REPORT FOR THE COMMITTEE ON FOREIGN RELATIONS
UNITED STATES SENATE
SUBJECT: Ambassadorial Nomination: Certificate of Demonstrated Competence — Foreign Service Act, Section 304(a)(4)
POST: Republic of Slovenia
CANDIDATE: Jamie L. Harpootlian
Jamie Harpootlian, an accomplished attorney, is of counsel to the law firm of Richard A. Harpootlian, P.A., Columbia, SC, where she advises on a broad range of federal litigation matters. Previously, Ms. Harpootlian served as a court-appointed Special Master to facilitate case resolution in complex, mass disaster class actions by formulating and implementing fair and equitable criteria to allocate and distribute settlement funds.
The Department of Justice, Civil Division appointed Ms. Harpootlian to serve as a Hearing Officer on the 9/11 Victim Compensation Fund of 2001on behalf of the Special Master Kenneth Feinberg. She conducted non-adversarial hearings in New York and Washington, DC with surviving victims to determine their eligibility for and to recommend an amount of compensation for their injuries to the Special Master. She served in this appointment as a Special Government Employee on a pro bono basis.
Prior to her appointments, Ms. Harpootlian served 17 years as a career judicial law clerk for the United States District Court in the Eastern District of Louisiana, New Orleans, where she advised on procedural, factual and legal issues in litigation pending before the court. Ms. Harpootlian also is a leader and patron of non-profit groups supporting the environment, the arts, and historic resources.
Her record of achievement with complex issues of law and policy, her demonstrated ability to work effectively with competing interest groups, and her commitment to public service make her a well-qualified candidate to serve as U.S. Ambassador to the Republic of Slovenia.
Ms. Harpootlian earned a B.A. in Political Science and Art History from Mary Baldwin University, Staunton, Virginia in 1981 and a J.D. from Tulane University Law School, New Orleans, Louisiana in 1984. She speaks basic French.