President Obama has named three more Harvard Law School graduates to new posts. Tom Perez ’78 has been nominated to be assistant attorney general in charge of the civil rights division in the Department of Justice; Demetrios Marantis ’93 has been nominated to become deputy U.S. trade representative; and Emily Hewitt ’78 has been nominated to become the new chief judge on the U.S. Court of Federal Claims.
Perez currently serves as the Secretary of Maryland’s Department of Labor, Licensing and Regulation (DLLR). In that role, he has enforced workplace safety laws and other worker protection laws, protected consumers through consumer rights laws, and collaborated with businesses to address workforce development needs. From 2002-2006, Perez served on the Montgomery City Council.
Prior to his work in Maryland, he was a federal prosecutor in the civil rights division of the Department of Justice. He went on to serve as Deputy Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights under Janet Reno ’63. Perez previously served as Special Counsel to Senator Edward Kennedy (D-Mass.), and was Kennedy’s principal adviser on civil rights, criminal justice and constitutional issues. For the final two years of the Clinton administration, he served as the Director of the Office for Civil Rights at the United States Department of Health and Human Services. Perez was a law professor for six years at the University of Maryland School of Law and is a part-time professor at the George Washington School of Public Health.
Marantis is currently the chief international trade counsel for the Senate Finance Committee. In that capacity, he advises Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus (D – MT), as well as members and staff of the Finance Committee and Democratic Caucus, on trade and economic issues. Previously, Marantis worked as issues director for Sen. John Edwards on the Kerry-Edwards 2004 presidential campaign. He also spent two years in Hanoi as chief legal adviser for the U.S.-Vietnam Trade Council, where he provided technical assistance on international trade matters.
Between 1998 and 2002, Marantis served as associate general counsel in the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative, where he negotiated provisions of international trade agreements – including the U.S.-Singapore and U.S.-Chile Free Trade Agreements – and represented the United States in WTO dispute settlement proceedings, including the U.S.-Mexico dispute on telecommunications. Marantis also worked for five years in the Washington, D.C. and Brussels, Belgium, offices of Akin, Gump, Strauss, Hauer & Feld.
Judge Hewitt was appointed a judge of the United States Court of Federal Claims in 1998. From 1993-1998, she served as general counsel of the United States General Services Administration (GSA). While at GSA, Hewitt served as a government member of the Administrative Conference of the United States and as a member of the President’s Interagency Council on Women. She also served as a continuing education lecturer on procurement law reform, procurement integrity, alternative dispute resolution, and government law office management. Hewitt practiced law at the Boston firm of Hill & Barlow from 1978-1993. She was elected a partner in 1985, and served as chair of Hill & Barlow’s real estate department from 1987 to 1993.
Prior to earning her J.D. from HLS, Hewitt studied at the Union Theological Seminary in New York City and received her M. Phil. degree in studies focusing on religion and education. She was ordained to the diaconate of the Episcopal Church in 1972 and to the Episcopal priesthood in 1974. From 1973-1975, Hewett was an assistant professor of religion and education at Andover Newton Theological School in Newton Centre, Massachusetts. She has also served as lecturer at the Union Theological Seminary and, from 1967 to 1969, as administrator of the Cornell/Hofstra Upward Bound Program at the Union Settlement House in East Harlem.