Education
University of Virginia School of Law (J.D.)
Harvard (B.A.)
Bar Admission
Maryland
Evelyn Fortier is a former United States Senate chief counsel with years of experience in crime victims’ policy, the congressional budget and appropriations process, and congressional oversight. She has extensive experience in writing legislation and shepherding it to enactment, advising the chairmen of congressional committees, organizing congressional hearings, and building coalitions in support of a policy agenda.
During two decades on Capitol Hill, Ms. Fortier conducted and supervised congressional investigations and developed legislation on behalf of the chairmen of the United States Senate Committees on the Judiciary and Finance. Ms. Fortier initially entered public service as an aide in the U.S. House of Representatives, later serving in a variety of increasingly senior legal roles for members of the Senate.
Ms. Fortier developed and shepherded to enactment numerous reauthorization measures, such as legislation to revise and extend the Trafficking Victims Protection Act and the Missing Children’s Assistance Act, during her tenure as a chief counsel on the majority staff of the U.S. Senate Committee on the Judiciary. She also led development of the Elder Abuse Prevention Prosecution Act and Judiciary’s oversight of the FBI’s investigation into Larry Nassar’s abuse of members of the U.S. Olympic Team.
As the general counsel to a chairman of the Consumer Affairs Subcommittee, Ms. Fortier also authored and shepherded to enactment two leading child passenger safety measures. She wrote the initial version of the bipartisan Mentally Ill Offenders Treatment and Crime Reduction Act as well as legislation to promote the use of DNA analysis to solve crimes. She has organized numerous congressional hearings and served as a panelist at conferences or public events.
Ms. Fortier previously served as the vice president for public policy at the nation’s largest anti-sexual assault organization. In this role, Ms. Fortier was involved in all facets of advocacy and fundraising for this national charity, working with the staff of leading congressional appropriators as well as government agencies to promote an end to violence against women and respond to crime victims’ and survivors’ needs. She also provided guidance to government officials at the U.S. Sentencing Commission and the U.S. Department of Justice on national crime policy issues, such as sentencing of child predators or the use of DNA analysis to solve cold cases, and testified before Congress concerning the response to crimes committed against U.S. citizens traveling on cruise ships.
Most recently, Ms. Fortier worked in the technology sector, serving as a public policy manager at Meta and in a consultant role for the government affairs team at Google. Ms. Fortier earned her bachelor’s degree at Harvard and her law degree at the University of Virginia School of Law.
Ms. Fortier is licensed to practice law by the Maryland State Bar. Until she is licensed to practice law by the Washington, D.C. Bar, Ms. Fortier works under the supervision of partners of the Firm who are licensed to practice law in Washington, D.C.
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