Theodore Olson

Theodore Bevry Olson (born September 11, 1940) is an American lawyer who served as the 42nd solicitor general of the United States from 2001 until 2004. Previously, Olson served as the United States Assistant Attorney General of the Office of Legal Counsel (1981–1984) under President Ronald Reagan. He remains a practicing attorney at the law firm of Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher. Early life Olson was born in Chicago, the son of Yvonne Lucy (Bevry) and Lester W. Olson. He grew up in Mountain View, California, in the San Francisco Bay Area. He attended Los Altos High School where he graduated in 1958. In 1962, Olson graduated cum laude from the University of the Pacific with a degree in communications and history where he was a charter member of the Phi Kappa Tau fraternity chapter. He earned his J.D. degree from the UC Berkeley School of Law in 1965. At Berkeley, Olson served as a contributor to the California Law Review and was a member of Order of the Coif. Legal career Early legal career: 1965 to 2000 In 1965, Olson joined the Los Angeles, California, office of Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher as an Associate. In 1972, he was named Partner.