Jacqueline

C.

Romero

Jacqueline C. Romero is a partner in the White-Collar, Investigations, and Securities Enforcement and Litigation team at the BakerHostetler law firm in Philadelphia.  Prior to joining BakerHostetler, Ms. Romero served as the U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania from 2022 to 2025, becoming the first woman of color, first LGBTQIA+ person and first woman appointed by a president and unanimously confirmed by the Senate to hold the role in the district’s history. 

As U.S. Attorney, Ms. Romero oversaw hundreds of complex enforcement actions in one of the nation’s largest and most active districts, one of 10 nationwide regional centers for federal regulatory agencies. Under her leadership, the Eastern District of Pennsylvania's Violent Crime Unit doubled in size, enabling the office to pursue data-driven prosecutions that targeted the predominant drivers of violence, contributing to a 40 percent drop in violent crime in many areas of the district. Using community engagement, Ms. Romero led proactive anti-crime efforts through various initiatives such as youth outreach and reentry assistance and put extraordinary effort into strengthening the office’s presence in diverse communities, especially those struggling with violence, opioids and systemic exclusion from education, healthcare, housing and employment.

During her tenure, the district maintained one of the most active affirmative civil enforcement dockets in the country. Ms. Romero led the EDPA in recovering millions of dollars through False Claims Act and federal procurement fraud settlements. Additionally, the EDPA secured more redlining civil rights settlements against institutional lenders than any other district in the nation. She was also tough on white collar crime and successfully prosecuted numerous complex financial fraud and public corruption cases.

Ms. Romero joined the District from the United States Treasury Department, U.S. Mint, Office of Chief Counsel, where she worked as senior counsel. Prior to joining the United States Mint, she worked as a trial attorney for the Department of Justice, Civil Division, Commercial Litigation Branch, and also as a litigation associate for the law firm of Lowenstein, Sandler in New Jersey.   

Ms. Romero has long served as a teacher, mentor, and advisor across numerous organizations. She currently sits on the Board of Trustees of the Philadelphia Bar Foundation, which promotes access to justice through civil legal aid. From 2016 to 2022, she was volunteer faculty with the National Institute of Trial Advocacy and, from 2017 to 2022, an adjunct professor in Temple University’s Trial Advocacy Program. She is a former fellow of the German Marshall Fund and the Congressional Hispanic Caucus Institute. In 2018, she served as President of the Hispanic Bar Association of Pennsylvania and has held board roles there and with the LGBTQ Bar Association of Philadelphia. A lifetime member of the Hispanic National Bar Association, she has contributed to its Special Commission on Law Enforcement Reform and Racial Justice and its Latina Commission. She also previously served as a Commissioner on the Philadelphia Bar Association’s Judicial Commission.

Throughout her career, Ms. Romero has been recognized by numerous organizations for her leadership and dedication to public service. In 2025, she received the Fannie Bear Besser Award for Public Service from Rutgers School of Law. The year prior, she was honored with the La Justicia Award by the Hispanic Bar Association of Pennsylvania for her commitment to community service and advocacy within the Hispanic community. In 2023, she earned the Justice Sonia Sotomayor Award from the Philadelphia Bar Association, celebrating her lasting contributions to inclusion and equal participation in the legal profession. Her earlier accolades include Al Día’s Public Service Archetype Award in 2022 and Champion of Justice Award for Government Service in 2020. In 2018, the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania issued a formal resolution recognizing her outstanding work in the STAR Reentry Program, and she also received the Clifford Scott Green Bill of Rights Award from the Federal Criminal Law Committee that same year.

Ms. Romero earned her B.A. in English with a minor in Political Science, magna cum laude, from Trenton State College (now the College of New Jersey). She earned her J.D. from Rutgers University School of Law, Newark, where she was co-founder of the Rutgers Race and the Law Review and Research Editor for the Computer & Technology Law Journal.