About Joyce White Vance
Joyce White Vance is a Distinguished Professor of the Practice of Law at the University of Alabama School of Law and a Senior Fellow at the Brennan Center. She is a legal analyst for NBC and MSNBC and writes the popular Civil Discourse newsletter on Substack. Vance is the cohost of two podcasts, #SistersInLaw and The Insider, with her former U.S. Attorney colleague Preet Bharara.
Vance was the United States Attorney for the Northern District of Alabama from August 2009 through January 2017. She was appointed by President Obama and unanimously confirmed by the Senate. She spent 25 years at the Justice Department, serving as both a criminal prosecutor and appellate lawyer, including as the office's senior litigation counsel and Appellate Chief.
Before joining the U.S. Attorney's office, Vance worked as a litigator in private practice in both Washington, D.C. and Birmingham, Alabama. She is a 1985 graduate of the University of Virginia School of Law and a 1982 graduate of Bates College, in Lewiston, Maine. She is married to retired Alabama Circuit Judge Robert S. Vance, Jr. They have four children, two dogs, four cats and an undisclosed number of chickens. Vance knits a lot.
Vance, a lifelong knitter, sold hand-dyed yarn at Elliebelly, an online business that she started at her kitchen table. Although she no longer dyes except for an occasional charity event, she still misses it and knits constantly.