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Indian American woman lawyer in Bobby Jindal's team
Freshman Congressman Bobby Jindal has chosen an Indian American woman lawyer as his team's legislative director.
Freshman Congressman Bobby Jindal has chosen an Indian American woman lawyer as his team's legislative director.
For Sapna Delacourt, 31, choosing to work with Representative Bobby Jindal, Republican from Louisiana, as his legislative director offers a broader canvas of issues to deal with and a freshman legislator who has promised to "make a difference".
"I thought it was a really good opportunity to work for a dynamic member of the Republican Party who I thought would be a 'thought leader'," said Delacourt, who moved from her position as counsel to the Committee on Financial Services.
In Indian American Jindal's office, Delacourt is entrusted with developing and implementing legislative and policy initiatives on the Congressman's behalf.
"Congressman Jindal's background in healthcare and his expertise, as well as his previous leadership, both under President George W. Bush and at the state level, and having accomplished so much at such a young age, shows he would be a motivated member of Congress," Delacourt told IANS.
Born and brought up in Michigan and an attorney by profession, Delacourt decided to go into policy rather than continue on a lawyer's traditional career path in a big firm.
She left the law firm of Collier Shannon Scott in Washington DC where she specialised in anti-trust and consumer protection issues, and moved to the Hill to first become legislative counsel to Congressman John B. Shadegg (Republican from Arizona).
Now Jindal has picked her to direct his legislative efforts in Congress.
Having just taken over the office, she said she is still in the process of setting it up and transitioning to a legislative environment.
"As for the agenda, it's to make sure our boss is active in legislation. Working directly for a member has more to do with his policy role and the interests of his constituents, as different from working on a Committee where policy rules," she said.
At Collier Shannon Scott, Delacourt had also counselled and advised clients regarding Federal Trade Commission (FTC) consumer privacy initiatives, including enforcement of the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act and the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act.
In her past positions, as legislative counsel to Congressman Shadegg, Delacourt formulated and advanced Shadegg's policy initiatives in financial services, tax and budget, and judiciary issues. On the Financial Services Committee under the leadership of Chairman Michael G. Oxley (Republican from Ohio), she developed legislative and policy proposals and advised the Congressman on securities issues.
In her first office, Delacourt recalls, she worked on legislation that came out of the Enron and Worldcom bankruptcies, as well as on legislation on mutual funds and pushing Wall Street to adhere to rules for greater disclosure to consumers on how and where it invests their money.
In Jindal's office, it will be a wider canvas for Delacourt.
She particularly likes the diverse issues that come up and the different people she gets to meet in a legislator's office, and having a law degree is helpful in every environment.
"It has been helpful to me even though I haven't pursued the traditional course. Working on Capitol Hill provides you with a lot of responsibility and throws a broader range of policy issues. In a law-firm, it is more hierarchical and really focused on areas of the law and you do not have such a big portfolio to work on."
Delacourt's parents, the late Kanchanlal C. Khatiwala and mother Madhuri K. Khatiwala, moved to the US in the early 1960s. She is married to Scott Delacourt, deputy bureau chief at the Federal Communications Commission's Wireless Bureau.
A political science graduate of the University of Michigan, Delacourt has her JD from the Georgetown University Law Centre, where she was managing editor of the Georgetown Journal of Legal Ethics. She was also an adjunct professor in the legal research and writing department at the Georgetown University Law Centre.
