Obama appoints Indian-American lawyer to key post

Hours before his inauguration, president-elect Barack Obama appointed leading Indian-American lawyer Preeta Bansal as the general counsel and senior policy advisor in the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) in his administration.

Bansal, who was mentioned as possible solicitor general in the Obama Administration, is currently partner at law firm Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher and Flom LLP in New York City.

Considered to be part of the Obama's inner circle, Bansal has also been a commissioner of the US Commission on International Religious Freedom, serving as chair from
2004-2005.

In that capacity, Bansal participated in US diplomatic missions to Iraq, Afghanistan, Uzbekistan, Saudi Arabia, China, Russia, Vietnam, Turkey, Hong Kong, and South Asia, and presided over a nationally acclaimed Commission study on Department of Homeland Security's (DHS) procedures for expedited removal of US asylum seekers.

From 1999-2002, Bansal was solicitor general of the State of New York, where she helped supervise the legal positions of 600 attorneys in the New York Attorney General's office.

From 1993-1996, Bansal served as a counselor in the Office of Policy Development and Antitrust Division of the United States Department of Justice, and as a Special Counsel in the Office of the White House Counsel.

Harvard educated Bansal was a law clerk to Justice John Paul Stevens of the US Supreme Court. She has been a commissioner on Mayor Michael Bloomberg's Election
Modernization Task Force and serves on numerous nonprofit boards.