Areas of Expertise
Congressional Oversight and Investigations, Rule of Law, Separation of Powers, Public Interest Careers
Courses
Separation of Powers, Congressional Investigations, Government Lawyering
Biography
Sara Zdeb will join the Emory Law faculty in July 2025 as a visiting assistant professor of practice. Drawing on her background as a senior official at the U.S. Department of Justice and in the U.S. Senate, she will teach courses on congressional investigations, separation of powers, and government lawyering. Zdeb will also serve as a resource for Emory Law students interested in pursuing government service and public interest careers.
Before joining Emory, Zdeb held high-ranking legal positions in multiple branches of the federal government. She served most recently as Deputy Assistant Attorney General for Legislative Affairs at the U.S. Department of Justice, where she was responsible for managing the Justice Department’s response to high-stakes congressional oversight and investigations; preparing the Attorney General, Special Counsels, U.S. Attorneys, and other senior officials to testify before Congress; and counseling Department leaders on legal and political risk management.
From 2019 through 2022, Zdeb was a senior member of the Democratic staff of the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee, which has jurisdiction over Article III judicial nominations; the U.S. Department of Justice and its components, including the Federal Bureau of Investigation; and legislation on a range of significant issues including civil rights and civil liberties, criminal law, immigration, antitrust and consumer protection law, and online privacy. As Chief Oversight Counsel for Chair Richard J. Durbin and Ranking Member Dianne Feinstein, Zdeb led a team that conducted oversight and investigations of the executive branch and private sector, including the committee’s high-profile investigation into the Justice Department’s role in efforts to overturn the 2020 presidential election results.
Before her government service, Zdeb practiced for several years in the Washington, DC office of a major international law firm, where she focused on government investigations defense. Zdeb received her JD, Magna Cum Laude, from the Georgetown University Law Center, which she attended while working full-time. She received her AB from Duke University.