in 1963, she worked at WJRZ as news editor and got engaged to Howard Allen Cohen, a second year student at Rutgers Law School, who was also working at WJRZ. After graduation, Underwood clerked for Chief Judge David L. Bazelon of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit and then Associate Justice Thurgood Marshall of the Supreme Court from 1971 to 1972. After leaving the Court, Underwood was a law professor for 10 years at the Yale Law School, from 1972 to 1982. She also has taught at Brooklyn Law School and at New York University School of Law.

Underwood left academia to work in the Kings County District Attorney's Office. She later served in the District Attorneys for three different counties in New York City: she was an Assistant District Attorney in New York County, Chief of Appeals and Counsel to the District Attorney in Kings County (Brooklyn), and Senior Executive Assistant District Attorney for Legal Affairs in Queens County. She then served as Chief Assistant United States Attorney and later Counsel to the United States Attorney for the Eastern District of New York. In 1998, Underwood was appointed by United States Attorney General Janet Reno to be Principal Deputy Solicitor General under Solicitor General Seth P. Waxman. Underwood held that position for three years, and then served as Acting Solicitor General from January to June 2001, making her the first woman to act as Solicitor General. After working in the U.S. Attorney's Office in New York for several years, in 2007 she was appointed Solicitor General of the State of New York, a position she held under two state Attorneys General.[9] She has argued twenty cases before the U.S. Supreme Court, and many cases before the federal and state appellate courts.

She became Acting Attorney General on May 8, 2018, following the resignation of Eric Schneiderman. The State Legislature picked Underwood as the replacement to fill the remainder of Schneiderman's term on May 22, 2018. Underwood pledged not to seek elected office and fill out the remainder of Schneiderman's term until an elected successor is sworn in. As Attorney General, Underwood sued Donald Trump and his foundation, Donald J. Trump Foundation, for "a pattern of persistent illegal conduct." In 2012, the American Inns of Court presented her with its Professionalism Award for the Second Circuit, honoring her mentorship of attorneys throughout her career. In May 2016, Radcliffe College conferred on her an honorary membership in Phi Beta Kappa. Underwood has lived in New York City since 1982. She is married to Martin Halpern, former Brandeis University professor of playwriting and dramatic literature. They live in Brooklyn and have one son, Robert, born in 1986. Underwood had one previous marriage which ended in divorce. Underwood is Jewish.