Joseph Maher is the Principal Deputy General Counsel at the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. Mr. Maher advises the Secretary and other senior leaders on a wide array of homeland security and other matters.
Mr. Maher joined the Department shortly after its creation in 2003, and he has served there in a number of legal positions, including as the Deputy General Counsel, the Associate General Counsel for Regulatory and Legislative Affairs, and as a legal advisor to the Department’s Officer for Civil Rights and Civil Liberties.
Mr. Maher has practiced law in the private sector at an international law firm where he litigated cases in both trial and appellate courts. He has also practiced law at the U.S. Department of Labor, serving first as a Special Assistant to the Solicitor of Labor and then as the Associate Deputy Solicitor of Labor. Prior to law school, Mr. Maher applied his training as an engineer in working for Material Sciences Corporation.
Mr. Maher graduated with honors from both the University of Chicago Law School, where he served on the Law Review, and Northwestern University (earning a degree in Materials Science and Engineering). He also holds a Master of Laws degree (National Security Law) from Georgetown University. After law school, he clerked for the Honorable E. Grady Jolly on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit.