Samantha Ondrade is Senior Counsel to Senator Cory A. Booker for the Senate Judiciary Committee. In this role, she manages a broad legislative and oversight portfolio covering a range of policy issues, including civil rights, criminal justice, corrections, federal sentencing, the U.S. Supreme Court and federal judiciary, and executive and Article III judicial nominations.

Prior to joining the Senate, Samantha was a Trial Attorney and Coordinator of the Combatting Redlining Initiative with the U.S. Department of Justice’s Civil Rights Division in the Housing & Civil Enforcement Section, where she developed, investigated, and litigated fair housing and fair lending cases. Samantha began her legal career as an Associate with Washington, DC law firm Williams & Connolly LLP, where she worked on complex civil litigation and maintained an active pro bono practice. Samantha served as a judicial law clerk to Judge Albert Diaz on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit and to Judge Amit P. Mehta on the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia.

Samantha received a B.A. in Sociology and in Literary Arts from Brown University. She received her J.D., magna cum laude, from Georgetown University Law Center, where she served on the Executive Board of the Georgetown Law Journal as the Managing Editor of the Annual Review of Criminal Procedure and as a Legal Research & Writing Fellow.