Alumnus makes waves in Washington as Deputy Associate Counsel to President Obama

By Zoe Marshal, Staff Writer

Rashad Hussain ‘97 finished a Greenhill journey and then continued onward into a fast-paced career in government.
On Jan. 28, Mr. Hussain became the new Deputy Associate Counsel to President Obama.
After graduation, Mr. Hussain pursued a law career.. Prior to his appointment as the Deputy Associate Counsel to the President, Mr. Hussain served as Trial Attorney at the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ).
As an active member in the DOJ, Mr. Hussain helped to defend the interests of the United States and to ensure fair and impartial administration of justice.

Mr. Hussain served as a legislative assistant on the House Judiciary Committee in the earlier stages of his law career. He would review various legislations, including one of the most famous, the USA Patriot Act. Mr. Hussain had the job to look over a decisive act of the U.S. fight against terrorism during the President George W. Bush’s administration.
He came to Greenhill in 1993 for his freshman year. He was very active in the debate program as a Policy (CX) debater, with his partner, Josh Goldberg ‘97. Numerous ballots from countless tournaments listed Greenhill GH (Hussain and Goldberg’s tournament name) as the winner. The debate duo brought back several trophies and awards over the four-year span of their Upper School careers. Greenhill GH went on to the Tournament of Champions (TOC) and took ninth place as juniors.

For college, Mr. Hussain went to the University of North Carolina to receive his Bachelor’s degree. He then went to Harvard University to earn his Master’s degree in Public Administration in Arabic & Islamic studies, and obtained his doctor of Jurisprudence from Yale Law School.

His former debate coach, Aaron Timmons, director of debate, said he always thought Mr. Hussain would go into a career in law because of his exceptional debate success in high school.

“[Rashad’s] main interest during that period of time was debate,” Mr. Timmons said. “He worked really very hard on debate. I thought it was very likely he would have a career in law given his verbal ability, given his intellect, given his research skills, given his focus, and given his passion for pursuing what he thought was right, I saw him in law. Not really a political route, but I always pictured him working in a law firm or non-profit. I didn’t know he had an interest in working in the government.”

Mr. Timmons said that without a doubt Mr. Hussain had a great work ethic.