Attorney General Racine Names Toni Jackson as Deputy Attorney General for the Public Interest Division

April 12, 2018

Attorney General Karl A. Racine has announced that Toni Michelle Jackson, Chief of the Office of the Attorney General (OAG) Equity Section, has been elevated to serve as Deputy Attorney General for the Public Interest Division.

As Deputy Attorney General, Ms. Jackson will be responsible for representing the interests of District taxpayers and directing OAG’s complex civil litigation seeking injunctive relief, cases involving District government contracts, and cases involving civil enforcement of District agency and board decisions.

“Toni has provided exceptional leadership in this office and is a skilled defender of taxpayers’ interests,” said Attorney General Racine. “I am glad to be able to count on her extensive legal experience, her excellent judgment, and her dedication to the city in this critical new role.”

Ms. Jackson, a Ward 7 resident, first joined OAG as an Assistant Attorney General in 2006. Early in her tenure, she successfully defended the District government in a $500 million breach-of-contract lawsuit, and ably handled many other civil suits. She left OAG to join the United States Department of Justice as a senior trial attorney in the Civil Rights Division in 2008, where she received multiple honors for her work.

She returned to OAG in 2015, as Chief of the Equity Section. As Chief, Ms. Jackson was responsible for overseeing the defense of the District and its officials and employees in complex civil litigation seeking injunctive and other relief that impacts substantially executive-level agencies. This includes class-action suits and other systemic challenges to the services, practices, conditions and care provided by District agencies and departments as well as challenges to their component operations; civil actions seeking to enjoin enforcement of or otherwise challenge any District laws; and civil actions concerning a variety of regulatory actions taken by District agencies.

“As a third-generation Washingtonian, I am honored and thrilled to serve the residents of the District in this new role,” Ms. Jackson said. “I look forward to continuing to work with some of the most talented and hardworking attorneys in the District of Columbia.”

Ms. Jackson received her J.D. from the University of Minnesota Law School in 1991 and her Bachelor of Business Administration from George Washington University, where she was the 1988 recipient of the Martin Luther King, Jr. Medal of Honor. After law school, Ms. Jackson clerked for Judge John M. “Jack” Mason, United States District Court for the District of Minnesota and the Honorable Gerald W. Heaney, United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit. She also was a lawyer in private practice in Minneapolis before moving back to the District of Columbia to begin work at OAG.